Processing Strategy Transfer and Interlanguage Variation

The present study investigates the suitability or the Competition Model, a functionalist processing model proposed in Bates and MacWhinney (1981) and Bates, McNew, McWhinney, Devescovi and Smith (1982) as a model of L2 speech processing and the evidence it provides tor interlanguage variation, in this case the transfer or Japanese L1 processing strategies to the English L2 or Japanese ESL learners. The first part or the paper describes the model and discusses its potential contribution to our understanding or L2 processing and transfer, including a review of relevant monolingual and bilingual studies. The experiment reported in the second part ot the paper tests processnig strategies used by English L1, Japanese ESL and Japanese L1 subjects to identity agent/object relationships in simple transitive sentences incorporating word order, animacy and stress cues in random converging and competing orders. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the Competition Model as an account of L2 processing and implications and directions for further research