The Influence of Auditory Perceptual Simulation in L2 Reading Processing : An Eye-tracking Study

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate whether Auditory Perceptual Simulation (APS) reading can improve second language learners reading processing by inducing more detailed syntactic processing. As readers can hear their own voice inside their heads through inner voice, they also can hear other speakers voice during silent reading, which is called auditory perceptual simulation. APS reading utilizes the auditory perceptual simulation, as a reading strategy (Zhou & Christianson, 2016). In APS reading, readers more consciously simulate the voice of other speakers reading out the text through imagination, instead of silently reading the text. Zhou and Christianson (2016) found that native speakers of English who used APS reading read faster and more accurately than those who did not. They claimed that more salient prosodic representations induced by APS reading, which are closely related with syntactic representations, helped the readers to perform more accurate syntactic processing, leading to the faster reading rate and better comprehension. Although L2 learners syntactic processing was known to be deficient and less accurate compared to native speakers, a number of studies have demonstrated that L2 learners are able to overcome their weak syntactic processing and establish more accurate syntactic representations under certain circumstances (Leeser, Brandl, & Weissglass, 2011

Lim & Ahn, 2015

Lim & Christianson, 2013a, 2013b, 2015

Williams, 2006). One such an occasion was when L2 learners were involved in certain tasks such as a translation task (Lim & Ahn, 2015

Lim & Christianson, 2013a, 2013b, 2015). During a translation task, L2 learners paid more attention to the syntactic structure in process of translating L2 into L1, resulting in more accurate syntactic processing. Those tasks such as a translation task, however, only focusing on inducing more detailed syntactic reading, missed the important goal of fast and efficient communication. Because of translating process, even though it might improve L2 readers syntactic processing, they needed more time to read the sentences. In contrast, APS reading not only helped the readers pay more attention to the accurate syntactic processing, but also simultaneously increase the reading rate in Zhou and Christianson (2016). If L2 learners are also able to use APS during silent reading and gain advantages from APS reading, it would be a more efficient reading strategy for L2 learners whose syntactic processing is generally fragile. In this regard, this study applied a similar paradigm to L2 learners in order to explore whether APS reading can also enhance L2 reading processing as in Zhou and Christianson (2016). To this end, two eye-tracking experiments were conducted. In the first experiment, a group of participants (control group) read the sentences such as (1) and answered the verification sentence such as (2).

(1) a. The cat that chased the mouse was fast. (Subject relative clause -Plausible) b. The mouse that chased the cat was fast. (Subject relative clause -Implausible) c. The mouse that the cat chased was fast.(Object relative clause -Plausible) d. The cat that the mouse chased was fast.(Object relative clause -Implausible) (2) a. The cat chased the mouse. The cat was fast. (The verification for 1a and 1c) b. The mouse chased the cat. The cat was fast. (The verification for 1b and 1d)

The sentences were designed to utilize the plausibility effect, in which implausible sentences inflate reading times. The increased reading time from plausibility effect means that, first, readers properly establish the structural relation since they notice the implausibility of the sentences only after they interpret the sentence correctly (e.g. mouse as Agent and cat as Patient) and, second, their syntactic representation is weak or shallow, since they would require more time to recover from the difficulty when the constructed structural relation is not solid and less reliable. The former indication of the plausibility effect would be reflected in the early measures of eye-tracking, while the latter would be in the late measures. In the second experiment, a group of participants (APS group) read the same sentences but under APS reading. They first listened to native speakers recordings and then read the sentence while imagining that the speaker was reading it aloud to them. If APS reading improved L2 readers syntactic processing, the plausibility effect would be found earlier and disappear faster in the APS group than in the control group. Moreover, if this syntactic advantage influenced overall reading process, the APS group would read the sentence faster and understand more accurately. The results revealed that the APS group detected the implausibility earlier than the control group and, in addition, they were able to overcome difficulty they encountered from the implausibility faster than the control group. The analysis from early measures showed that while the control group did not notice the implausibility at the critical region in (1d) which consisted of a relatively more difficult structure, object relative clause, APS reading group did it from the critical region even in the object relative clause. It meant that APS reading group constructed the structural relation earlier than the control group. Meanwhile, on the late measures, APS reading group fixated on the critical regions shorter than the control group in all four conditions, (1a) to (1d). It suggested that APS reading group had less difficulties not only in interpreting the implausibility but also overall in establishing the relative clause structure, compared to the control group. In sum, the results indicated that APS reading helped L2 learners to pay more attention to the syntactic processing and facilitated in establishing the more detailed syntactic structure during on-line processing. The differences in syntactic processing of each region eventually led to the pattern difference in sentence reading times between two groups. The APS group showed no plausibility effect in sentence reading times, whereas the control group read significantly slower in the implausible sentences than in the plausible sentences. However, these pattern differences did not increase comprehension accuracy nor reading rate. Both groups showed equally high response accuracy, and the sentence reading time of the APS group was not longer than that of the control group. In conclusion, APS reading improved second language learners syntactic processing by inducing them to establish more concrete syntactic structure, while it did not harm their reading rate and comprehension accuracy. Thus, although there needs to be much further research to be done before applying APS reading to L2 instruction, APS reading can be considered as a reading strategy for L2 learners faster and more accurate reading.