Doctoral Dissertation Research: Grammatical Constraints on Second Language Processing

本论文将研究第二语言(L2)的实时加工与母语(L1)的实时加工的相似性程度。在第一语言复杂结构的实时处理过程中，说话者利用他们对复杂语法约束的知识。本研究考察了二语中复杂结构的加工是否也受到语法限制，以及第一语言的语法限制是否对二语的实时加工起到了干扰作用。这项研究测试了青春期后韩国和西班牙英语学习者作为第二语言的熟练程度匹配的韩国和西班牙学习者，通过语法判断任务来衡量他们对英语复合句的语法知识。在这些研究中测试的复杂结构是那些在语法限制下，疑问词(填充词)与句子中后面的位置(空隙)相关联的结构。由于与西班牙语和英语相比，韩语表现出不同的语法限制，测试西班牙语和韩语英语学习者提供了一个机会，更直接地考察第一语言对英语的潜在影响。两个眼球跟踪实验考察了阅读句子的详细时间过程。对比两组第二语言学习者的实时阅读模式，将有助于揭示母语对二语加工的影响程度，目前我们对此知之甚少。这些结果不仅可能为理论辩论提供信息，也可能为英语和其他语言作为第二语言的教学提供参考。

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.