Structural Priming In Chinese EFL Learners' English Writings On The Continuation Task

Research into structural priming falls into two main lines: experimental and observational.However,these two lines of research are faced with a serious problem each.On the one hand,the experimental line is lacking in ecological validity.For experimental control,the materials used in this line of research are largely isolated sentences or segments which are different from real-life language use in context.On the other,the observational studies,though based on natural language,fall short of variable control to establish a causal relationship between the observed repetition of language structures and structural priming.A method that can ensure both ecological validity and variable control is thus urgently needed.The reading-writing integrated continuation task,which has caught extensive attention recently in SLA,may qualify for this purpose because it resembles natural and realistic language use in context and its reading part before writing enables the control of linguistic structures.In this view,the present study intended to examine the occurrence of structural priming through the continuation task with a focus on Chinese EFL learners' written production of the PASSIVE/ACTIVE structure and the RELATIVE CLAUSE structure on the task.Two issues were mainly addressed: 1)does structural priming occur in Chinese EFL learners' written production on the continuation task;and if so,2)how does L2 proficiency bear upon the priming effect.To seek answer answers to these questions,an experiment was designed and carried out.Around 159 Chinese EFL learners took part in the experiment.They were 109 college sophomore students and 50 postgraduates,all majoring in English.Two structures were targeted in the experiment: the RELATIVE CLAUSE structure and the PASSIVE structure.The material was an interesting English story with its end removed.It was adapted into two versions under the prerequisite that the adapted versions elicited no unnatural reading experience.The adaption was so implemented that the alternation of the two target structures(RELATIVE CLAUSE vs.nonRELATIVE CLAUSE / PASSIVE vs.ACTIVE)were inserted into the two versions separately.One version used one of the two target structures(e.g.,the RELATIVE CLAUSE structure)and the other employed the alternative of the structure(e.g.,the non-RELATIVE CLAUSE structure).As a result,Version 1 contained the PASSIVE structure and the non-RELATIVE CLAUSE structure,and Version 2 contained the ACTIVE and the RELATIVE CLAUSE structures.As the alternative of the target structures had the same meaning,the two versions only differed in the target structure used.The participants were required to read the incomplete story carefully and complete it through writing in the most coherent and logical way possible.They had 40 minutes to read the text,and only when the designated time was over were they given the answer sheet for their subsequent 40-munite writing.The main findings are below:Firstly,structural priming occurred in Chinese L2 English learners' written production on the continuation task disregarding L2 proficiency.Secondly,participants' L2(English)proficiency played different roles in structural priming on the task with respect to differing target structures.In the case of the RELATIVE CLAUSE structure,L2 proficiency was a determinant of the existence of structural priming in L2 learners' written production on the continuation task.Specifically,no priming effect was captured in the advanced-proficiency participants' written production whereas the intermediate level participants' written production exhibited the structural priming effect.Regarding the PASSIVE structure,L2 proficiency was found to influence the magnitude of structural priming in such a way that the magnitude increased with the participants' L2(English)proficiency.The findings suggest that structural priming exists in natural,real-life like use of language and that the continuation task can serve as a good tool of studying structural priming.The findings also provide evidence to the implicit learning mechanism of structural priming,thus shedding some light on L2 learning of abstract constructions.