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Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks

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Published on: September 5, 2019

Processing morphologically complex words in second-language learners: the effect of proficiency.

Lijuan Liang¹, Baoguo Chen¹

¹School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.

Acta Psychologica

|May 15, 2014

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Second language learners

Keywords:

Declarative/Procedural model L2 proficiency Morphologically complex words Rule-based decomposition Whole-word storage

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Area of Science:

Psycholinguistics
Neuroscience
Second Language Acquisition

Background:

Understanding how second language (L2) learners process complex words is crucial for effective language pedagogy.
Morphologically complex words present unique processing challenges for L2 learners.
Proficiency levels significantly impact cognitive mechanisms in L2 word processing.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the developmental changes in L2 morphological word processing with increasing proficiency.
To differentiate the cognitive strategies employed by less proficient versus highly proficient L2 learners.
To examine the role of morphological decomposition versus lexical storage in L2 word recognition.

Main Methods:

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from L2 learners at different proficiency levels.
A repetition priming paradigm was employed with morphological, semantic, and form-related word pairs.
Priming effects were analyzed by comparing ERP responses to related versus unrelated primes.

Main Results:

Highly proficient L2 learners showed morphological priming (N400 reduction) within 350-550 ms.
Less proficient L2 learners did not exhibit morphological priming in the N400 range.
Both groups showed form priming (400-500 ms) and semantic effects (450-500 ms), indicating sensitivity to form and meaning.

Conclusions:

Highly proficient L2 learners utilize rule-based morphological decomposition.
Less proficient L2 learners rely more on lexical storage, lacking decomposition mechanisms.
L2 word processing strategies evolve with proficiency, supporting the declarative/procedural model.