Eye-tracking approach allows us to collect and analyze data for a wide range of measures of eye-movements, to relate these to language processing, and to have insight of language processing (Conklin, Pellicer-Sánchez, and Carrol, 2018). The current study aims to investigate how ESL university students process the sentences with complex noun phrases modified by relative clauses. Two types of sentences with complex noun phrases were examined: complex noun phrases modified by relative clauses located in a sentence subject (syntactic-based processing) and those located in a sentence object (semantic-based processing). In total, 32 EFL university students participated in this study. Fixation count, regression rate, first reading time, and total reading time of areas of interest were examined. The eye-tracking results showed that the participants showed significantly higher regression rates on noun 2 than noun 1 in both types of complex noun phrases. In terms of verb selection, however, the results showed contrasting aspects : noun 1(verb 1 selection) preference in syntactic-based processing whereas noun 2(verb 2 selection) preference in semantic-based processing,

Working memory is defined as the mechanisms or processes that allow humans to store information in the face of interference such as processing other information during sentence processing. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between working memory capacity and PBL task performance with EFL university students. Forty university students participated in this study and they were divided into two groups according to working memory scores (higher and lower groups). Reading span test has been implemented for working memory task. PBL tasks consist of word, phrase, sentence, and explanation levels. The results show that WM capacity is significantly related to the PBL task performance. The correlation analysis of WM scores(storage and processing) and PBL task performance showed different tendency in WM higher and lower groups according to the task types.

The present study aimed at investigating the effects of collaborative work between Korean EFL university students and international foreign students on Intercultural Communicative Competence. Twenty four students (14 Korean students and 10 international students) participated in this research. Chen and Starosta’s (2000) intercultural sensitivity scale was implemented with Paradigm Software to measure the participants’ resolution latency time while they were responding to the survey. The results demonstrated that two groups showed significant differences in the areas of respect for cultural difference and interaction confidence. Also, apart from the response value, the analysis of resolution latency time showed other aspects of participants’ cognitive level of intercultural sensitivity. Thus, this study indicates that a multi-round analysis can give a more in-depth insight beyond the mean value of the survey’s response.

Semantic priming refers to a tendency that language processing is facilitated in case that words are semantically related to each other due to a language user’s knowledge and prior experience. Hence, semantic priming can be considered as a tool to assess language processors’ implicit index of semantic relatedness. The purpose of the present study is to investigate 1) whether teenaged EFL learners will show semantic priming effects on gender category perception, 2) whether there are any different effects between immediate and delayed prime conditions, and 3) whether there are any different effects between gender stereotype and suffixtype words. As a result, semantic priming effects were observed in general. Delayed prime condition showed stronger effects than immediate prime condition and feminine suffix-type of words showed robust effects than any other types.

Boon-Joo Park. 2017. Analysis of Oral Reading Miscue in EFL University Students’ L1 and L2 reading. Studies in Modern Grammar 96, 213-233. Readers tend to make errors or mistakes regarding grammar, meaning, or pronunciation through the interaction between readers and text during the reading process. However, those errors or mistakes need to be considered as positive aspects as, miscues, Ken Goodman (1977) coined instead of mistakes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of miscue analysis for developing students’ reading strategy during the reading process both in Korean and in English. Sixteen university students who are learning English as a second language participated. The results showed a very significant difference of the miscue aspects between L1 reading and L2 reading. The participants tend to focus more on semantic cues during L1 reading than the process during the L2 reading whereas they tend to use more graphic and syntactic cues.

Melody with text has been known to play a positive role as a memory aid and a learning facilitator. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effects of song on young EFL learners’ text recall, especially focusing on the factors of memory retention, L2 proficiency, and text length. 41 Korean young learners of English between the aged of 11 and 12 years participated. As a result, significant effects of song text have been observed in the young EFL learners’text recall in L2. They appear to undergo the process of text and melody integration and take an advantage of the song mode in recalling the words and even a longer phrase for a larger amount of time, especially in their second language. The findings shed lights on pedagogical application of songs to second language teaching for young learners.

