A Study of Second Language Processing of Relative Clause and Wh-question Constructions by Japanese Learners of English

本研究的目的是阐明成人日语者在二语英语习得中理解句子时所使用的即时加工策略的类型。特别是，由于日语和英语之间的巨大差异，关系从句和疑问句的结构被认为是最难习得的结构之一，我们将通过一个在线实验来考察二语学习者理解句子结构的反应时间。使用刺激，如The lady who（m）I employed last month works hard和 *This is the house which we heard the news that Dick bought，后者是不合语法的，因为违反了邻接原则，参与者在自定步调的移动窗口条件下阅读句子。在这种技术中，他们坐在电脑屏幕前，每个句子都呈现在电脑屏幕上，一次一个单词/短语。单词/短语出现在从左到右移动的句子中的线性位置。按下按钮后，前一个单词/短语消失）。这给出了一个衡量参与者理解句子的速度和决定句子中哪些点是难以处理的。参与者被分为几个级别的基础上，他们的英语水平，衡量牛津大学分级考试。由于刺激、程序设置、找到足够的参与者（特别是高级和非日语英语学习者）等方面的缺陷，实验以试点实验结束，因此我们无法获得最初预期的结果。问题越来越多，因此，我们必须继续制定研究计划，并在足够数量的参与者的情况下调查第二语言习得的机制。为此，我们正在计划一项新的实验。

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the types of real-time processing strategies adult Japanese speakers use to comprehend sentences in the acquisition of L2 English. Especially, focusing on the constructions of relative clauses and wh-questions which are considered one of the most difficult structures for them to acquire due to the great difference between Japanese and English, we will examine sentence processing by L2 learners using an on-line experiment in which we measure their reaction times to understand the constructions.The experiment was as follows. Using stimuli like The lady who(m) I employed last month works hard and *This is the house which we heard the news that Dick bought, the latter of which is ungrammatical because of the violation of Subjacency, the participants read the sentences in the self-paced moving window condition. In this technique, they sit in front of a computer screen and each sentence is presented on the computer screen, one word/phrase at a time. The word/phrase appear in linear position in the sentence moving across the screen from left to right. Upon pressing the pushbutton, previous word/phrase disappears). This gives a measure of how fast participants understand the sentence and a decision of which points in the sentence are difficult to process.Participants are classified into several levels ob the basis of their English proficiency as measured by Oxford Placement Test. The experiment ended up with a pilot experiment due defects in stimuli, setting of program, finding enough participants (especially, advanced and non-Japanese learners of English), so that we could not have results we had expected at the outset. Problems are piling up, and hence, we have to continue to elaborate a study plan and investigate the mechanisms of L2 acquisition with the sufficient number of participants. To this end, we are now planning a new experiment.