TESTING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL REALITY OF PARALLEL STRUCTURE WITH SERBIAN EFL STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY OF “NOT ONLY … BUT ALSO”

Abstract

The paper aims to explore the cognitive status of the correlative conjunction ‘not only … but also’ on a sample of advanced Serbian EFL students. The experiment is based on grammaticality judgments, and it utilizes a reaction time (RT) study, coupled with the moving screens paradigm. Stimuli (sentences) have been constructed based on the most frequent errors identified in students’ exams. Sentences containing errors related to faulty parallelism are presented word-by-word, with a mask, using the Open Sesame software. Increased RTs are understood as correlates of processing difficulties, and in addition to RTs, response accuracy was also recorded. The results show that in the majority of cases a lag in RT occurred precisely in the error position, and such delays were directly connected to sudden drops in the number of accurate responses.