Why do L2 Learners Accept Ungrammatical Sentences? A Preliminary Study

摘要

Why do second language learners sometimes accept ungrammatical sentences in the target language? In the present study, we focus on Japanese-speaking learners of English 'as a Foreign Language (EFL) and investigate whether such "grammatical illusion" effect would be observed in them and whether the effect could be dependent on their proficiency The results of one acceptability judgment questionnaire experiment and of one very preliminary self-paced reading experiment are reported. The results of the questionnaire experiment showed that the lower-proficiency Japanese EFL learners were more likely to accept ungrammatical sentences in English compared to the higher-proficiency learners. The results of the self-paced reading experiment indicated that the reading time difference between ungrammatical sentences and their grammatical counterparts was reliable for one native English speaker but not for two Japanese EFL learners. It is suggested that the "grammatical illusion" effect (i.e., erroneous acceptance of ungrammatical sentences) in second language learners is more likely to be observed when their proficiency is lower, and possibly that second language learners can accept ungrammatical sentences during their real-time processing. We discuss a new approach to second language acquisition from the perspective of the grammatical illusion phenomenon.