PROCESSING ASYMMETRY BETWEEN SUBJECT AND OBJECT RELATIVE CLAUSES IN ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Year 2013, Issue: 29, 0 - 0, 26.12.2016

Talat Bulut Hüseyin Uysal , Denise Hsien Wu

Abstract

ORCs are generally
found to be more difficult than SRCs in L1 English processing literature. This eye-tracking
study tests this asymmetry in L2 English in terms of reading patterns and
accuracy, and reports longer overall reading times, regressions and lower
comprehension accuracy for ORCs. This indicates processing ORCs is more
difficult for L2 English speakers with L1 Turkish. The incremental processing
of the RCs by L2 speakers reflects delayed effects of difficulty, contrasting
with previous findings in L1 literature. The findings provide further evidence
for the processing disadvantage posed by ORCs, and highlight the differences
between L1 and L2 processing dynamics.

Keywords

language processing, relative clause, SLA, parsing, eye-tracking

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