Kenichi Hashimoto

This study aims to examine the knowledge of L2 learners' verb transitivity in the target language and how they utilize the knowledge in real time sentence comprehension. To achieve the goal, we conducted a sentence production task and a self-paced reading task. The results suggest that there is a gap between the verb transitivity knowledge that the learners possess and how the knowledge is utilized in the sentence comprehension processes. It is also suggested that the efficiency of the utilization of lexical knowledge increases as learners become more proficient in the target language.

The present study examines the relationship between syntactic processing of relative clause sentences in L2 English and learners' proficiency of the target language. Two groups of Japanese learners of English at different proficiency levels, as well as a control group of English native speakers, participated in a self-paced reading experiment. They read subject or object relative clause sentences which are either lexically demanding or not-demanding. The results showed that the reading time difference between the two structures was evident only for the advanced-level learners and in the sentences with minimum lexical demands. The intermediate-level learners failed to show the reading time difference, regardless of the lexical demands of the sentences. The finding was attributed to the heavy lexical demands for the intermediate learners, which could consume most of the processing resources and leave few for syntactic processes. Implications for models of L2 syntactic processing and L2 grammar instruction are elicited based on the findings.

This study investigated the use of verb subcategorization information during sentence comprehension by Japanese EFL learners, using a self-paced reading task with the embedded anomaly technique. In order to observe when the syntactic structure was determined, filler-gap sentences were constructed as stimuli. Four types of verbs were used: simple transitive verbs, dative verbs, infinitive complement verbs and intransitive preference verbs. The plausibility of the direct object of the embedded verb was also manipulated. The results demonstrate that the high proficiency learners utilize verb subcategorization information of simple transitive verb; however they do not use it automatically as natives. The results also indicate that they cannot utilize that of other types of verbs. The low proficiency learners show the difficulty in processing the sentences with long-distance dependencies.

The present study aims to examine the development of automaticity in second language (L2) sentence processing from the viewpoint of the efficiency in the utilization of verb transitivity information in real time L2 sentence comprehension. To achieve this goal, a self-paced reading task was conducted with Japanese university students at different proficiency levels in L2 English, using a type of garden-path sentences as stimuli. The predicted garden-path effect was not evident for lower-level learners while higher-level learners showed a significant, though weaker than the native speaker control group, processing effect. The findings suggest that it is difficult even for advanced-level L2 learners to fully utilize verb transitivity information in real time sentence comprehension.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the difficulties Japanese EFL learners encounter in reading various post-modifications. First language (L1) psycholinguistic studies show that difficulties to comprehend sentences with relative clauses are attributed to processing difficulty of these structures. It is possible that the difficulties Japanese EFL learners encounter in reading such complex sentences can be also caused by processing difficulty, but little research has been conducted so far to examine this possibility. In this study we conducted a self-paced reading task to examine how Japanese EFL learners process English sentences with post-modification structures. The results of our experiment suggest that the ease/difficulty in comprehending these sentences for Japanese EFL learners also depends on processing difficulty. The detailed reading time analyses reveal that particular regions in the sentences are responsible for learners' processing difficulty. It could be a result of the violation of the canonical word order and/or the absence of relativizers.