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L2 PROCESSING OF LINGUISTIC AND NONLINGUISTIC INFORMATION

L2 SPEAKERS USE DEFINITENESS IF REAL-WORLD KNOWLEDGE IS UNUSABLE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2021

Hyunah Ahn Open the ORCID record for Hyunah Ahn [Opens in a new window]
Hyunah Ahn*
Affiliation:
Seoul National University
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Hyunah Ahn, Department of English Language and Literature, College of Humanities, Seoul National University, Gwanak-ro Gwanak-gu, Seoul, Korea. E-mail: prosodygal@snu.ac.kr
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Abstract

This study investigates how linguistic and nonlinguistic information interacts in second language (L2) sentence processing. Previous studies argued that L2 behaviors might stem from how L2 speakers rely more on one type of information over another. However, direct attempts have not been made to test the (dis)agreement of different information types. To fill this gap, the present study explored the integration of definiteness and real-world knowledge. Experiment 1 showed that both first language (L1) speakers (n = 34) and advanced L2 speakers (n = 49) could use definiteness to predict unmentioned referents, but intermediate L2 speakers could not (n = 35). After confirming that L1 and L2 speakers shared the same real-world knowledge, Experiment 2 (n (L1) = 36, n (L2) = 43) showed that the two groups’ behaviors differed when linguistic and nonlinguistic information had to be processed simultaneously. The findings suggest that L2 speakers can process linguistic information in a targetlike manner only in the absence of usable nonlinguistic information.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , May 2022 , pp. 507 - 535
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© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

This paper was funded by the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii and a Language Learning dissertation grant. Data collection in Seoul was possible thanks to the Department of English Language and Literature at Seoul National University, allowing me space to run experiments. The experiments were part of my dissertation work, which benefitted greatly from countless hours of discussions with my dissertation supervisor, Dr. William O’Grady. I would also like to thank all three reviewers for their insightful comments on earlier drafts of this paper and the editor-in-chief and the handling editor for their prompt and efficient help with the manuscript. All errors are mine.

The author declares no potential conflicts of interest concerning the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

The experiments in this article earned an Open Materials badge for transparent practices. The materials are available at https://www.iris-database.org/iris/app/home/detail?id=york:939285

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