Research in first language and second language (L2) comprehension has
demonstrated that both learner and input variables contribute to the
ease with which a message is understood. Questions remain, however, as
to how these variables affect the way L2 learners process linguistic
form during comprehension. This study examines how one learner variable
(topic familiarity) and two input variables (mode and pausing) affect
learners' comprehension and their processing of a new
morphological form (the Spanish future tense) in the input. Two hundred
sixty-six participants in an accelerated beginning Spanish course
either read or listened to a short narrative in Spanish on either a
familiar topic or an unfamiliar one. Additionally, half of the
listening groups encountered 3-second pauses between each sentence.
After listening to or reading the passages, the participants performed
two comprehension tasks (recall protocol and multiple-choice test) and
two form-assessment tasks (form-recognition task and tense
identification/translation). The results revealed that, although
all three variables affected learners' comprehension, only mode
affected learners' processing future tense morphology.An earlier version of this paper was presented
at the conference Form-Meaning Connections in Second Language Acquisition
held in Chicago in February, 2002. This paper is based on my doctoral
dissertation completed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
I am extremely grateful to Bill VanPatten for his guidance during the entire
process of the research project as well as to James F. Lee, Diane Musumeci,
Alice Omaggio Hadley, and Anna María Escobar for their feedback and
encouragement. I also wish to thank the anonymous SSLA reviewers
for their insightful and critical comments. All errors and omissions are, of
course, my own.