Doctoral Dissertation Research: Grammatical Constraints on Second Language Processing

本论文项目将调查第二语言（L2）的实时处理与第一语言（L1）的处理相似的程度。在母语复杂结构的实时加工中，说话者利用了他们对复杂语法约束的知识。本项目考察了二语中复杂结构的加工是否也受到语法约束，以及一语的语法约束是否在二语的实时加工中起干扰作用。本研究通过语法判断任务测试了青春期后韩语和西班牙语英语学习者对英语复合句的语法知识的熟练程度。在这些研究中测试的复杂结构是那些疑问词（“填充物”）与句子后面的位置（“空白”）联系在一起，受语法限制的结构。由于与西班牙语和英语相比，韩语具有不同的语法限制，因此测试西班牙语和韩语英语学习者提供了一个机会，可以更直接地检查第一语言对英语的潜在影响。两个眼动追踪实验研究了阅读句子的详细时间过程。对比两组第二语言学习者详细的实时阅读模式，将揭示母语对二语加工的影响程度，这一点我们目前知之甚少。研究结果不仅有可能为理论辩论提供信息，也有可能为英语和其他语言作为第二语言的教学方法提供信息。

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.