An Analysis on Chinese EFL Learners’ Understanding of “Direct Object/Sentence Complement” Garden Path Sentences

Abstract

This study explores the comprehension of Direct Object/Sentence Complement Garden Path sentences among Chinese EFL learners of different proficiency levels, as examined through online questionnaires featuring multiple introspective tests and judgment tasks. A total of 80 respondents participated in the survey, including 38 high proficiency level and 42 low proficiency level English EFL learners. The results indicated that due to a tendency among Chinese EFL learners to select interpretations with fewer attachment nodes, both groups exhibited garden path phenomena in sentence comprehension. Furthermore, following the garden path phenomena, both groups successfully resolved local ambiguities. However, the disambiguation accuracy was higher in the advanced group, corroborating the influence of language proficiency on the capability to reinterpret sentences. Ultimately, this research aims to further probe the underlying mechanisms in the comprehension of unique English sentence structures among learners, thus providing insights conducive to future English instruction and language learning.