The effect of Japanese proficiency and lexical accessing speed on the comprehension of indirect speech act in L2 Japanese

Abstract

This study examined the comprehension accuracy scores and response time of indirect speech act by 63 native Chinese speakers learning Japanese, and discussed the effect from Japanese proficiency, as well as the speed of lexical access. The results showed that: (1) Japanese proficiency effects the accuracy rate of indirect speech act, the higher the Japanese proficiency, the higher the accuracy rate. However, there is no clear linear relationship between the learners' Japanese proficiency and the indirect speech act's response time. (2) The lexical accessing speed effects the learners' response time of indirect speech act, the faster the accessing speed is, the shorter the indirect speech acts' response time. The lexical accessing speed also affects the comprehension accuracy rate of the high-level learners. The faster the lexical accessing speed of the high-level learners, the higher the comprehension accuracy rate.