scholarly journals Plausibility and recovery from garden paths in second language sentence processing

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
LEAH ROBERTS ◽  
CLAUDIA FELSER
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Real Time Processing ◽  
Garden Path ◽  
On Line

ABSTRACTIn this study, the influence of plausibility information on the real-time processing of locally ambiguous (“garden path”) sentences in a nonnative language is investigated. Using self-paced reading, we examined how advanced Greek-speaking learners of English and native speaker controls read sentences containing temporary subject–object ambiguities, with the ambiguous noun phrase being either semantically plausible or implausible as the direct object of the immediately preceding verb. Besides providing evidence for incremental interpretation in second language processing, our results indicate that the learners were more strongly influenced by plausibility information than the native speaker controls in their on-line processing of the experimental items. For the second language learners an initially plausible direct object interpretation lead to increased reanalysis difficulty in “weak” garden-path sentences where the required reanalysis did not interrupt the current thematic processing domain. No such evidence of on-line recovery was observed, in contrast, for “strong” garden-path sentences that required more substantial revisions of the representation built thus far, suggesting that comprehension breakdown was more likely here.

scholarly journals Second language processing and revision of garden-path sentences: a visual word study

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 636-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUCIA POZZAN ◽  
JOHN C. TRUESWELL
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Similar Degree ◽  
Word Study ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Garden Path ◽  
Control Networks ◽  
Online Processing

We asked whether children's well-known difficulties revising initial sentence processing commitments characterize the immature or the learning parser. Adult L2 speakers of English acted out temporarily ambiguous and unambiguous instructions. While online processing patterns indicate that L2 adults experienced garden-paths and were sensitive to referential information to a similar degree as native adults, their act-out patterns indicate increased difficulties revising initial interpretations, at rates similar to those observed for 5-year-old native children (e.g., Trueswell, Sekerina, Hill & Logrip, 1999). We propose that L2 learners’ difficulties with revision stem from increased recruitment of cognitive control networks during processing of a not fully proficient language, resulting in the reduced availability of cognitive control for parsing revisions.

scholarly journals Processingwh-dependencies in a second language: a cross-modal priming study

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Felser ◽  
Leah Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Real Time Processing ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Gap Control ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Antecedent Reactivation

This study investigates the real-time processing of wh-dependencies by advanced Greek-speaking learners of English using a cross-modal picture priming task. Participants were asked to respond to different types of picture target presented either at structurally defined gap positions, or at pre-gap control positions, while listening to sentences containing indirect-object relative clauses. Our results indicate that the learners processed the experimental sentences differently from both adult native speakers of English and monolingual English-speaking children. Contrary to what has been found for native speakers, the learners' response pattern was not influenced by individual working memory differences. Adult second language learners differed from native speakers with a relatively high reading or listening span in that they did not show any evidence of structurally based antecedent reactivation at the point of the indirect object gap. They also differed from low-span native speakers, however, in that they showed evidence of maintained antecedent activation during the processing of the experimental sentences. Whereas the localized priming effect observed in the high-span controls is indicative of trace-based antecedent reactivation in native sentence processing, the results from the Greek-speaking learners support the hypothesis that the mental representations built during non-native language processing lack abstract linguistic structure such as movement traces.

Construct operationalization, L1 effects, and context in second language processing

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 694-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALAN JUFFS
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
First Language ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Second Language Processing

Cunnings (2016) provides welcome insights into differences between native speaker (NS) sentence processing, adult non-native speaker processing (NNS), and working memory capacity (WMC) limitations. This commentary briefly raises three issues: construct operationalization; the role of first language (L1); and context.

scholarly journals Facilitating the task for second language processing research: A comparison of two testing paradigms

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 613-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. KATE MILLER
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Advanced Learners ◽  
Probe Classification

ABSTRACTThis study considers the effects of experimental task demands in research on second language sentence processing. Advanced learners and native speakers of French were presented with the same experimental sentences in two different tasks designed to probe for evidence of trace reactivation during processing: cross-modal priming (Nicol & Swinney, 1989) and probe classification during reading (Dekydtspotter, Miller, Schaefer, Chang, & Kim, 2010). Although the second language learners produced nontargetlike results on the cross-modal priming task, the probe classification during reading task revealed results suggestive of trace reactivation, which point to detailed structural representations during online sentence processing. The implications for current theories of second language sentence processing and for future research in this domain are discussed.

scholarly journals Electrophysiological correlates of second language processing

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jutta L. Mueller
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Critical Periods ◽  
Complex Sentence ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Phoneme Discrimination ◽  
On Line

The aim of this article is to provide a selective review of event-related potential (ERP) research on second language processing. As ERPs have been used in the investigation of a variety of linguistic domains, the reported studies cover different paradigms assessing processing mechanisms in the second language at various levels, ranging from phoneme discrimination to complex sentence processing. Differences between ERP patterns of first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers can help to specify and to test predictions derived from models of L2 processing or hypotheses concerning critical periods for some aspects of second language acquisition. The studies currently available suggest that ERPs are indeed sensitive to qualitative and quantitative differences in L2 speakers with regard to on-line processing.

