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Published on: September 5, 2019
Anaphoric Interpretation Among Chinese EFL Learners: Evidence from a Text-Based Approach
Leyi Qian1, Rongrong Huang2, Yan Cheng2
1School of Foreign Studies, Hefei University of Technology, No. 485, Danxia Road, Hefei, 230601, Anhui, China. qianleyi@hfut.edu.cn.
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research
|June 26, 2026
Summary
Chinese EFL learners showed low accuracy in interpreting various anaphoric relations, with topic influencing performance more than proficiency. This study offers insights into anaphoric interpretation for educators and researchers.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Applied Linguistics
- Second Language Acquisition
Background:
- Anaphoric interpretation is crucial for text comprehension.
- Previous studies have largely overlooked Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) in analyzing anaphora.
- Anaphora is complex, involving various cohesive devices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate Chinese EFL learners' anaphoric interpretation using an SFL framework.
- To examine the role of different anaphora subcategories (coreference and non-coreference) at inter- and intra-sentential levels.
- To identify factors influencing anaphoric interpretation accuracy.
Main Methods:
- A study involving 132 Chinese EFL learners.
- Two tasks assessing the interpretation of six anaphora subcategories within two narrative genres.
- Analysis of anaphoric relations from an SFL perspective.
Main Results:
- Low accuracy was observed across multiple anaphoric relations.
- Learner proficiency did not significantly predict performance.
- Significant effects of within-genre topic on interpretation accuracy were found.
Conclusions:
- Anaphoric interpretation remains challenging for Chinese EFL learners.
- Textual and contextual factors, such as genre and topic, play a significant role.
- Findings have implications for teaching and learning English as a foreign language.
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