PERFORMANCE OF EXPERT NON‐NATIVE AND NON‐EXPERT NATIVE READERS OF SCIENTIFIC FRENCH

Abstract

The study compared the performance of expert non‐native and nonexpert native readers of an experimental report written in French. The dependent measures were number and type of idea units remembered on a twenty‐four hour delayed written recall protocol. Subjects read the text in one of three conditions: canonical experimental report order, scrambled order or very scrambled order. It was found that the difference in number of idea units recalled by both groups was non‐significant although expert non‐native readers recalled more. Recall of expert non‐native readers decreased as text order was more scrambled. Text order appeared to have no effect upon non‐expert native recall patterns. Both groups tended to structure recalls according to the input order. The data analysis includes application of non‐parametrics. Studies of reading in a foreign/second language during the past decade have produced one undisputed finding about comprehension: familiarity with text content and structure can attenuate the effects ...