The Interpretation of Discourse-Linked Wh-Phrases by EFL Learners

This study investigates the processing of personal pronouns (he/she) in English when the possible antecedent is either a discourse-linked which N phrase or a non-discourse-linked who phrase, using a self-paced sentence processing technique. Data collected from 41 Korean learners of English were anal...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of Asia TEFL Vol. 9; no. 1
Main Author Soo-Ok Kweon
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Seoul Asia TEFL 01.04.2012
Subjects
Antecedents
English as a second language
English as a second language learning
Korean language
Native speakers
Phrases
Pronouns
Second language learning theories
Sentences
Syntactic processing
Wh phrases
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Summary:This study investigates the processing of personal pronouns (he/she) in English when the possible antecedent is either a discourse-linked which N phrase or a non-discourse-linked who phrase, using a self-paced sentence processing technique. Data collected from 41 Korean learners of English were analyzed in terms of the reading time for a pronoun following a wh-phrase. Learners preferred a d-linked wh-phrase (which N) rather than a non-d-linked wh-phrase (who) as the antecedent of a pronoun. This was similar to the results from native speakers of English in Frazier and Clifton's (2002) study, but learners differed from native speakers based on different types of constructions used in the test. A unique result of the embedding effect in which embedded sentences were easier than matrix sentences were observed and implications of second language acquisition theory are discussed based on this result.
ISSN:1738-3102
2466-1511