On the distribution of English long-distance Wh-movement in complex syntactic conditions by Korean Learners

Abstract

This article investigates the correlation between avoidance strategies and the activation of English long-distance (LD) wh-movement among L2 Korean learners. To expand the pool of resources that have already been produced and accepted on this subject, this experimental task was carried out in several complicated syntactic conditions such as definiteness and grammatical position, weight of the wh-phrase, and negative barrier. The data were elicited from 30 Korean learners who were divided into high and low-proficiency groups based on their TOEIC scores, with the aim of providing more independent results. This article suggests that L2 learners, in the process of the English LD wh-movement, are ineluctably bound to use avoidance strategies due to the difficulties related to derivational complexity and associated processing pressures.