This study examines, via a masked priming task, the processing of English regular and
irregular past tense morphology in proficient second language (L2) learners and native
speakers in relation to working memory capacity (WMC), as measured by the Automated
Reading Span (ARSPAN) and Operation Span (AOSPAN) tasks. The findings revealed
quantitative group differences in the form of slower reaction times (RTs) in the L2-English
group. While no correlation was found between the morphological processing patterns and …

In the present study, highly proficient second language (L2) speakers' processing of English
past tense morphology was investigated in order to understand whether their processing
routes (ie, decomposition, storage or a dual-route) were comparable with native (L1)
speakers of English. To this end, two instruments were developed. In the masked priming
task, the reaction times (RT) for regular and irregular verbs were measured. The prime-target
pairs were presented in three prime conditions: i) Identity (save-SAVE; build-BUILD),(ii) Test …