Doctoral Dissertation Research: Processing of English Relative Clauses By Adult L2 Learners of Different Working Memory Capacity

有效而流利地使用成年后学到的第二语言是一项艰巨的任务。本研究旨在探讨成人学习者对第二语言的处理与对母语的处理有何不同。本研究所解决的问题是：（i）成人第二语言学习者是否以与母语者相同的方式使用不同类型的语言信息，如词序和生命线索;以及（ii）工作记忆容量的个体差异如何影响母语与第二语言处理中每种信息的使用。在Tania Ionin的指导下，并在国家科学基金会的支持下，Soondo Baek女士将调查母语人士和成年第二语言英语学习者对英语关系从句的处理。以前的研究表明，宾语关系从句（例如，参议员攻击的记者）比主语关系从句（例如，（袭击参议员的记者）研究还表明，名词的词汇语义属性调节了两类关系从句的加工难度。例如，带有无生命中心名词和有生命关系从句主语的宾语关系从句（例如，导演看过的电影）并不比相应的主语关系从句更难处理，而那些具有有生命的中心名词和无生命的关系从句主语（例如，这部电影的导演很高兴）比主语关系从句更难处理。本研究旨在测试成人第二语言学习者是否对句法复杂性和词汇语义信息敏感，前者表现为关系从句中的主宾不对称，后者表现为相关名词的生命性。此外，本研究还考察了不同工作记忆容量和不同二语水平的学习者对这两类信息的敏感程度的差异。研究结果将有助于更好地理解（一）句子处理机制采用的母语和第二语言在成年人学习和（ii）负责的成人学习者在处理第二语言的个体差异范围广泛的因素。本研究的结果对第二语言教学也有潜在的指导意义，因为它关注了学习者在语言处理过程中的个体差异。

Using a second language learned in adulthood efficiently and fluently is a formidable task. This project investigates how the processing of a second language by adult learners differs from the processing of a native language. The questions addressed by this research are (i) whether adult second language learners make use of different types of linguistic information, such as word order and animacy cues, in the same way as native speakers; and (ii) how individual differences in working memory capacity affect the use of each type of information in the processing of a native vs. a second language. Under the direction of Tania Ionin and with support from the National Science Foundation, Ms. Soondo Baek will investigate the processing of English relative clauses by native speakers and adult second language learners of English. Previous research shows that object relative clauses (e.g., the reporter who the senator attacked) are harder to interpret than subject relative clauses (e.g., the reporter who attacked the senator). It has also been shown that lexical-semantic properties of nouns modulate the degree of processing difficulty of the two types of relative clauses. For example, object relative clauses with an inanimate head noun and an animate relative clause subject (e.g., the movie that the director watched) are no more difficult to process than corresponding subject relative clauses, whereas those with an animate head noun and an inanimate relative clause subject (e.g., the director that the movie pleased) are harder to process than subject relative clauses. This project tests whether adult second language learners are sensitive both to syntactic complexity, as represented by the subject-object asymmetry in relative clauses, and to lexical-semantic information, as represented by the animacy of the relevant nouns. Furthermore, this project examines how individual learners of different working memory capacity and different L2 proficiency differ from one another in the degree of sensitivity to these two types of information. The results will contribute to a better understanding of (i) sentence processing mechanisms employed for a native language and for a second language learned in adulthood and (ii) the factors responsible for the wide range of individual variability in the processing of a second language by adult learners. The results of this research also have potential pedagogical implications for second language teaching, through its attention to individual learner differences in language processing.