Abstract

A descriptive device for the incremental representation of utterance comprehension is introduced and applied to news pieces in English. The device features conceptual complexes in representing what a hearer understands as s/he hears fractions of utterance successively. A conceptual complex is delineated by a group of concepts, which are expressed by words and symbols but are conceptual in nature and not identical with their linguistic meanings. Conceptual complexes receive input from the grammatical and background knowledge held by the hearer as well as the incoming utterance.
The conceptual representation of utterance comprehension enables us to show when and how background knowledge contributes to the entire comprehension. It helps the preparation of teaching materials taken from English news. It also serves as the basis for analyzing students' difficulties