Second language (L2) learners often have difficulties acquiring grammatical
features which do not exist in their first language (e.g. inflectional morphology,
number agreement etc.), and exhibit real-time production and comprehension errors
when these features are involved. What are the causes behind such errors? Moreover,
what do they tell us about second language processing in general?
The primary aim of this thesis was to examine the nature of second language
production errors and to scrutinise them with reference to each stage of accepted
models of language production, specifically, whether there are consistent error
patterns which reveal the source(s) of erroneous production in L2 learners. The
second aim of this thesis was to examine the comprehension of novel grammatical
features in the second language, more specifically, whether L2 learners could acquire
the ability to consistently apply L2 grammatical knowledge relating to newly
acquired grammatical features in real-time. The third aim of this thesis was to
examine whether L2 learners have fundamental perceptual deficiencies or biases
concerning selective L2 phonological features as a result of first language
experience, and whether this would affect the perception of specific grammatical
features in the L2.
This thesis addressed these questions in seven experiments by examining the
acquisition of inflectional morphology among L1 Mandarin speakers of L2 English.
Experiments 1, 2 and 3 investigated spoken and written production of inflectional
morphology via an elicited production paradigm. The results argued against
representational accounts and supported activation processing accounts of erroneous
second language production. Information complexity and production modality were
also found to contribute to low production accuracy. Experiments 4 and 5
investigated L2 learners’ auditory and visual sensitivity to inflectional omissions
using self-paced listening and self-paced reading paradigms, where auditory cues
were found to facilitate the detection of inflectional omissions. Experiments 6 and 7
investigated perceptual sensitivity to phonologically variable inflectional morphemes
in an auditory discrimination paradigm. Second language learners exhibited no
perceptual deficiency to novel phonological features, and no consistent perceptual
biases favouring L1 phonological features relative to native speakers.
Taking these findings as whole, the results favoured a processing account of
errors in language production and comprehension, whilst recognising the role of
phonological constraints in both processes. Importantly, these conclusions are drawn
from a broad analysis of multiple aspects of language processing, recognising the
role of conceptual distinctions, grammatical representations, lexical forms, and
phonological factors in second language production and comprehension.
Additionally, this thesis recognises the value of both psycholinguistic models of
language processing and linguistic theories of second language processing