The role of language proficiency and statistical learning in on-line comprehension of syntax among bilingual adult readers
Date
2017
Authors
Chui, Yuk Ling
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Abstract
Statistical learning (SL) is the ability to identify
co-occurring regularities from the environment, and has been
implicated in learning across a range of skills, including
language. This research project investigated whether there are
associations between SL and on-line sentence processing in L1
Chinese L2 English bilinguals, and sought to examine whether
second language proficiency mediated the relationship between
visual SL and L2 language processing. To this end, two studies
were conducted. In Study 1, sixty Chinese-English bilinguals
completed a self-paced reading task in Mandarin and English,
which tested participants’ on-line processing of subject and
object relative clauses (RCs). They also completed a
nonlinguistic visual SL task and a battery of additional measures
measuring L2 English proficiency and general cognitive abilities.
The results revealed that only nonverbal intelligence predicted
L1 Chinese RCs processing, and neither visual SL capacity nor L2
proficiency predicted L2 English RCs processing. One possible
explanation is that SL is partially modality-specific. Therefore,
an auditory SL task was employed in addition to visual SL task in
Study 2. In Study 2, fifty-two native Mandarin-speaking adults
completed tests of visual and auditory SL, a self-paced reading
task measuring the online processing of Mandarin relative
clauses, and measures of general cognitive abilities. The results
showed that auditory SL capacity independently predicted reading
times in the self-paced reading task. Visual SL was also related
to language processing, although the effect was marginal. The
findings from Study 2 suggest that individual differences in
adults’ capacity for SL are associated with on-line processing
of Chinese.
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