Pulido Manuel F
Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, Center for Language Science, Penn State University, University Park, PA, United States.
Front Psychol. 2021 Jan 15;11:607621. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.607621. eCollection 2020.
Behavioral studies on language processing rely on the eye-mind assumption, which states that the time spent looking at text is an index of the time spent processing it. In most cases, relatively shorter reading times are interpreted as evidence of greater processing efficiency. However, previous evidence from L2 research indicates that non-native participants who present fast reading times are not always more efficient readers, but rather shallow parsers. Because earlier studies did not identify a reliable predictor of variability in L2 processing, such uncertainty around the interpretation of reading times introduces a potential confound that undermines the credibility and the conclusions of online measures of processing. The present study proposes that a recently developed modulator of online processing efficiency, namely, chunking ability, may account for the observed variability in L2 online reading performance. L1 English - L2 Spanish learners' eye movements were analyzed during natural reading. Chunking ability was predictive of overall reading speed. Target relative clauses contained L2 Verb-Noun multiword units, which were manipulated with regards to their L1-L2 congruency. The results indicated that processing of the L1-L2 incongruent units was modulated by an interaction of L2 chunking ability and level of knowledge of multiword units. Critically, the data revealed an inverse U-shaped pattern, with faster reading times in both learners with the highest and the lowest chunking ability scores, suggesting fast integration in the former, and lack of integration in the latter. Additionally, the presence of significant differences between conditions was correlated with individual chunking ability. The findings point at chunking ability as a significant modulator of general L2 processing efficiency, and of cross-language differences in particular, and add clarity to the interpretation of variability in the online reading performance of non-native speakers.
关于语言处理的行为研究依赖于眼脑假设，该假设认为注视文本的时间是处理文本时间的一个指标。在大多数情况下，相对较短的阅读时间被解释为更高处理效率的证据。然而，以往二语研究的证据表明，阅读速度快的非母语参与者并不总是阅读效率更高，而是浅层次解析者。由于早期研究未能确定二语处理变异性的可靠预测指标，阅读时间解释的这种不确定性引入了一个潜在的混淆因素，削弱了在线处理测量的可信度和结论。本研究提出，一种最近开发的在线处理效率调节因素，即组块能力，可能解释二语在线阅读表现中观察到的变异性。在自然阅读过程中分析了以英语为母语、以西班牙语为二语的学习者的眼动情况。组块能力可预测总体阅读速度。目标关系从句包含二语动词-名词多词单元，根据其一语-二语一致性进行了操控。结果表明，一语-二语不一致单元的处理受到二语组块能力和多词单元知识水平相互作用的调节。关键的是，数据呈现出倒U形模式，组块能力得分最高和最低的学习者阅读时间都更快，这表明前者是快速整合，后者是缺乏整合。此外，不同条件之间存在的显著差异与个体组块能力相关。这些发现表明组块能力是二语总体处理效率的一个重要调节因素，尤其是跨语言差异的调节因素，并为解释非母语者在线阅读表现的变异性增添了清晰度。
