| The paper uses the ERPs (event-related relative potential) technique to explorethe relationship between working memory and proficiency together with L2(secondlansguage) sentences processing in Chinese-English L2speakers. In the1t study,participants are separated into three groups by L2proficiency (high, intermediate, low)to take the reading span task mainly exploring the relationship between L2proficiency and WMC (working memory capacity). In the2nd study, high andintermidiate proficient L2speakers are divided into different teams by reading spansbased on the1st study to do the subject-verb judgment tasks to explore the effects ofworking memory and L2proficiency on L2syntactic processing, In the3rd study’ itmainly explores the effect of extra I WM load on L2syntactic processing by control ingthe place of extral WM load (a three-word adverb phrase) in experimental metiaral:one type puts the phrase between the subject and the verb, the other transfer thephrase behind the verb.Thi’s paper totally uses thress studies to finds that L2speakers WMC isindividually different and tents to be normal distribution, and WMC is also affectedby personal experiences; accuracy of L2syntactic processing is mostly influenced byL2proficiency, but reaction speed is more influenced by WMC; in thde2nd and3rstudy, we find three ERPs: P200, LAN (letf anterior negative) and P600; P200may bein correlation with the L2’speakers unfamiliarity with experimental material, but alsomay be evoked because of speakers’ using hieroglyphic as their Ll，while the innermechanism of P200is still not clear; LAN, representing the early syntactic processing,is more influenced by WM load; as for P600, which represents the reanalysisprocessing of syntactic process, the effect of personal WMC is more significant thanthat of proficiency, and P600also inlfuenced by extral WM load. |