Measuring second language proficiency with EEG synchronization: how functional cortical networks and hemispheric involvement differ as a function of proficiency level in second language speakers

2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Reiterer ◽  
Ernesto Pereda ◽  
Joydeep Bhattacharya
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Frequency Range ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Language Students

This article examines the question of whether university-based high-level foreign language and linguistic training can influence brain activation and whether different L2 proficiency groups have different brain activation in terms of lateralization and hemispheric involvement. The traditional and prevailing theory of hemispheric involvement in bilingual language processing states that bilingual and second language processing is always at least in some form connected to the right hemisphere (RH), when compared to monolingual first language processing, the classical left-hemispheric language-processing domain. A widely held specification of this traditional theory claims that especially bilinguals or second language learners in their initial phases and/or bilinguals with poor fluency and less experience rely more on RH areas when processing their L2. We investigated this neurolinguistic hypothesis with differently proficient Austrian learners of English as a second language. Two groups of L2 speakers (all Austrian German native speakers), differing in their L2 (English) language performance, were recorded on electroencephalography (EEG) during the processing of spoken English language. A short comprehension interview followed each task. The `high proficiency group' consisted of English language students who were about to complete their master's degree for English language and linguistics, while the `low proficiency group' was composed of non-language students who had only school level performance and less training in English. The age of onset of L2 learning was kept constant: 9 years for both groups. To look for cooperative network activity in the brain, EEG coherence and synchronization measures were analysed for a high EEG frequency range (gamma band). Results showed the most significant group differences in synchronization patterns within the lower gamma frequency range, with more RH involvement (extensive right-hemisphere networks) for the low proficiency group, especially when processing their L2. The results can be interpreted in favour of RH theories of second language processing since, once again, we found evidence of more RH involvement in (late) second language learners with less experience and less training in the L2. The study shows that second language training (and resulting proficiency) and/or differences in ability or state of linguistic alertness can be made visible by brain imaging using newly developed EEG-synchronization techniques as a measure.

Psycholinguistically oriented second language research

2001 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 207-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Juffs
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
Language Research ◽  
On Line

This chapter reviews recent research that investigates second language performance from the perspective of sentence processing (on-line comprehension studies) and word recognition. It concentrates on describing methods that employ reaction time measures as correlates of processing difficulty or knowledge representation. This research suggests that second language learners employ much the same on-line processing strategies as native speakers, but that the L1 can also influence L2 processing. Reaction times in lexical decision experiments have been useful in exploring the relationship between the first and second language lexicons and automatic processes in lexical access. Finally, the chapter mentions some of the problems in this line of research, in particular the issue of individual differences in working memory and technological challenges.

Theories and frameworks in second language processing

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 702-703 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANTON MALKO ◽  
LARA EHRENHOFER ◽  
COLIN PHILLIPS
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Second Language Processing

Analyzing L2 sentence processing in terms of cue-based memory retrieval is promising. But this useful general framework has yet to become a specific theory of L1-L2 differences.

Second Language Processing and Linguistic Theory

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Archibald
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Second Language Processing ◽  
Garden Path ◽  
Grammaticality Judgment ◽  
String Structure ◽  
Set Up

The distinction between representations and processes is central to most models of the cognitive science of language. Linguistic theory informs the types of representations assumed, and these representations are what are taken to be the targets of second language acquisition. Epistemologically, this is often taken to be knowledge, or knowledge-that. Techniques such as Grammaticality Judgment tasks are paradigmatic as we seek to gain insight into what a learner’s grammar looks like. Learners behave as if certain phonological, morphological, or syntactic strings (which may or may not be target-like) were well-formed. It is the task of the researcher to understand the nature of the knowledge that governs those well-formedness beliefs. Traditional accounts of processing, on the other hand, look to the real-time use of language, either in production or perception, and invoke discussions of skill or knowledge-how. A range of experimental psycholinguistic techniques have been used to assess these skills: self-paced reading, eye-tracking, ERPs, priming, lexical decision, AXB discrimination, and the like. Such online measures can show us how we “do” language when it comes to activities such as production or comprehension. There has long been a connection between linguistic theory and theories of processing as evidenced by the work of Berwick (The Grammatical Basis of Linguistic Performance). The task of the parser is to assign abstract structure to a phonological, morphological, or syntactic string; structure that does not come directly labeled in the acoustic input. Such processing studies as the Garden Path phenomenon have revealed that grammaticality and processability are distinct constructs. In some models, however, the distinction between grammar and processing is less distinct. Phillips says that “parsing is grammar,” while O’Grady builds an emergentist theory with no grammar, only processing. Bayesian models of acquisition, and indeed of knowledge, assume that the grammars we set up are governed by a principle of entropy, which governs other aspects of human behavior; knowledge and skill are combined. Exemplar models view the processing of the input as a storing of all phonetic detail that is in the environment, not storing abstract categories; the categories emerge via a process of comparing exemplars. Linguistic theory helps us to understand the processing of input to acquire new L2 representations, and the access of those representations in real time.

scholarly journals The processing of ambiguous sentences by first and second language learners of English

2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 453-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
CLAUDIA FELSER ◽  
LEAH ROBERTS ◽  
THEODORE MARINIS ◽  
REBECCA GROSS
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Phrase Structure ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
On Line ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

This study investigates the way adult second language (L2) learners of English resolve relative clause attachment ambiguities in sentences such as The dean liked the secretary of the professor who was reading a letter. Two groups of advanced L2 learners of English with Greek or German as their first language participated in a set of off-line and on-line tasks. The results indicate that the L2 learners do not process ambiguous sentences of this type in the same way as adult native speakers of English do. Although the learners' disambiguation preferences were influenced by lexical–semantic properties of the preposition linking the two potential antecedent noun phrases (of vs. with), there was no evidence that they applied any phrase structure–based ambiguity resolution strategies of the kind that have been claimed to influence sentence processing in monolingual adults. The L2 learners' performance also differs markedly from the results obtained from 6- to 7-year-old monolingual English children in a parallel auditory study, in that the children's attachment preferences were not affected by the type of preposition at all. We argue that children, monolingual adults, and adult L2 learners differ in the extent to which they are guided by phrase structure and lexical–semantic information during sentence processing.

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