Iranian EFL Learners' Approach to Text Reconstruction: Lexicon-based or Grammar-based?

The plethora of the hypotheses put forth as to the nature and structure of second language ability, in particular concerning the lexicon-syntax interface, have one face with an apparently informidable problem still to be resolved. Various structuralist hypotheses put one on the horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, one could come up with such pure structuralist hypotheses as Harrisian which attach little or no significance to the very delicate role played by lexicon as an essential element of language learning, isolating the knowledge of the mental lexical items and syntax. On the other, a latest trend of linguistic assumptions as asserted so brilliantly by linguists of the caliber of Chomsky, not turning a blind eye to the magic of lexicon in bridging the gap between and associating the lexical items and syntax, emphasizes the integration of the two. Accordingly, the present study aims at collecting some empirical evidence to see whether these two integral aspects of language, namely lexicon and syntax, are separate or integrated. More specifically, the study aims at providing an answer to the following question: is text-reconstruction (as a linguistic activity which resorts to the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary for accomplishment) lexicon-based or grammar-based? A total of 18 last-year students majoring in English language and literature took part in the study. Concurrent and retrospective thinking aloud were the two techniques adopted in this study. The findings take side with a lexicon-dominated integration-oriented approach to text-reconstruction