Boon-Joo Park and Jihye Shin. 2016. Song Effects on Young EFL Learners’ Text Recall in Korean (L1) and English (L2): Focusing on Proficiency and Text Length Factors. Studies in Modern Grammar 90, 117-136. Melody with text has been known to play a positive role as a memory aid and a learning facilitator. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effects of song on young EFL learners’ text recall, especially focusing on the factors of memory retention, L2 proficiency, and text length. 41 Korean young learners of English between the aged of 11 and 12 years participated. As a result, significant effects of song text have been observed in the young EFL learners’text recall in L2. They appear to undergo the process of text and melody integration and take an advantage of the song mode in recalling the words and even a longer phrase for a larger amount of time, especially in their second language. The findings shed lights on pedagogical application of songs to second language teaching for young learners.

The current study investigates the syntactic priming effects on sentence processing in Korean(L1) and English(L2) production through a measure of production time. The purpose of this study lies in investigating whether the priming condition facilitates the production process both in processors’ L1 and L2 production. Participants are 32 Korean native speaking (L1) university students who speak English as a second language(L2). The target structures were dative alternate structures: prepositional vs. double object dative structures in English and canonical(DAT-ACC) vs. scrambled(ACC-DAT) dative structures in Korean. The experimental paradigm involved the repetition of an auditory stimulus, followed by picture descriptions. The production time was measured by E-prime. As a result, while syntactic priming effects were observed both in L1 and L2 production, the syntactic primed condition did not reduce the production time in L1 utterances. However, the time was reduced in L2 utterances with failing in reaching to the statistically significant effects.

This study aims to investigate the relative clause attachment resolution process of second language learners of English from various aspects. Three experiments were conducted: off-line test(Expt. 1), on-line test(Expt. 2), and a quasi-interview survey of their strategy(Expt. 3). As a result, second language learners of English showed different RC attachment preferences from native speakers of English in the off-line test; however they showed similar preferences of NP2 following the recency effects. Also, the different RC attachment preferences were observed between the off-line test and on-line test among the participants, second language learners of English. The results from reading time and responding time measurement in the experiment 2 and the strategy survey in experiment 3 supported these asymmetric results between the two tests. The findings may have implications that second language learners of English do not follow the consistent and complete cognitive process for the RC attachment resolution process.

Syntactic priming effect is a tendency in which the syntactic structure used in the previous utterance tends to be carried over in the following utterance. The effects have been considered to help envisage the abstract process in mind into a more concrete idea and offered prospects for understanding the speakers' grammatical structure. The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether this effect appears in Korean learners of Chinese, and whether the implicit learning effect emerges regardless of their proficiency(length of learning). Participants consist of two groups: less proficient learners with shorter length of learning (N=31) and more proficient learners with longer length of learning( (N=31). For the implicit learning effects, each participant took part in the experiment three times with an interval of fifteen days. The results showed that the syntactic priming effects have been observed. Also, the more salient implicit learning effects were observed in the group with longer length of learning(longer LOL) while the shorter LOL group has shown weaker effects. The results shed light on the universal tendency of syntactic persistence and gave implications that less-proficient learners who lack the cognitive prerequisite on L2 syntactic structures have some limitations on both the priming and implicit learning effects. The findings were complementary with the results of Park (2011).

Syntactic priming effect is defined as a tendency that speakers are more likely to use the syntactic structure in the case that the same structure was used in a preceding sentence compared to the case in which a different syntactic structure was used in a preceding sentence. The purpose of the study is to investigate the difference of the syntactic persistence between young and adult EFL learners. Also, the present study investigated the implicit learning effect. Participants consist of three groups: elementary school students, middle school students, and university students. For the implicit learning effects, each participant took part in the experiment three times with an interval with ten days. As a result, the salient priming effects and implicit learning effects were observed in university students. Weak effects were shown for middle school students and the weakest effects for the elementary school students. Especially, the priming effects on passive and double object dative structure were not observed for the elementary school students, weak for the middle school students, and strong for the university students. The results imply that young EFL learners who are in lack of cognitive prerequisite on L2 linguistic forms are limited to both the priming effects and implicit learning effects. Pedagogically, the young learners who are in lack of cognitive prerequisite knowledge require more explicit instruction for L2 grammar.