The relation of Working Memory capacity of japanese EFL leamers with the processing of syntactically ambiguous sentences

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The purposes of this study are as follows :(1) to specify the type of processing that places a burden on the Wbrking Memory(WM) of Japanese EFL learners and(2) to explore whether WM capacity influences syntactic parsing strategies, by using temporarily ambiguous prepositional phrases. The main results show that(1) syntactic processing places a heavy cognitive load on WM resources, thereby leaving few resources for storage ftlnctions, and also that the proficiency of Japanese EFL learners largely depends on the degree of automatization of syntactic processmg.(2) In processing temporarily ambiguous sentences with prepositional phrases, Japanese EFL learners follow the Minimal Attachment Strategy and deploy pragnlatic cues while parsing sentences, irrespective of WM capacity.