# The impact of vividness of visual imagery on the construction of multi-dimensional situation models by second language learners

## TL;DR

This study explores how Chinese learners of Japanese use visual imagery to build mental models of stories, finding that vivid imagery helps when key story elements are unclear.

## Contribution

The study empirically links visual imagery vividness to situation model construction in second-language reading.

## Key findings

- Protagonist, time, and space dimensions significantly contribute to situation model construction in L2 learners.
- Visual imagery vividness helps learners build accurate models when protagonist and space dimensions are discontinuous.
- Causality and intentionality dimensions had no significant impact on situation model construction.

## Abstract

This study investigates how Chinese native speakers learning Japanese as a second language construct situation models across five dimensions, i.e., protagonist, time, space, causality, and intentionality, while reading Japanese narratives, and how visual imagery vividness affects this process. Employing a generalized linear mixed-effects model, we conducted an analysis of verb-clustering data. The results showed that (1) the protagonist, time, and space dimensions played significant roles in constructing situation models in Chinese learners of Japanese, while the causality and intentionality dimensions did not have significant impacts; (2) the construction of situation models in L2 learners’ reading was influenced by visual imagery vividness. Learners with higher visual imagery vividness were better able to construct accurate situation models when the protagonist and space dimensions were discontinuous. The findings provide new insights into understanding the cognitive processing mechanisms of second-language learners and suggest that visual imagery vividness plays a crucial role in the construction of situation models. This research offers empirical support for optimizing teaching strategies of second-language reading.