English Island Sentences by Korean EFL Learners

This paper examined how Korean English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners processed English island sentences using an experimental method. Sprouse et al. (2012) demonstrated that English native speakers identified four types of island constraints in their language: whether, complex NP, subject, and adjunct. Kim (2015), on the other hand, applied the same strategy and revealed that Korean EFL learners did not identify complex NP and adjunct islands. This study performed the same experiments but used the magnitude estimation method (not Likert scale). The experiments and their statistical analyses clearly showed that Korean EFL learners clearly identified all the types of islands. The difference between this study and Kim (2015) might be originated from the measuring method of acceptability judgment scores and the statistical analyses.