加工速度对晚期第二语言学习者句法加工的影响

The Influence of Processing Speed on Syntactic Processing for Late Second Language Learners

两个实验通过操纵句子呈现的速度,考察加工速度因素对于晚期第二语言学习者句法加工的影响。实验1采用视觉方式呈现句子,实验2采用听觉方式呈现句子。被试的母语为汉语,第二语言为英语,属于晚期第二语言学习者,实验任务为句法判断。两个实验的结果表明,加工速度缓慢是导致晚期第二语言学习者句法加工困难的重要因素之一。加工速度缓慢对第二语言句法加工的消极影响,不是局限于少数一两种句法形式,而是作用于多数句法形式。研究还发现,视觉和听觉两种呈现方式下,不同句法形式的加工难度既存在共性的一面,也存在差异性的一面。

The present study presents two experiments that investigated the influence of sentence presentation speed on English syntactic processing of late Chinese - English bilingual in order to test second language （L2） processing speed on the influence L2 syntactic pro- cessing. In Experiment 1, sentences were displayed word by word in a computer screen with two different speeds in visual presentation. One condition was fast speed of presentation, that is to say, each word was presented for 250ms ; the other was slow speed of presentation, that presentation time for each word was 500ms. Sixty university students who are Chinese learners of L2 English participated to read these sentences, thirty students in each group. There were 8 different forms of syntactic structure, including article, regular and irregu- lar past tense, regular and irregular plurals, third person singular, present progressive and word order. All the sentences of 8 difl^rent forms of syntactic structure were divided into two forms ： one is correct and the other is wrong forms. Each correct and wrong from for ev- ery syntactic structure has 16 sentences. Grammatical judgment task was used. In Experiment 2, participants were instructed to listen to sentences with normal and rapid speed in auditory way. The rapid speed of reading is 1.5 times as normal. Fifty - two university students who are Chinese learners of L2 English participated the Experiment 2, twenty - six students in each group. The sentences are the same as the Experiment 1. Grammatical judgment task was also used. The results of two experiments indicated that processing speed played a critical role in L2 syntactic processing. Specifically speak- ing, eight different forms of syntactic structure were all influenced by the processing speed. This is to say, the faster sentences dis- played, the worse syntactic processing was performed. The difference of processing difficulty exists among different syntactic structures ： itg easier for present progressive to process, whereas much harder for article and irregular plurals both in the visual and auditory presen- tation conditions. However, in the visual presentation condition, Chinese learners of L2 English had more difficult judging irregular past tense than others. On the other hand, in the presentation condition, Chinese learners of L2 English had more difficult judging third per- son singular than others. In conclusion, the present study provides further evidence that processing speed is an important factor to influence L2 syntactic pro- cessing. These results suggested that the part of the reason for L2 syntactic processing difficulty may be attributed to the slow processing speed for the late second language learners.