Processing Null and Overt Pronoun Subject at Different Proficiency Levels in Korean as a Second Language

This study compares how native Korean speakers and English learners of L2 Korean interpret null and overt subject pronouns in complex Korean sentences consisting of a main clause and a subordinate clause. It aims to examine the extent to which the mechanisms that underlie L2 processing differ from those in L1 processing and further to test whether increasing proficiency of L2 learners affects their preferences for antecedents. Two groups of English L1 learners of L2 Korean (20 beginners, and 16 advanced learners and % Korean native speakers participated in a questionnaire survey, which contained four conditions of anaphora (forward/backward anaphora (FIB); null/overt pronoun (N/O)). Results showed that in the forward anaphora with null pronoun (FN) condition, the three groups did not differ significantly in their choice of antecedents. In the FO and BO conditions, beginners were different from the advanced learners and native speakers. In the BN condition, both learner groups were different from the native speakers. 'This suggests that L1-L2 similarities can facilitate processing, whereas L1-L2 differences can cause processing difficulties for L2 learners. Finally, the behavior pattern of the advanced learners in the present study was generally similar to that of native speakers, but different in some conditions.