Processing focus in native and non-native speakers of English: an eye-tracking study in the visual world paradigm

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Haoyan Ge ◽  
Iris Mulders ◽  
Xin Kang ◽  
Aoju Chen ◽  
Virginia Yip
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Visual World ◽  
Visual World Paradigm ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Multiple Interfaces ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
The Difference

Abstract This “visual-world” eye-tracking study investigated the processing of focus in English sentences with preverbal only by L2 learners whose L1 was either Cantonese or Dutch, compared to native speakers of English. Participants heard only-sentences with prosodic prominence either on the object or on the verb and viewed pictures containing an object-focus alternative and a verb-focus alternative. We found that both L2 groups showed delayed eye movements to the alternative of focus, which was different from the native speakers of English. Moreover, Dutch learners of English were even slower than Cantonese learners of English in directing fixations to the alternative of focus. We interpreted the delayed fixation patterns in both L2 groups as evidence of difficulties in integrating multiple interfaces in real time. Furthermore, the similarity between English and Dutch in the use of prosody to mark focus hindered Dutch learners’ L2 processing of focus, whereas the difference between English and Cantonese in the realization of focus facilitated Cantonese learners’ processing of focus in English.

Generating predictions based on semantic categories in a second language: A case of numeral classifiers in Japanese

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanako Mitsugi
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Facilitative Effect ◽  
Visual World ◽  
Numeral Classifiers ◽  
Native Japanese Speakers ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
Japanese Speakers

AbstractThis study examined whether native Japanese speakers and second language (L2) speakers of Japanese use information from numeral classifiers to predict possible referents. Using a visual-world eye-tracking paradigm, we asked participants to identify picture objects that take either the same or different numeral classifiers while they listened to Japanese sentences referring to one object. The results showed that native speakers looked to the target predictively more often when the classifier was informative about noun identity than when it was not. L2 learners also showed a facilitative effect of classifiers that was comparable to that of native speakers. In addition, we found that the level of proficiency played a role in the speed of real-time referent resolutions when the participants heard the target nouns in audio input. However, such an effect was not observed during the period when the predictions were generated.

scholarly journals Processing of discourse anaphors by L2 speakers of English

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 38-80
Author(s):  
Derya Cokal ◽  
Patrick Sturt ◽  
Fernanda Ferreira
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Sentence Completion ◽  
Linear Distance ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Cognitive Information ◽  
On Line ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
The Difference

This study examines the cognitive information processes that Turkish advanced non-native speakers of English employ in assigning the referents of this and that in reading and production. We predicted that these speakers would assign referents in relation to the linear distance between discourse-linked anaphors and their referents in the discourse (i.e., based on spatial-temporal features of this and that), which means they would prefer this for a referent mentioned in the proximal chunk of text and that for a referent mentioned in the distal chunk. We also predicted that readers would not assign referents based on the focusing features of this and that. We tested our predictions in two eye- tracking reading experiments and one sentence-completion experiment. Turkish L2 learners’ on- line reference resolution in reading experiments was different from that of English native speakers that were tested in a previous study. In the eye-tracking experiments, Turkish L2 learners did not show evidence of using a recency strategy to resolve referential ambiguity and did not use spatial- temporal or focusing features of this and that to assign referents. On the other hand, in the sentence- completion experiment, the effect of prominence of discourse structure in the use of this and that was qualitatively similar to that of English native speakers, but their indexing of the degree of focus of this and that was different. Our results suggest that the difference between Turkish L2 learners and English native speakers is due to L1 interference.

scholarly journals Communication Strategies Used by Iranian EFL Learners and English Native Speakers: Gender in Focus

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Layla Hajiesmaeli ◽  
Laya Heidari Darani
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Communication Strategies ◽  
Numerical Data ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
The Difference

<p>This article was intended to explore the frequency and order of communication strategies used by Iranian male and female EFL earners as well as English native speakers while facing communication breakdowns. Furthermore, it was aimed to investigate the difference between native speakers and non-native speakers of English in their use of communication strategies. In addition, it was probed whether gender had any effects on the use of these strategies among native and non-native speakers. To this end, the data were collected through the communication strategy questionnaire distributed among 30 male and female Iranian intermediate EFL learners and 15 English native speakers. The design of this study was a quantitative one in which the questionnaire and thus numerical data were applied. To analyze the data, Cronbach alpha and independent-samples t-tests were used. The results indicated that non-verbal and social affective strategies were the most frequent strategies used by non-native speakers and native speakers of English, respectively. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between male and female Iranian EFL learners, but a significant difference between male and female English native speakers were seen. It can be concluded that language proficiency can contribute to the type and frequency of communications strategies which are used non-native speakers; likewise, it can play a significant role in gender differences in language use.<em></em></p>

scholarly journals The Comprehension of Counterfactual Conditionals: Evidence From Eye-Tracking in the Visual World Paradigm

