Japanese EFL Learners’ Implicit and Explicit

Knowledge of Subject-Verb Agreement in existential there:

A Self-Paced Reading StudySeptember 14, 2014

20th JABAET Hosei University

Yu TAMURA1!Junya FUKUTA2!

Yoshito NISHIMURA1!Kunihiro KUSANAGI2!

1Graduate School, Nagoya Univ.!2Graduate School, Nagoya Univ.!

JSPS Research Fellow !

The handout is available from…

1

The handout is available from…

2

Introduction• This study investigated…!–What?!– Explicit and Implicit knowledge of

number agreement!– How?!– Using two self-paced reading tasks and

a paper-based error correction task

3

Conclusion• Non-nativelike “successful” agreement!• Automatisation of wrong explicit knowledge!• Number agreement failure of coordinated

NPs in the controller position, whereas number feature of copula be can be correctly represented in the controller position.

4

Overview• Introduction• Background• The Present Study• Results• Discussion• Conclusion

5

Copula Be• Coupla be is introduced as a very first step

of learning English.!• He is a baseball player.!• You are champions.!• We are the world.

6

But• L2 learners have difficulty in attaining native-

like performance of the copula be in online tasks(e.g., Jiang, 2004, 2007).

7

Why?• Mass-count distinctions?!• Complex noun phrases(NPs)?!• Number agreement?

8

Why?• Mass-count distinctions?!• Complex noun phrases(NPs)?!• Number agreement?

9

Number Agreement• Simple NP!

• He is a baseball player.!• You are champions.!• We are the world.

Agreement Controller Agreement Target

10

Number Agreement• Simple NP!

• He is a baseball player.

Controller Target[sg] [sg]

11

Number Agreement• Simple NP!

• You are champions.

Controller Target[pl] [pl]

12

Number Agreement• Complex NP!

• [sg One [of [pl the students]] is from Tokyo.!!

• The Principle of Nonintervention!• All plural nouns occurring between the

subject noun and the verb should be ignored (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999, p.68)!

Controller Target

[sg]

Attracter

13

Number Agreement• Complex NP!

• [pl [sg A pen] and [sg an eraser]] are on my desk. !!

!Controller Target

[pl] [pl]

14

Number Agreement• Complex NP!

• One of the students is from Tokyo.!• A pen and an eraser are on my desk.!

!

• Usually, !• Controller -> head N!• Target -> verb!

!

Controller Target

15

But

Controller Target

copula (lexical) ? ☓

Noun Phrase ? ?

Previous Research

L2 Learners’ Number Representation

Jiang(2004, 2007)16

Controller Target

copula (lexical) ? ?

Noun Phrase ? ?

Can we investigate this type of SVA?

ButL2 Learners’ Number Representation

17

What is the cause of difficulty?• We want to know the cause of difficulty in

processing SVA.!• Can we reverse the role of the controller and

the target?!• Is this possible?!

• Controller -> Verb!• Target -> NP

18

Existential there

19

What is existential there?• One type of expletive constructions!

• ex. There are butterflies in the yard.!• The be verb does not agree with there but

NP in the object position.!• Existential sentences in English has

attracted many linguists (e.g., Chomsky, 1989, 1995; Kuno, 1971; Lumsden, 1990; Milsark, 1979; Zucchi, 2003).

20

What is existential there?• There are butterflies in the yard.!• There is an Apple Watch on the desk.

Controller Target

21

How does number agreement occur in the case of

existential there sentences?

22

Agreement in existential there• Two Approaches (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-

Freeman, 1999, p.68)!• Traditional Grammar Approach!• The Proximity Principle

23

Traditional Grammar Approach• ?There is [a pen and an eraser] on my desk.!• ?There is [a pen and two erasers] on my desk.!• There are [a pen and an eraser] on my desk.!• There are [a pen and two erasers] on my desk.!• Same rule as in the case of normal order.!

• [A pen and an eraser] are on my desk.!• *[A pen and an eraser] is on my desk.

24

The Proximity Principle• There is [a pen] and an eraser on my desk.!• There is [a pen] and two erasers on my desk.!• ?There are a pen and an eraser on my desk.!• ?There are a pen and two erasers on my desk.

25

Which rules do native speakers actually

follow?

26

Which rules do native speakers actually follow?

• Sobin (1997)!• Acceptability judgments of NS (5-point scale)!

• there are NP and NPs (0.61)!• there is NP and NPs (2.86)!• there are NPs and NP (3.81)!• there is NPs and NP (1.67)!• there is NP and NP (3.58)!• there are NP and NP (0.81)

27

Which rules do native speakers actually follow?

• Corpus of Contemporary American English!• there is NP and NP!

• 55 tokens!• there are NP and NP!

• 2 tokens!• Native speakers of English do prefer singular

agreement in the existential there sentences with “NP and NP” structures.

28

Back to the topic of the present study

29

• Possible causes!• fail to assign correct number features to!1. Controller!2. Target!3. Both 1 and 2

What is the cause of difficulty in processing number agreement?

