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Using sentence processing speed and automaticity to predict L2 performance in the productive and receptive tasks

  • Xiaopeng Zhang EMAIL logo and Xiaofeng Yang
Published/Copyright: December 13, 2023
International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching
From the journal International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching Volume 63 Issue 3

Abstract

We investigated the predictive capacity of second language (L2) sentence processing speed measured using reaction time (RT) and automaticity captured using the coefficient of variation (CV) on the accuracy of L2 use in receptive and productive tasks. A total of 74 Chinese English-L2 learners completed a maze task, an elicited imitation task (EIT), and a timed grammaticality judgment task (TGJT) using comparable sentences. RT and CV from the maze task were used to predict the use of L2 morphological markers in the EIT and TGJT. The findings revealed that there were no significant effects of RT and CV in the EIT. However, in the TGJT, the effect of CV was significant. These results highlight the predictive power of L2 processing automaticity in the receptive task involving L2 morphological use.

Keywords: sentence processing speed; automaticity; L2 performance; timed grammaticality judgment; elicited imitation
Corresponding author: Xiaopeng Zhang, School of Foreign Studies, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No.28, Xianning West Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710049, China, E-mail:

Funding source: National Social Science Fund of China

Award Identifier / Grant number: 20BYY084

Acknowledgments

We express our special thanks to Bronson Hui who gave us very constructive comments to the earlier draft of this manuscript.

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Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2023-0183).

Received: 2023-08-07
Accepted: 2023-11-20
Published Online: 2023-12-13
Published in Print: 2025-09-25

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

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  2. Editorial
  3. Young L2 learners in diverse instructional contexts
  4. Research Articles
  5. Impact of post-task explicit instruction on the interaction among child EFL learners in online task-based reading lessons
  6. Can we train young EFL learners to ‘notice the gap’? Exploring the relationship between metalinguistic awareness, grammar learning and the use of metalinguistic explanations in a dictogloss task
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  17. Distance-invoked difficulty as a trigger for errors in Chinese and Japanese EFL learners’ English writings
  18. Exploring Chinese university English writing teachers’ emotions in providing feedback on student writing
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  28. A systematic review of English-as-a-foreign-language vocabulary learning activities for primary school students
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https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2023-0183
Keywords for this article
sentence processing speed; automaticity; L2 performance; timed grammaticality judgment; elicited imitation

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Young L2 learners in diverse instructional contexts
  4. Research Articles
  5. Impact of post-task explicit instruction on the interaction among child EFL learners in online task-based reading lessons
  6. Can we train young EFL learners to ‘notice the gap’? Exploring the relationship between metalinguistic awareness, grammar learning and the use of metalinguistic explanations in a dictogloss task
  7. Exploring self-regulated learning behaviours of young second language learners during group work
  8. Developmental trajectories of discourse features by age and learning environment
  9. Implementing an oral task in an EFL classroom with low proficient learners: a micro-evaluation
  10. Exploring teacher-student interaction in task and non-task sequences
  11. Children learning Mongolian as an additional language through the implementation of a task-based approach
  12. “Black children are gifted at learning languages – that’s why I could do TBLT”: inclusive Blackness as a pathway for TBLT innovation
  13. Regular Articles
  14. Defining competencies for training non-native Korean speaking teachers: a Q methodology approach
  15. A cross-modal analysis of lexical sophistication: EFL and ESL learners in written and spoken production
  16. Using sentence processing speed and automaticity to predict L2 performance in the productive and receptive tasks
  17. Distance-invoked difficulty as a trigger for errors in Chinese and Japanese EFL learners’ English writings
  18. Exploring Chinese university English writing teachers’ emotions in providing feedback on student writing
  19. General auditory processing, Mandarin L1 prosodic and phonological awareness, and English L2 word learning
  20. Why is L2 pragmatics still a neglected area in EFL teaching? Uncovered stories from Vietnamese EFL teachers
  21. Validation of metacognitive knowledge in vocabulary learning and its predictive effects on incidental vocabulary learning from reading
  22. Anxiety and enjoyment in oral presentations: a mixed-method study into Chinese EFL learners’ oral presentation performance
  23. The influence of language contact and ethnic identification on Chinese as a second language learners’ oral proficiency
  24. An idiodynamic study of the interconnectedness between cognitive and affective components underlying L2 willingness to communicate
  25. “I usually just rely on my intuition and go from there.” pedagogical rules and metalinguistic awareness of pre-service EFL teachers
  26. Development and validation of Questionnaire for Self-regulated Learning Writing Strategies (QSRLWS) for EFL learners
  27. Language transfer in tense acquisition: new evidence from English learning Chinese adolescents
  28. A systematic review of English-as-a-foreign-language vocabulary learning activities for primary school students
  29. Using automated indices of cohesion to explore the growth of cohesive features in L2 writing
  30. The impact of text-audio synchronized enhancement on collocation learning from reading-while-listening: an extended replication of Jung and Lee (2023)
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