Comprehension and Production Asymmetry in Acquiring English Adjective Clauses by Persian EFL Learners

Document Type : Research article

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English Department, Faculty of Literature and Foreign Languages, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran

Abstract

This study explores the asymmetry between comprehension and production by examining the learning of English relative clauses versus participial phrases by two groups of Persian native speakers who were learning English as a foreign language. The research administered a grammaticality judgment test (GJT) and a translation test (TT) to elicit data on the structural patterns of A and B. Both patterns had subject relative clauses, modifying the main clauses’ objects; the verbs of the dependent clause were transitive in pattern A, but they were intransitive in pattern B. The results of GJT showed that L2 processing was neither influenced by learners’ proficiency nor by the type of structural patterns. However, the results of TT proved that proficiency level and structural patterns caused variations in learners’ performance. Moreover, the overall results of GJT and TT indicated that learners’ comprehension of certain structures preceded their production. Results were also interpreted under the predictions of Perspective Shifting and Interpretability Hypothesis. This study uncovers a phenomenon that cannot be explained by reference to the assumptions of these hypotheses. Consequently, it introduces the new model of 'Thematic Argument Perspective'.

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