Syntactic Priming in Second Language Processing: Evidence From Oral Sentences Production of Chinese College Students

• In Event: Multimodality and Multi-Perspectives of Language/Reading Difficulties: From Pathological Intervention to Neurophysiological Optimization

Abstract

1. Objectives
Certain filler-gap constructions force the listener to adapt parsing expectations in order to avoid garden paths. Unlike much work on syntactic priming, the target here is comprehension speed and accuracy and not production. First, the operationalization of the syntactic priming (SP) framework was examined to explore whether and to which extent the SP mechanism benefits best for learning. Second, what is the underlying principle of SP learning in terms of whether one of the two alternatives (error-making or self-generated revision) benefit best for learning?

2.Perspectives
There are two competing hypotheses: one is that learning is based on error and the more the error the more the learning. The other is that learning is based on revision and if you can compute a nice revision, you learn more. The expected results support the latter view.

3.Methods
There are three groups of 20 students per condition. Among them, 10 were advanced English skills, and 10 with non-advanced English skills. They participated in a series of three studies. In-Study1, participants were required to describe the action in the picture in their own words directly, within 1-2 mins. In-Study2, experimenter described the action in the corresponding pictures with the 20 priming sentences. Participants just listened to those sentences first, and then they were required to describe the action in the picture in their own words directly, within 1-2 minutes. In-study3, after the experimenter describing those pictures with corresponding prime sentences for the participant, participants were required to repeat the prime sentence first. After the repetition, they began to describe the action in the picture in their own words, within 1-2 minutes.

4.Data sources
We have created coding rubrics for the students’ oral productions, focusing on the same degree of error-making or self-generated modification. We also classified the students’ learning in syntactic formats in terms of three categories: active condition vs. passive condition, transitive vs. dative sentences, and tense and aspects usage. The proportions of error-making and self-generated modification/revision were calculated based upon the above-mentioned three grammatical categories.

5.Results
Results suggested: (1) EFL learners are more likely to produce sentences in prepositional conditions; (2) EFL learners are more likely to produce sentences in active conditions; and (3) EFL with different skills show different tendency in tenses and aspects choosing.

6.Significance
Syntactic priming could both show different effects on different skilled learners from aspects of transitive condition, dative condition and tenses and aspects. From syntactic priming theory itself, it verified implicit processing principals and influence of verb’s syntactic representation in the process of syntactic priming. From its relevance to second language teaching, it verified effectiveness of classification teaching methods and combination of multi senses in second language learning classes, and make suggestions on language teachers to balance teaching focus in some specific areas. Syntactic priming could be regarded as not only a mechanism to explain the process of language processing and convention for EFL learners, but also a method to verify abilities of abstract syntactic generalized by EFL learners in China.

Authors

• Meng Pan

• Qun Guan, University of Science and Technology Beijing

• Brian MacWhinney, Carnegie Mellon University