30

What is the cause of difficulty in processing number agreement?

Controller Target

copula (lexical) ? ◯

Noun Phrase ◯ ◯

Hypothesis 1(native-like)

a. There [sg is] [sg A ] and [sg B]b. There [pl are] [sg A ] and [sg B]

faster

a. [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]] [sg is]b. [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]] [pl are]faster 31

Controller Target

copula (lexical) ◯ ◯

Noun Phrase ◯ ◯

Hypothesis 2

b. There [pl are] [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]]a. [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]] [sg is]b. [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]] [pl are]

a. There [sg is ] [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]]faster

faster

What is the cause of difficulty in processing number agreement?

32

Controller Target

copula (lexical) ◯ ☓

Noun Phrase ☓ ◯

Hypothesis 3

b. There [pl are] [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]]a. [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]] [Φ is]b. [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]] [Φ are]

a. There [Φ is ] [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]]faster

Jiang(2004, 2007)

What is the cause of difficulty in processing number agreement?

faster33

Controller Target

copula (lexical) ☓ ◯

Noun Phrase ◯ ☓

Hypothesis 4

b. There [Φ are] [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]]a. [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]] [sg is]b. [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]] [pl are]

a. There [Φ is ] [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]]No difference

faster

What is the cause of difficulty in processing number agreement?

34

Controller Target

copula (lexical) ☓ ☓

Noun Phrase ☓ ☓

Hypothesis 5

b. There [Φ are] [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]]a. [Φ[sg A ] and [sg B]] [sg is]b. [Φ[sg A ] and [sg B]] [pl are]

a. There [Φ is ] [pl[sg A ] and [sg B]]No difference

No difference

Jiang(2004, 2007)

What is the cause of difficulty in processing number agreement?

35

Research Questions• Which hypothesis does correctly predict L2

Japanese learners’ knowledge of number agreement?

36

The Present Study• Participants!

• 28 Japanese undergraduate and graduate students!!

!

!

!

• 15 students had experience of staying in an English-speaking country.

Age TOEIC Score

n M SD M SD

28 24.14 3.88 768.69 127.37

37

Experiments• Self-paced reading task on PCs (HSP ver. 3.2)

• Paper-based error correction task

To measure implicit knowledge

To measure explicit knowledge

38

• Existential there (segment by segment reading)!• 18 sentences (There is/are NP and NP PP)!• 16 fillers (including comprehension question)!

• Subjective NP(word by word reading)!• 24 sentences (NP and NP is/are PP)!• 24 fillers!• both including T/F question!

• Two conditions are randomly attributed to each participant.

Self-paced reading task on PCs (HSP ver. 3.2)

39

!＿__＿ ______________ __________ ________

!There is _____________ __________ ________

!＿__＿ a pen and an eraser_______ _______

!＿__＿ ______________ on my desk ________

＿__＿ ______________ _________ 次へ進む

Self-paced reading task on PCs (HSP ver. 3.2)

Segment by segment reading version

40

!___ ____ ___ ____ ____ ___ ___ _____ ___ ___

!His ____ ___ ____ ____ ___ ___ _____ ___ ___

!___ wife ___ ____ ____ ___ ___ _____ ___ ___

!___ ____ and ____ ____ ___ ___ ____ ___ ___

Self-paced reading task on PCs (HSP ver. 3.2)

Word by word reading version

!___ ____ and ____ ____ ___ ___ ____ ___ ___!___ ____ ___ ____ ____ ___ ___ ____ now. ___

___ ____ ___ ____ ____ ___ ___ _____ ___ 次へ

41

• Examples!• Existential there (segment by segment reading)!

• There is/ a gun and a bomb/ in the leather bag.!

• ?There are/ a gun and a bomb/ in the leather bag.

Self-paced reading task on PCs (HSP ver. 3.2)

42

• Examples!• Subjective NP(word by word reading)!

• *His /wife /and /son /is /in /the /cottage/ now.!• His /wife /and /son /are /in /the /cottage/ now.

Self-paced reading task on PCs (HSP ver. 3.2)

43

• Existential there!• 10 sentences!

• Subjective NP!• 10 sentences!

• All errors were related to the copula be!• 5 fillers!• No time limit

Paper-based error correction task

44

Analysis• Self-paced reading tasks!

• Paired-sample t-test!• There is a pen and an eraser on my desk.!• There are a pen and an eraser on my desk.!• My brother and sister is in the garden.!• My brother and sister are in the garden.!

!

• M+/-2SD was excluded from the analysis.

