Listening comprehension of garden-path sentences by advanced Chinese learners of Japanese: An experimental study on working memory capacity and the presence of context

In this study, we clarified how Japanese garden-path sentences are listened to and processed as a second language (L2) in terms of disambiguation by advanced Chinese learners of Japanese, and an experimental investigation was performed to examine working memory (WM) capacity and the presence of context. The results indicate that listening comprehension of garden-path sentences is difficult for learners of Japanese, regardless of WM capacity. In addition, WM capacity is involved in the comprehension of sentences regardless of sentence type or context. Further, contrary to the findings of prior studies on L1 speakers, for learners, the preceding context interferes with the comprehension of the target sentence. The present study suggests that learners’ WM capacity should be considered when listening to garden-path sentences. In this case, the presentation of context should be discussed with caution. Based on the outcomes of this study, showing a context does not always facilitate listening comprehension, although there is still scope for deeper exploration in terms of the content of the context provided