Anaphora Resolution in English Ambiguous Sentences by ESL Learners

The present study investigated the anaphora resolution in English ambiguous sentences. The study focused on the automatic anaphora resolution process in English ambiguous sentences by ESL learners in the natural language through anaphora resolution strategies. The aim of this research study was to know whether the ESL learners used anaphora resolution strategies. The study further explored the most frequently and least frequently used strategies by the ESL learners. A proficiency test was used as a research tool to collect data. The questions were about ambiguous English sentences containing both inter-sentential and intra-sentential anaphora. The learners had no significant difficulty in the use of most of most of the strategies. The strategies of gender and number agreement, syntactic knowledge and real-world knowledge were the most frequently used strategies; while, the least frequently used strategy for anaphora resolution was discourse knowledge. The study also found out that one of the strategies known as discourse was used commonly by the ESL learners. The findings of the current study are more fruitful for the ESL learners. They will aware the ESL learners and the instructors to include anaphora resolution strategies in teaching English ambiguous sentences.