45

Analysis• Error Correction Task

1. Is the copula be is circled?No

exclude from the analysis

Yes

2. Is the grammaticality of the sentence correctly judged?

No0 point

Yessentence judgment correctioncorrect correct ー

incorrect incorrect correctincorrect incorrect incorrect 0 point

1 point1 point

46

Results

47

Self-paced Reading Tasks

48

M SD 95%CI

There sentences

G (is) 1862 572 [1640, 2084]

UG (are) 1757 458 [1580, 1935]

Subjective NP

G (are) 466 87 [432, 500]

UG (is) 436 92 [400, 472]

Descriptive Statistics of the Reading Time in the Target Regions

49

t (27) p Cohen’s d [95%CI] 1-β

There sentences 1.85 .08 .19 [-.02, .40] .43

Subjective NP 3.39 >.01 .35 [.14, .55] .93

The Results of the Paired-Sample t-tests

50

The Scatter Plot of the Reading Time There is/are NP and NP NP and NP is/are

51

Error Correction Task

52

Descriptive Statistics of the Results of the Error-Correction Task

M SD 95%CI

There sentences .16 .30 [.04, .28]

Subjective NP .89 .23 [.79, .98]

53

• Self-paced reading (implicit knowledge)!• There is NP and NP !• There are NP and NP!• NP and NP are !• NP and NP is!

• Error Correction (explicit knowledge)!• There is/are NP and NP!• NP and NP is/are

Discussion

faster

faster

☓

◯

54

• Self-paced reading (implicit knowledge)!• There are NP and NP!• NP and NP is!• The participants correctly assigned number

features of the coordinated NPs only in the target position.

Discussion

faster

faster

55

• Error Correction (explicit knowledge)!• There is/are NP and NP!• NP and NP is/are!• The participants tended to consider the

coordinated NPs as plural.

Discussion

☓◯

56

Discussion

3 Controller Target

copula (lexical) ◯ ☓

Noun Phrase ☓ ◯

Implicit knowledge

57

Discussion

3 Controller Target

copula (lexical) ◯ ☓

Noun Phrase ☓ ◯

Implicit knowledge

2 Controller Target

copula (lexical) ◯ ◯

Noun Phrase ◯ ◯

Explicit knowledge

The participants succeeded to make agreement, but it was not nativelike.

They automatised wrong explicit knowledge?58

Discussion

3 Controller Target

copula (lexical) ◯ ☓

Noun Phrase ☓ ◯

Implicit knowledge

2 Controller Target

copula (lexical) ◯ ◯

Noun Phrase ◯ ◯

Explicit knowledge

When the coordinated NP is in the controller position, the participants failed to automatise their explicit knowledge.

59

Discussion

3 Controller Target

copula (lexical) ◯ ☓

Noun Phrase ☓ ◯

Implicit knowledge

2 Controller Target

copula (lexical) ◯ ◯

Noun Phrase ◯ ◯

Explicit knowledge

The participants could assign correct number features only when it appeared on the target position.

Copula be guided this process?60

Limitations• Task-effects(segment vs. word)!• Proficiency!• Only NP and NP pattern was investigated.!• Small sample size

61

Conclusion• Non-nativelike “successful” agreement!• Automatisation of wrong explicit knowledge!• Number agreement failure of coordinated

NPs in the controller position, whereas number feature of copula be can be correctly represented in the controller position.

62

ReferenceCelce-Murcia, M., Larsen-Freeman, D., & Williams, H. (1998). The grammar book : an!! 　ESL/EFL teacher's course. Heinle & Heinle!Chomsky, N. (1989). Some notes on economy of derivation and representation. MIT Working Papers in

Linguistics, 10, 43–74.!Chomsky, N. (1995). The minimalist program. The MIT Press.!Jiang, N. (2004). Morphological insensitivity in second language processing. Applied Psycholinguistics,

25(04), 603–634.!Jiang, N. (2007). Selective Integration of Linguistic Knowledge in Adult Second Language Learning.

Language Learning, 57, 1–33.!Kuno, S. (1971). The Position of Locatives in Existential Sentences. Linguistic Inquiry, 2(3), 333–378. !Lumsden, M. (1990). Existential sentences: Their structure and meaning. NY: Routledge.!Milsark, G. L. (1979). Existential sentences in English. NY: Garland Pub. !Sobin, N. (1997). Agreement , Default Rules , and Grammatical Viruses. Linguistic Inquiry, 28(2), 318–

343.!Zucchi, A. (2003). Existential sentences and prediction. In J. Gutiérrez-Rexach (Ed.), Sematics: Critical

concepts of linguistics: Vol.3. Noun phrase classes (pp. 165–183). London: Routledge.

63

Japanese EFL Learners’ Implicit and Explicit

Knowledge of Subject-Verb Agreement in

existential there: A Self-Paced Reading Studycontact info

Yu TamuraGraduate School, Nagoya University

yutamura@nagoya-u.jp

http://tamurayu.wordpress.com/

Explicit Implicit

Controller Target Controller Target

Copula be (Lexical) ◯ ◯ ◯ ☓

NP Number Marking ◯ ◯ ☓ ◯

There is/are NP and NP• Non-native like agreement• Lexical representation of copula be

NP and NP is/are • Explicit knowledge ◯

• Wrong automatisation

• Implicit knowledge ☓

64