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Orenes ◽  
Juan A. García-Madruga ◽  
Isabel Gómez-Veiga ◽  
Orlando Espino ◽  
Ruth M. J. Byrne
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Visual World ◽  
Visual World Paradigm ◽  
Counterfactual Conditionals

scholarly journals Divergence point analyses of visual world data: applications to bilingual research

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Kate Stone ◽  
Sol Lago ◽  
Daniel J. Schad
Keyword(s):  
Confidence Interval ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Multiple Comparisons ◽  
Individual Factors ◽  
Visual World ◽  
World Data ◽  
Divergence Point ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Divergence Points

Abstract Much work has shown that differences in the timecourse of language processing are central to comparing native (L1) and non-native (L2) speakers. However, estimating the onset of experimental effects in timecourse data presents several statistical problems including multiple comparisons and autocorrelation. We compare several approaches to tackling these problems and illustrate them using an L1-L2 visual world eye-tracking dataset. We then present a bootstrapping procedure that allows not only estimation of an effect onset, but also of a temporal confidence interval around this divergence point. We describe how divergence points can be used to demonstrate timecourse differences between speaker groups or between experimental manipulations, two important issues in evaluating L2 processing accounts. We discuss possible extensions of the bootstrapping procedure, including determining divergence points for individual speakers and correlating them with individual factors like L2 exposure and proficiency. Data and an analysis tutorial are available at https://osf.io/exbmk/.

USING EYE-TRACKING TO INVESTIGATE TOPICS IN L2 ACQUISITION AND L2 PROCESSING

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Roberts ◽  
Anna Siyanova-Chanturia
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Tracking Data ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Tracking Method ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Major Benefit ◽  
The Moment

Second language (L2) researchers are becoming more interested in both L2 learners’ knowledge of the target language and how that knowledge is put to use during real-time language processing. Researchers are therefore beginning to see the importance of combining traditional L2 research methods with those that capture the moment-by-moment interpretation of the target language, such as eye-tracking. The major benefit of the eye-tracking method is that it can tap into real-time (or online) comprehension processes during the uninterrupted processing of the input, and thus, the data can be compared to those elicited by other, more metalinguistic tasks to offer a broader picture of language acquisition and processing. In this article, we present an overview of the eye-tracking technique and illustrate the method with L2 studies that show how eye-tracking data can be used to (a) investigate language-related topics and (b) inform key debates in the fields of L2 acquisition and L2 processing.

scholarly journals Spared bottom-up but impaired top-down interactive effects during naturalistic language processing in schizophrenia: evidence from the visual-world paradigm

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (08) ◽  
pp. 1335-1345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh Rabagliati ◽  
Nathaniel Delaney-Busch ◽  
Jesse Snedeker ◽  
Gina Kuperberg
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Visual World ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Lexical Representations ◽  
Spoken Language Processing ◽  
Level Information

AbstractBackgroundPeople with schizophrenia process language in unusual ways, but the causes of these abnormalities are unclear. In particular, it has proven difficult to empirically disentangle explanations based on impairments in the top-down processing of higher level information from those based on the bottom-up processing of lower level information.MethodsTo distinguish these accounts, we used visual-world eye tracking, a paradigm that measures spoken language processing during real-world interactions. Participants listened to and then acted out syntactically ambiguous spoken instructions (e.g. ‘tickle the frog with the feather’, which could either specify how to tickle a frog, or which frog to tickle). We contrasted how 24 people with schizophrenia and 24 demographically matched controls used two types of lower level information (prosody and lexical representations) and two types of higher level information (pragmatic and discourse-level representations) to resolve the ambiguous meanings of these instructions. Eye tracking allowed us to assess how participants arrived at their interpretation in real time, while recordings of participants’ actions measured how they ultimately interpreted the instructions.ResultsWe found a striking dissociation in participants’ eye movements: the two groups were similarly adept at using lower level information to immediately constrain their interpretations of the instructions, but only controls showed evidence of fast top-down use of higher level information. People with schizophrenia, nonetheless, did eventually reach the same interpretations as controls.ConclusionsThese data suggest that language abnormalities in schizophrenia partially result from a failure to use higher level information in a top-down fashion, to constrain the interpretation of language as it unfolds in real time.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document