Abstract
We assessed the relationship between word-to-text-integration (WTI) and reading comprehension in 7th grade students (n = 441) learning English as a second language (L2). The students performed a self-paced WTI reading task in Fall (T1) and Spring (T2), consisting of three text manipulation types (anaphora resolution, argument overlap, anomaly detection), divided in simple and complex passages. The passages contained proximate versus distant anaphora, explicit repetitions versus implicit inferences, and no anomalies versus anomalies. We first examined how WTI complexity was related to reading times on target, target plus one, and target plus two, controlling for word frequency, decoding fluency, gender, and age. Mixed-effects models showed shorter reading times on T2 than on T1 and for simple compared to complex passages, indicating improvement of L2 reading speed. Complexity affected WTI for our L2 learners, as was reflected by longer reading times on complex compared to simple argument overlap and anomaly detection passages. We then assessed whether reading comprehension could be predicted by WTI. Longer reading times on complex compared to simple argument overlap and anomaly detection passages predicted offline reading comprehension. These WTI-measures of complexity are thus indicators of WTI proficiency for novice L2 learners.
Highlights
The ability to read text in a second language (L2) is highly important for, amongst other reasons, academic development (Collier, 1987)
Separate reading time models were fitted for anaphora resolution, argument overlap, and anomaly detection passages respectively to examine how Word-to-Text Integration (WTI) could be predicted
There was a main effect of Frequency on reading times for anaphora resolution, b = − 0.274, 95% confidence interval (CI) [− 0.307, − 0.240], and anomaly detection passages, b = − 0.497, 95% CI [− 0.518, − 0.474] which indicated that students read faster for more frequent words
Summary
The ability to read text in a second language (L2) is highly important for, amongst other reasons, academic development (Collier, 1987). Novice L2 learners often experience difficulties when reading a text in their L2, especially with respect to comprehension (Lesaux, Lipka, & Siegel, 2006). These difficulties may arise from word characteristics (e.g., word frequency; Clifton, Staub, & Rayner, 2007), characteristics of the text, sentence complexity (van den Bosch, Segers, & Verhoeven, 2018), and individual differences, for example decoding fluency (Nahatme, 2018). Reading comprehension is partly driven by Word-to-Text Integration (WTI; Perfetti, Yang, & Schmalhofer, 2008). WTI has theoretically been defined as the ability to smoothly retrieve the meaning of a written word and integrate it into the meaning of the text (Perfetti et al, 2008). WTI may play an important part in unravelling the challenges posed by English as an L2 reading comprehension
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