The Flexible Lexical Inferencing Processes of Japanese EFL Learners: A Think-Aloud Study

抄録

　　When inferring the meanings of unknown words, it is important to flexibly use available morphemes and contexts simultaneously because, while the meanings of transparent words can be inferred from their morphemes alone (e.g., sunlight), the meanings of opaque words cannot (e.g., honeymoon). The present study examined how English as a foreign language learners change their inferential processes depending on the semantic transparency (consistency) between morphological and contextual information. A total of 12 Japanese undergraduate and graduate students inferred the meanings of unknown words while reporting the contents of their thoughts. The target words were pseudo compounds whose literal meanings were either consistent or inconsistent with their contexts (transparent and opaque targets). Think-aloud protocols suggested that participants generally inferred meanings that fit the contexts. Also, depending on semantic consistency, the frequency with which participants used various strategies, from linguistic clues to metacognitive monitoring or evaluation of their own inferential processes, differed. In addition, a qualitative analysis of literal interpretations of opaque targets, albeit a small number of them, showed that these inferences were not always attributable to ignoring context. In fact, some inferential protocols reflected participants’ mental efforts to make literal, morpheme-based interpretations meaningful within the context.