ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates whether and how L2 learners of Arabic use word order and subject-verb agreement to assign an actor role in simple sentences. It assesses the role of L1 in processing Arabic sentences and how L2 processing develops with increasing exposure to the language. The chapter suggests that there might be an L1 transfer at the beginner stages of learning Arabic as an L2 and that learners start to use the L2 cues in processing L2 sentences with more exposure to the language. It also suggests some implications for L2 pedagogy. The Beginner group showed high reliance on word order to assign agency. Within the same word order, participants' performance of first noun choice was not affected by the subject-verb agreement condition. The frequency of choosing the first noun was calculated as a function of subject-verb variation for each group of students within the VNN and NVN word order.
