Chinese Learners of English Are Conceptually Blind to Temporal Differences Conveyed by Tense

IF 3.5 1区 文学 Q1 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH Language Learning Pub Date : 2023-05-14 DOI:10.1111/lang.12584
Yang Li, Aina Casaponsa, Manon Jones, Guillaume Thierry
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Abstract

Chinese learners of English often experience difficulty with English tense presumably because their native language is tenseless. We showed that this difficulty relates to their incomplete conceptual representations for tense rather than their poor grammatical rule knowledge. Participants made acceptability judgments on sentences describing two-event sequences that were either temporally plausible or misaligned according to verb tense (time clash). Both upper-intermediate Chinese learners of English and native English speakers were able to detect time clashes between events, showing that Chinese participants could apply tense rules explicitly. However, a predicted modulation of the N400 event-related brain potential elicited by time clashes in English-speaking participants was entirely absent in Chinese participants. In contrast, the same Chinese participants could semantically process time information when it was lexically conveyed in both languages. Thus, despite their mastery of English grammar, high-functioning Chinese learners of English failed to process the meaning of tense-conveyed temporal information in real time.

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中国英语学习者在概念上对时态所传达的时间差异视而不见
中国英语学习者在学习英语时态时经常遇到困难,这可能是因为他们的母语是无张力语言。我们的研究表明,这种困难与他们对时态的概念表征不完整有关,而不是与他们的语法规则知识贫乏有关。被试对描述两个事件序列的句子进行了可接受性判断,这些句子要么在时间上合理,要么在动词时态上错位(时间冲突)。中上水平的中国英语学习者和以英语为母语的人都能检测出事件之间的时间冲突,这表明中国被试能够明确地应用时态规则。然而,英语学习者因时间冲突而产生的 N400 事件相关脑电位调节在中国学习者身上却完全不存在。相反,当时间信息以两种语言词汇表达时,同样的中国被试却能对其进行语义处理。因此,尽管掌握了英语语法,高功能的中国英语学习者却无法实时处理时态传递的时间信息。
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来源期刊
Language Learning
Language Learning Multiple-
CiteScore
9.10
自引率
15.90%
发文量
65
期刊介绍: Language Learning is a scientific journal dedicated to the understanding of language learning broadly defined. It publishes research articles that systematically apply methods of inquiry from disciplines including psychology, linguistics, cognitive science, educational inquiry, neuroscience, ethnography, sociolinguistics, sociology, and anthropology. It is concerned with fundamental theoretical issues in language learning such as child, second, and foreign language acquisition, language education, bilingualism, literacy, language representation in mind and brain, culture, cognition, pragmatics, and intergroup relations. A subscription includes one or two annual supplements, alternating among a volume from the Language Learning Cognitive Neuroscience Series, the Currents in Language Learning Series or the Language Learning Special Issue Series.
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