The present study intended to investigate the processing behavior of 2 groups of L2 learners of English (high and mid in proficiency) and a group of English native speakers on English active and passive reduced relative clauses. Three sets of tasks, an offline task, and 2 online tasks were conducted. Results revealed that the high-proficiency group’s performance was the same as that of the native group in all the 3 tests in terms of accuracy and processing behavior. Accordingly, it was concluded that proficient L2 learners can achieve native-like performance. Also, opposed to maturational propositions on adult L2 learning following the critical period hypothesis, the high-proficiency participants showed native-like behavior on the L2 structures. We suggest that the amount of exposure to an L2 can be a defining factor for L2 learners to perform in a native-like manner.
Nezakat-Alhossaini, M., Youhanaee, M., & Moinzadeh, A. (2014). Sentence Processing Among Native vs. Nonnative Speakers: Implications for Critical Period Hypothesis. Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics, 5(2), 57-77.
MLA
Marzieh Nezakat-Alhossaini; Manijeh Youhanaee; Ahmad Moinzadeh. "Sentence Processing Among Native vs. Nonnative Speakers: Implications for Critical Period Hypothesis". Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics, 5, 2, 2014, 57-77.
HARVARD
Nezakat-Alhossaini, M., Youhanaee, M., Moinzadeh, A. (2014). 'Sentence Processing Among Native vs. Nonnative Speakers: Implications for Critical Period Hypothesis', Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics, 5(2), pp. 57-77.
VANCOUVER
Nezakat-Alhossaini, M., Youhanaee, M., Moinzadeh, A. Sentence Processing Among Native vs. Nonnative Speakers: Implications for Critical Period Hypothesis. Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics, 2014; 5(2): 57-77.
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