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Abstract This study investigates lower-intermediate Chinese EFL learners’ online interpretation of wh-argument questions with a self-paced selection task programmed by E-prime. The results indicated that the primacy of wh-word meaning strategy significantly influenced the acquisition of wh-argument questions with L2 learners exhibiting a preference for who subject questions and what object questions, thus highlighting an opposite subject-object asymmetry. The study also showed that processing instruction could promote the processing of wh-argument questions and, therefore, attenuate the form-meaning asymmetry. The findings, to a certain extent, reveal the input processing mechanism of wh-argument questions by lower-intermediate Chinese EFL learners, and provide a new perspective for the research of wh-argument questions in the field of SLA. They also provide a new practical reference for the instruction of L2 English wh-argument questions.
Key words: wh-argument questions; processing instruction; lower-intermediate Chinese EFL learners; input processing strategy
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