How the Difference in Modality Affects Language Production : A Syntactic Priming Experiment Using Spoken and Written Sentence Completion Tasks

概要

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The present study aims to investigate syntactic representation in the mental lexicon of Japanese EFL learners compared to that of L1 English speakers, focusing on the difference in modality. A syntactic priming experiment using spoken and written sentence completion tasks was carried out to examine whether the participants used the same sentence structure in completion tasks as prime sentences which appeared earlier. There were 17 L1 English speakers and 53 Japanese university students involved in the investigation. In the experiment, prime sentences including 40 experimental sentences using dative verbs and 40 filler sentences were presented both in spoken and written forms for the participants to repeat aloud, before completing a sentence fragment that followed either in a spoken or a written form. It was found that L1 English speakers were affected by syntactic priming in spoken production significantly more than in written production, which is in line with the idea that priming effects decay with time. In contrast, there was no significant difference in modality in the case of Japanese EFL learners, with upper level students showing more similar tendency to Ll English speakers than medium and lower level students. These results are discussed from the viewpoints of syntactic representation in the mental lexicon and automaticity in language processing by Japanese EFL learners.
2011-10-27