The Processing of Topicalization in Persian and English

Subject Areas : Journal of Teaching English Language Studies

Leila Azizi ¹ , Shahla Roshani ² , Ghale Sheikhi ³

1 - Islamic Azad University, Takestan Branch
2 - Payam Noor University
3 - Payam Noor University

Received: 2014-09-20 Accepted : 2014-10-21 Published : 2014-11-01

Keywords: processing, Topicalization,

Abstract :

The present study sought to investigate whether there is any difference between topicalization processes in English and Persian structures among EFL learners.50 female students of Jahad Daneshgahi English Language Institute in Qazvin participated in this study. All of the participants were native speakers of Persian studying in Jahad Daneshgahi English Language Institute in Qazvin, Iran. The participants were administered three tests. A multiple choice test for English language proficiency test(PET) to determine the level of the participants , a multiple choice English Topicalization test and Persian Topicalization test to measure the possible effect of topicalixed structures on subjects' comprehension and to measure the participants' knowledge of topicalized structures. The same tests were presented to participants of advanced and intermediate level. The Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used to answer the research question of this study. The findings showed that the advanced group performed better on the English Topicalization test. There was a significant dependency between the English language proficiency level and comprehension of Topicalized structures. Then, the result of Persian test show that both groups cannot process Persian topicalized sentences well. Accordingly, the null hypothesis that states that there is no significant difference between topicalization process in English and Persian is rejected and we can claim that there is significant difference between topicalization process in English and Persian . The findings of the present study may have implications for L2 learners and teachers.

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