A Neurocognitive Investigation of Processing Second Language Constructions-A Case Study of Processing English way Constructions by Chinese Learners of English

Most ERP studies of second language acquisition and processing adopt the violation paradigm, in which the dissection between syntax and semantics always results in the ambiguous explanations of language specific ERP components.Therefore, the present study, starting from the holistic language processing, attempts to investigate the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the second language acquisition and processing by requiring subjects to make judgments on way constructions with different levels of acceptability.The experiment results are as follows:1)for the L1 group, the least acceptable way construction elicited the attention-driven P3a and memory comparison-driven P3b.2) No ERP components were found in L2 group.The results imply that even advanced Chinese English learners cannot acquire the neurocognitive mechanisms of L1 construction acquisition and processing.Under the theoretical framework of L2 construction acquisition, the paper attempts to explain and analyze the reasons why Chinese English learners fail to acquire neurocognitive mechanisms of L1 construction acquisition and processing from three perspectives:the reliance of construction acquisition on general cognitive principles, the cross-linguistic mismatches of constructions and the frequency of constructions.