Abstract：This experiment was designed to explore the effects of Chinese lexicalization on knowledge source use, lexical inferencing success and lexical development during English lexical inferencing processes. The think-aloud and retrospection method was herein deployed while the two English texts rendered as stimulus materials included both Chinese lexicalized and non-lexicalized English target words. Analyses of the data pointed to three major findings of this experiment. Firstly, participants drew on the same kinds of knowledge sources when they inferred the meaning of Chinese lexicalized and non-lexicalized English target words, but the relative frequencies of the use of these knowledge sources were different. Secondly, success of lexical inferencing in Chinese lexicalized English target words was significantly higher than that in non-lexicalized English target words. Thirdly, successful lexical inferencing played a significant role in the development of participants’ lexical knowledge of Chinese lexicalized and non-lexicalized English target words.
