The Effects of Context on the Strategies in Sentence Processing by Japanese Learners of English

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to i~vestigate whether context affects the learner's on-line sentence processing. Yoshida (in press) found that Japanese advanced learners of English processed a sentence based on lexical forms retrieved from verbs. The results of the experiment showed that transitivity and the type of the complement structures affected the learner's on-line processing. when the sentence structure of the incoming material was not consistent with the lexical form the learner expected to appear, then, they needed to reanalyze the sentence and spent longer time. In the present study context which was relevant to the experimental sentence was presented, and whether contextual information affects learner's on-line sentence processing was investigated. HOIJever, the result showed no effect of the context IJas found. The possible factors which accounted for this result were discussed. 1. On-Line Sentence Processing One of the central issues in the study of human sentence processing is what principles guide the parser. In particular, it is of interest to investigate how lexical information affects the course of the processing. Rayner, Frazier and their colleagues (e.g. Frazier, 1987; Frazier & Rayner, 1982; Rayner, Carlson, & Frazier, 1983) suggested that human senence processing is guided by structural principles (e.g. Hinimal Attachment] , and Late ClosureZ ). For example, in processing sentence (1a) and (1b), perceivers will find it more difficult to process (lb) than (1a), because the structure of (lb) is not consistent with the parser's structural decision (Minimal Attachment principle in this case). Thus, they need to reanayze the sentence, which is reflected in response time. The authors further claimed that the detailed lexical (la) The city council [vpargued [~pthe mayor's position] [ADvforcefully.]] (lb) The city council [vpargued [ s[NPthe mayor's position] [vpwas incorrect]]]. information (such as thematic roles) will come into play in the later stage. In other words, lexical information is used as a filter or a checking function. Contrary to the structural. principles, Ford, Bresnan and Kaplan (1982) proposed that each verb has some lexical forms which represent the complement