Syntactic Processing in Read-Aloud Performance of Second Language Learners

Article Sidebar

PDF

Main Article Content

Soisithorn Isarankura

Abstract

This study investigated the syntactic processing of Thai EFL learners with high and low English proficiency by examining pause patterns in a read-aloud task. It further examined the relationship between syntactic processing and English proficiency of L2 learners. Participants included 30 Thai undergraduate students who were classified into high and low proficiency groups based on their English proficiency test scores. Participants were asked to digitally record their speech while reading an Aesop fable out loud. Auditory and acoustic analysis was then applied to these individual recordings to identify their pause locations. The results revealed that the high proficiency group processed language in longer and more syntactically unified units than the low proficiency group. With insufficient syntactic knowledge, pause positions of lower proficiency learners were more varied. Namely, a large number of pauses occurred at locations which did not correlate with English syntactic units. The findings suggest that there is a relationship between L2 proficiency and the ability to process linguistic representations at the syntactic level.

Key words: Information processing; syntactic processing; read-aloud; pause-defined unit (PDU)

Article Details

How to Cite
Isarankura, S. (2014). Syntactic Processing in Read-Aloud Performance of Second Language Learners. Journal of Studies in the English Language, 8. Retrieved from https://so04.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/jsel/article/view/18185
Issue
Vol. 8 (2013)
Section
Articles
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:  Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.  Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.  Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).