Doctoral Dissertation Research: Grammatical Constraints on Second Language Processing

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This dissertation project will investigate the degree to which real time processing of a second language (L2) is similar to the processing of one's first language (L1). In the real time processing of complex structures in L1, speakers exploit their knowledge of sophisticated grammatical constraints. The present project examines whether the processing of complex structures in L2 is also grammatically constrained, and whether the grammatical constraints of L1 play an interfering role in the real time processing of L2. The study tests proficiency-matched post-puberty Korean and Spanish learners of English as L2 regarding their grammatical knowledge of English complex sentences, as measured by a grammaticality judgment task. The complex structures tested in these studies are those where a question word (the "filler") is associated with a position (the "gap") later in the sentence, subject to grammatical constraints. Since Korean exhibits different grammatical constraints as compared to Spanish and English, testing Spanish and Korean-speaking learners of English provides an opportunity to examine the potential influence from the first language on English more directly. Two eye-tracking experiments investigate the detailed time course of reading a sentence. Comparison of the detailed real-time reading patterns in the two groups of second language learners will shed light on the degree of L1 influence on L2 processing, of which we currently have little understanding. The results have the potential to inform not only theoretical debates, but also pedagogical approaches to teaching of English and other languages as L2.