Examining the Relation between Reading Time and Comprehension of Garden-Path Sentences by Saudi EFL Learners

Abstract

The current study investigates the real-time processing and comprehension of syntactic ambiguity in Garden-Path sentences by EFL learners with L1 Arabic. The aim is to examine a possible correlation between these two measures, assuming that longer reading times are associated with better comprehension. To do so, fifty female Saudi upper-intermediate EFL students from a Saudi university completed a self-paced reading experiment in which they read Garden-Path and non-Garden-Path sentences and answered comprehension questions. Generalized estimating equations revealed that participants’ comprehension of Garden-Path sentences is generally lower than that of non-Garden-Path sentences, but improves with more time spent reading them. The results suggest that initial misinterpretations of Garden-Path sentences are common among female Saudi upper-intermediate EFL learners, replicating previous studies on lingering misinterpretations and the good-enough approach. The study concludes that female Saudi upper-intermediate EFL learners’ processing constraints in Garden-Path sentences are likely due to reduced sensitivity to disambiguating cues, as they did not spend enough time reanalyzing the initial misinterpretations of ambiguous sentences. Garden-Path sentences remain a valuable tool for future studies investigating how the human parsing system handles structural ambiguity.