Task Type in Reading Span Tests Matters: An Eye Movement Study

Reading span tests (RSTs) are commonly used to measure working memory (WM) capacity in L2 research. RSTs require simultaneous processing (secondary task) and storage (primary task) of information. However, the type of the secondary task varies from one study to another. Since syntactic and semantic processing in the L2 might be different, this study examined how the eye movements of late L2 learners changed when RSTs in the L2 involving syntactic accuracy vs. semantic plausibility judgment as the secondary task were administered. The findings indicated that eye movements displayed different patterns in semantically and syntactically anomalous sentences. Additionally, eye movement patterns of the participants were similar to those of native speakers reported in previous L1 (English) research in terms of processing semantic anomaly, but not syntactic inaccuracy.