Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

An online study of L2 relative clause processing: Evidence from self-paced reading in Persian learners of English

Khaleghi, Abdolnoor LU (2022) SPVR01 20211
General Linguistics
Master's Programme: Language and Linguistics
Abstract
This study examines relative clause (RC) processing in Persian learners of English and native speakers of English to explore whether or how different task demands, referential context information with three potential RC antecedents along with the variables noun type (definite, indefinite), RC length (short, long) and RC type (extraposed, non-extraposed) affect their processing, using both an online non-cumulative self-paced reading task and an offline questionnaire. In the self-paced reading task, the online processing of RC attachment resolution was examined when participants read temporarily ambiguous sentences with RCs preceded by one clause or two clauses containing three NPs followed by comprehension questions to explore L2 RC... (More)
This study examines relative clause (RC) processing in Persian learners of English and native speakers of English to explore whether or how different task demands, referential context information with three potential RC antecedents along with the variables noun type (definite, indefinite), RC length (short, long) and RC type (extraposed, non-extraposed) affect their processing, using both an online non-cumulative self-paced reading task and an offline questionnaire. In the self-paced reading task, the online processing of RC attachment resolution was examined when participants read temporarily ambiguous sentences with RCs preceded by one clause or two clauses containing three NPs followed by comprehension questions to explore L2 RC attachment preferences. In the offline task, participants were asked to read ambiguous sentences and choose the antecedent which was most plausible to them for the RCs. Moreover, the Language History Questionnaire (LHQ) 3, the LexTALE test, a digit span task, and a reading span task were also administered to investigate whether measures from these tasks predicted the online processing outcome.
The results showed that Persian learners’ and native speakers’ online L2 RC processing was not significantly affected by the experimental conditions, but group effects were observable. There were significant differences between groups when reading sentences with extraposed RCs (region 4). The Persian learners read sentences with definite short non-extraposed RCs (region 2) faster than indefinite short non-extraposed RCs, and so did native speakers. Moreover, the Persian learners’ overall reading times were longer than native speakers’ reading times, whether with extraposed RCs or not. In contrast, in the offline task the Persian learners and the native speakers behaved differently in attachment preference. The Persian learners preferred high attachment and were sensitive to lexical-semantic dependencies in line with the predictions of the Competition model (CM) and Shallow Structure Account (SSA) which underline L1 influence. The native English speakers’ RC ambiguity resolution, on the other hand, was affected by the recency principle, relying more on structural dependency and word order. However, the native speakers’ tendency to high attachment was considerable. The results also revealed that for both groups, online L2 RC processing and observed attachment preferences are not robustly directly modulated by working memory, however, by a simple heuristic processing activated by semantic memory-based information in which earlier good-enough linguistic representations are mostly preferred to achieve a state of Cognitive Equilibrium (resolved or minimized ambiguity), such that language users are more likely to prefer high attachment than to prefer low attachment in RC attachment processing. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Khaleghi, Abdolnoor LU
supervisor
organization
course
SPVR01 20211
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
relative clause, online L2 processing, second language comprehension, attachment preference, self-paced reading, heuristic processing, good-enough approach, working memory span.
language
English
id
9072079
date added to LUP
2022-01-18 16:25:49
date last changed
2022-01-18 16:25:49
@misc{9072079,
  abstract     = {{This study examines relative clause (RC) processing in Persian learners of English and native speakers of English to explore whether or how different task demands, referential context information with three potential RC antecedents along with the variables noun type (definite, indefinite), RC length (short, long) and RC type (extraposed, non-extraposed) affect their processing, using both an online non-cumulative self-paced reading task and an offline questionnaire. In the self-paced reading task, the online processing of RC attachment resolution was examined when participants read temporarily ambiguous sentences with RCs preceded by one clause or two clauses containing three NPs followed by comprehension questions to explore L2 RC attachment preferences. In the offline task, participants were asked to read ambiguous sentences and choose the antecedent which was most plausible to them for the RCs. Moreover, the Language History Questionnaire (LHQ) 3, the LexTALE test, a digit span task, and a reading span task were also administered to investigate whether measures from these tasks predicted the online processing outcome.
The results showed that Persian learners’ and native speakers’ online L2 RC processing was not significantly affected by the experimental conditions, but group effects were observable. There were significant differences between groups when reading sentences with extraposed RCs (region 4). The Persian learners read sentences with definite short non-extraposed RCs (region 2) faster than indefinite short non-extraposed RCs, and so did native speakers. Moreover, the Persian learners’ overall reading times were longer than native speakers’ reading times, whether with extraposed RCs or not. In contrast, in the offline task the Persian learners and the native speakers behaved differently in attachment preference. The Persian learners preferred high attachment and were sensitive to lexical-semantic dependencies in line with the predictions of the Competition model (CM) and Shallow Structure Account (SSA) which underline L1 influence. The native English speakers’ RC ambiguity resolution, on the other hand, was affected by the recency principle, relying more on structural dependency and word order. However, the native speakers’ tendency to high attachment was considerable. The results also revealed that for both groups, online L2 RC processing and observed attachment preferences are not robustly directly modulated by working memory, however, by a simple heuristic processing activated by semantic memory-based information in which earlier good-enough linguistic representations are mostly preferred to achieve a state of Cognitive Equilibrium (resolved or minimized ambiguity), such that language users are more likely to prefer high attachment than to prefer low attachment in RC attachment processing.}},
  author       = {{Khaleghi, Abdolnoor}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{An online study of L2 relative clause processing: Evidence from self-paced reading in Persian learners of English}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}