We Could Have Loved and Lost. Or We Never Could Have Love at All: Syntactic Misanalysis in L2 Sentence Processing

Autor/inn/en	Conroy, Mark A.; Cupples, Linda
Titel	We Could Have Loved and Lost. Or We Never Could Have Love at All: Syntactic Misanalysis in L2 Sentence Processing
Quelle	In: Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32 (2011) 4, S.523-552 (30 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0272-2631
DOI	10.1017/S0272263110000252
Schlagwörter	Sentences; Native Speakers; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Language Processing; Grammar; Syntax; Error Patterns; Verbs; Internet; Task Analysis; Error Analysis (Language); Reading Rate + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Sentence analysis; Satzanalyse; Muttersprachler; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Sprachverarbeitung; Grammatik; Fehlertyp; Aufgabenanalyse; Error analysis; Language; Fehleranalyse; Reading readiness; Reading speed; Lesegeschwindigkeit
Abstract	This study investigated sentence-processing strategies adopted by advanced nonnative speakers (NNSs) and native speakers (NSs) of English in the context of an English structure with which NNSs reportedly have an acquisition difficulty (e.g., Swan & Smith, 2001)--namely, modal perfect (MP). Participants read MP sentences such as "He could have worked at the shoe factory" and closely related analogous sentences (e.g., "He could have work at the shoe factory"), and reading times and errors were measured in an online grammaticality-judgment task. It was hypothesized that NSs would have a processing preference for MP sentences compared to the analogues, reflecting the primacy of syntactic information in NS processing and a preference for late closure, whereas NNSs would show no such preference because they rely less on syntactic information when processing sentences. The results revealed, however, that both NSs and NNSs read MP sentences more quickly and with fewer errors than the closely related analogues, consistent with a processing preference for MP sentences. Both groups were also influenced by word-category frequency information, which moderated, but did not fundamentally alter, their syntactic preference for MP. The significance of these findings is discussed in terms of models of second-language sentence processing and NNSs' reported MP acquisition difficulty. (As Provided).
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Update	2017/4/10