Unpacking L2 explicit linguistic knowledge and online processing of the English modals may and can: A comparison of acceptability judgments and self-paced reading

Nadia Mifka-Profozic; David O'Reilly; Leonarda Lovrovic

doi:10.1017/S0272263123000475

Unpacking L2 explicit linguistic knowledge and online processing of the English modals may and can: A comparison of acceptability judgments and self-paced reading

Nadia Mifka-Profozic^*, David O'Reilly, Leonarda Lovrovic

^*Corresponding author for this work

Education

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The present study uses self-paced reading as a measure of online processing and an acceptability judgement task as a measure of offline explicit linguistic knowledge, to understand L2 learners’ comprehension processes and their awareness of subtle differences between the modal auxiliaries may and can. Participants were two groups of university students: 42 native speakers of English and 41 native speakers of Croatian majoring in L2 English. The study is part of a larger project that has provided empirical evidence of the two modals, may and can, being mutually exclusive when denoting ability (can) and epistemic possibility (may) but equally acceptable in pragmatic choices expressing permission. The present results revealed that L1 and L2 speakers rated the acceptability of sentences in offline tasks similarly; however, L2 learners showed no sensitivity to verb–context mismatches in epistemic modality while demonstrating sensitivity when processing modals expressing ability. Implications for L2 acquisition of modals and future research are discussed.

Original language	English
Number of pages	28
Journal	Studies in Second Language Acquisition
Early online date	28 Nov 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263123000475
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 28 Nov 2023

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

10.1017/S0272263123000475Licence: CC BY

Unpacking L2 explicit linguistic knowledge and online processing of the English modals may and can: A comparison of acceptability judgments and self-paced reading
© The Author(s), 2023
Final published version, 970 KBLicence: CC BY
Unpacking L2 explicit linguistic knowledge and online processing of the English modals may and can: A comparison of acceptability judgments and self-paced reading – ERRATUM
© The Author(s), 2023
Final published version, 70.5 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{15d6d98b610c4ab1b8b57941067b46a1,

title = "Unpacking L2 explicit linguistic knowledge and online processing of the English modals may and can: A comparison of acceptability judgments and self-paced reading",

abstract = "The present study uses self-paced reading as a measure of online processing and an acceptability judgement task as a measure of offline explicit linguistic knowledge, to understand L2 learners{\textquoteright} comprehension processes and their awareness of subtle differences between the modal auxiliaries may and can. Participants were two groups of university students: 42 native speakers of English and 41 native speakers of Croatian majoring in L2 English. The study is part of a larger project that has provided empirical evidence of the two modals, may and can, being mutually exclusive when denoting ability (can) and epistemic possibility (may) but equally acceptable in pragmatic choices expressing permission. The present results revealed that L1 and L2 speakers rated the acceptability of sentences in offline tasks similarly; however, L2 learners showed no sensitivity to verb–context mismatches in epistemic modality while demonstrating sensitivity when processing modals expressing ability. Implications for L2 acquisition of modals and future research are discussed.",

author = "Nadia Mifka-Profozic and David O'Reilly and Leonarda Lovrovic",

note = "{\textcopyright} The Author(s), 2023.",

year = "2023",

month = nov,

day = "28",

doi = "10.1017/S0272263123000475",

language = "English",

journal = "Studies in Second Language Acquisition",

issn = "0272-2631",

publisher = "Cambridge University Press",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Unpacking L2 explicit linguistic knowledge and online processing of the English modals may and can

T2 - A comparison of acceptability judgments and self-paced reading

AU - Mifka-Profozic, Nadia

AU - O'Reilly, David

AU - Lovrovic, Leonarda

PY - 2023/11/28

Y1 - 2023/11/28

N2 - The present study uses self-paced reading as a measure of online processing and an acceptability judgement task as a measure of offline explicit linguistic knowledge, to understand L2 learners’ comprehension processes and their awareness of subtle differences between the modal auxiliaries may and can. Participants were two groups of university students: 42 native speakers of English and 41 native speakers of Croatian majoring in L2 English. The study is part of a larger project that has provided empirical evidence of the two modals, may and can, being mutually exclusive when denoting ability (can) and epistemic possibility (may) but equally acceptable in pragmatic choices expressing permission. The present results revealed that L1 and L2 speakers rated the acceptability of sentences in offline tasks similarly; however, L2 learners showed no sensitivity to verb–context mismatches in epistemic modality while demonstrating sensitivity when processing modals expressing ability. Implications for L2 acquisition of modals and future research are discussed.

AB - The present study uses self-paced reading as a measure of online processing and an acceptability judgement task as a measure of offline explicit linguistic knowledge, to understand L2 learners’ comprehension processes and their awareness of subtle differences between the modal auxiliaries may and can. Participants were two groups of university students: 42 native speakers of English and 41 native speakers of Croatian majoring in L2 English. The study is part of a larger project that has provided empirical evidence of the two modals, may and can, being mutually exclusive when denoting ability (can) and epistemic possibility (may) but equally acceptable in pragmatic choices expressing permission. The present results revealed that L1 and L2 speakers rated the acceptability of sentences in offline tasks similarly; however, L2 learners showed no sensitivity to verb–context mismatches in epistemic modality while demonstrating sensitivity when processing modals expressing ability. Implications for L2 acquisition of modals and future research are discussed.

U2 - 10.1017/S0272263123000475

DO - 10.1017/S0272263123000475

M3 - Article

SN - 0272-2631

JO - Studies in Second Language Acquisition

JF - Studies in Second Language Acquisition

ER -