Reading times for agentless passives in L1 and L2 reading

Passive verbs often appear in clauses which omit agents, the ‘doers’ of actions. This can cause confusion, especially in second language (L2) reading. Japanese learners of English have identified the passive voice, absence of agents, and high semantic ambiguity as sources of difficulty in identifying agents in English texts. These features appear to correlate with lower response accuracy. Eye tracking studies have found that processing difficulty tends to increase reading times and regressions. Yet while passive verbs cause comprehension difficulty, they may be read more quickly than active verbs. The main questions of the study are: Do readers read passive verbs more quickly than actives in both first and second languages? How do the variables of voice, agency, and semantic ambiguity affect reading times on, and regressions from, critical verbs? Thirty Japanese learners of English read sets of short texts in English and Japanese and answered questions asking them to identify the agent that performed a given action. Eye movements were recorded using an Eyelink 1000 Plus system at 1000 Hz. First fixation duration was shorter for passive verbs, but only in L2 English. Total reading times were higher for passives in both languages. Language learners appear to be using different strategies in first and second language reading. Future studies that investigate the relation between eye movements and successful inferencing can shed light on strategies that benefit students in L2 reading.