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Do adult second language (L2) learners process their new language in a nativelike way? There is significant debate regarding this issue. Some researchers (e.g., DeKeyser, 2000) believe that adults rely exclusively on explicit knowledge and explicit processing to comprehend sentences in L2. According to this view, the adult L2 learner must use explicit knowledge and processing to speak and comprehend the L2. An alternative view (N. Ellis, 2002; Krashen, 1994) holds that although L2 learners might be exposed to explicit rules in classrooms and textbooks, they rely on implicit knowledge and implicit processing to comprehend sentences in the L2.
Hulstijn (2002) suggested that one way to address this issue would be to measure readers' immediate online neuronal reactions to L2 sentences, using event-related potentials (ERPs). ERPs are electrophysiological brain responses to particular stimulus events (e.g., reading a word) that are derived from the electroencephalographic (EEG) record. The EEG is recorded by electrodes placed on the surface of the scalp. ERPs reflect the synchronous depolarization of populations of neurons in the brain (Fabiani, Gratton, & Coles, 2000) and indicate the brain response that is linked in time either to the presentation of a stimulus (as in the present study) or to a response (e.g., a button press).
As an example, if a literate individual views a word on a computer screen, the viewing of this word will elicit visual processing (which will be indexed by early sensory ERP components for the first 100 ms) and, later, the word's meaning will become activated, which will be indexed by a later, cognitive ERP component. Specific ERP components can be considered indices of specific cognitive events (Fabiani et al., 2000). In particular, an ERP component has been identified that corresponds to syntactic anomalies. This component, termed the P600, has been used with great success to study the degree to which individuals are sensitive to syntactic anomalies (e.g., Osterhout & Holcomb, 1992).
In the current study, we follow Hulstijn's (2002) suggestion by examining ERP data from beginning learners of Spanish as they are engaged in a grammaticality judgment task (GJT). Our findings indicate that beginning L2 learners are implicitly sensitive to grammatical violations in L2, as evidenced by a positive-going brain response that occurs after a grammatical violation. We will...