Understanding English Prepositions: Mental Simulation in Users of English as a Second Language

Brian Shoen, Second Language Studies

Despite its inherently multidisciplinary heritage, very little second language acquisition (SLA) research has been done from a cognitive linguistics approach. The present study attempts to bridge this gap by investigating how users of English understand English prepositions in context. A growing body of literature adopting this framework (Richardson et al 2003; Bergen, et. al. 2003; Lindsay, 2003) supports the theory that language users run a mental simulation when understanding language. This study applied simulation semantics to investigate the cognitive underpinnings of English preposition use in L2 learners.

    This experiment tested whether simulation in the form of interference effects, i.e. differences in reaction times (RT), was observed in users of English as a second language (L2) and, if so, whether there was any correlation with the users’ English proficiency levels. Nine English L1 users and ten English L2 participants heard sentences followed by moving images representing the semantic content of English prepositions, and then asked to identify the moving object in the picture.

    Mean RTs for the L1 group indicated the presence of simulation effects, whereas the mean RTs for the L2 group overall showed neither consistent evidence of simulation, nor much correlation with language proficiency. However, several L2 participants did seem to incur strong interference effects. These results offer intriguing directions for further research with a larger number of participants, particularly ensuring more complete representations of various proficiency levels in the English L2 group to provide a fuller picture of how simulation might vary with learner English proficiency