Second Language Reading Research Articles

Learning Chinese as a Second Language: Implications of the Character-Word Dual Function Model

Learning new words is fundamental in both first and second-language reading. There are, however, divided opinions on the best instructional approaches. Two widely used approaches across languages are whole-word focus and word-constituent focus. The appropriateness of each approach has varied historically, even within a single language (e.g., the debate between whole-word instruction and phonics in English). In teaching Chinese, both approaches are applied but to different learner groups. Whole-word instruction predominates in teaching Chinese as a second language (L2), while instruction for Chinese children focuses more on character-level mappings. It may seem reasonable in L2 Chinese instructions to focus on direct mappings between Chinese words and their L1 equivalent words. However, this raises a question: Is whole-word instruction the most efficient approach in L2 Chinese instruction? Based on an analysis of the Chinese writing system, we proposed a Character-Word Dual Function model of Chinese and tested its application of a dual-focus approach on both characters and words in L2 Chinese classroom instruction. Empirical findings support the advantage of this new approach compared to conventional whole-word instruction. We discuss the alignment between our findings and the Unified Computational Model and its implications for word instruction across languages.

The word frequency effect in first- and second-language reading by Chinese and Dutch bilinguals

Abstract High-frequency words are processed faster than low-frequency words, known as the word frequency effect (FE). Although the FE has been studied in various writing systems as well as in first- (L1) and second-language (L2) reading, existing theoretical hypotheses are mainly based on findings in alphabetic languages. To date, no study has investigated theoretical explanations of the FE such as the learning hypothesis, the lexical entrenchment hypothesis and the rank hypothesis apply to Chinese–English bilinguals. The present study, therefore, compared the FEs in Chinese– and Dutch–English bilinguals during natural paragraph reading in their L1 and L2, using eye-tracking measures. Chinese bilinguals exhibited a larger FE in L2 than in L1. They displayed smaller L1 FEs and much steeper L2 FE curves than Dutch bilinguals. These findings are not entirely consistent with the existing FE hypotheses, and the present study discusses theoretical accounts in light of the observed results.

An Analysis of Influencing Factors on Bilingual Reading of Second Language Learners

Proficiency in second-language (L2) reading is an important skill essential in an increasingly globalized world. Previous research has often addressed disparate elements influencing L2 reading proficiency without aggregating them into a comprehensive framework. This paper seeks to fill this gap by systematically collecting and examining the various factors that impact the ability to read in a second language. The primary objective of this research is to compile an exhaustive list of factors affecting L2 reading and to analyze their respective influences. By categorizing these factors into external and internal dimensions, this study aims to provide a holistic view of the ecosystem within which L2 reading comprehension develops and operates. Employing a qualitative literature review methodology, this research meticulously synthesizes existing studies and theoretical perspectives on L2 reading. The factors influencing L2 reading proficiency are divided into two broad categories: external and internal. External factors encompass educational contexts, socioeconomic influences, the role of technological tools and digital literacy, as well as cultural and contextual elements, and the characteristics of reading materials. Internal factors are identified as cognitive processes, the effects of language transfer and interference, and the roles of motivation and attitude in L2 reading. Each factor is analyzed for its unique contribution and interplay with other elements within the L2 reading process.

Individual Differences in Leveraging Regularity in Emergent L2 Readers in Rural Côte d’Ivoire

ABSTRACT Purpose Statistical learning (SL) approaches to reading maintain that proficient reading requires assimilation of the rich statistical regularities in the writing system. Reading skills in developing first- and second-language readers in English have been shown to be predicted by individual differences in sensitivity to regularities in mappings from orthography to phonology (O-P) and semantics (O-S), with good readers relying more on O-P consistency, and less on O-S associations. However, SL and its relation to reading has been primarily studied in English readers in high-income Western countries. Method We examine individual differences in sensitivity to regularities in emergent French readers in rural agricultural communities in Côte d’Ivoire (N = 134). Results We show that, in contrast to previous studies, in this cohort better readers are leveraging semantic associations more strongly, while individual differences in sensitivity to orthographic consistency did not predict reading skill. Relatively little variance in reading skill was explained by sensitivity to regularities, and we discuss these findings in terms of literacy acquisition in low-literacy and low-exposure contexts. This showcases the importance of cross-linguistic and cross-cultural research to back up universal theories of literacy, and suggests that current SL accounts of reading must be updated to account for this variance in reading skills.

Effects of Adjunct Questions on L2 Reading Comprehension with Texts of Different Types.

Answering text-related questions while reading is a questioning strategy which is called adjunct questions or embedded questions, the benefits of which have been established in first-language reading as to enhance comprehension. The present study aims to study the effects different adjunct questions exert on second-language (L2) readers' comprehension of texts of various types. One hundred and forty-four intermediate-level Chinese EFL learners participated in this study and were divided randomly into six groups. Each group was given either a narrative or an expository text with 'what or why' questions or no questions. A brief topic familiarity questionnaire was attached to the end of each text paper. The results showed that inserted adjunct questions improved the readers' reading comprehension both in expository and narrative texts, but only narrative texts inserted with why questions had significant effects on the L2 reading comprehension. The findings suggested that text types and question types modulate the effects of inserted adjunct questions on the English reading of intermediate learners. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for future studies are provided.

A Review of Factors Affecting the Acquisition of Second Language Reading Skills

Effective reading skills are essential prerequisites for L2 reading proficiency which demand different metacognitive and cognitive skills to deal with the problems before and during the reading. These reading strategies adopted by L2 proficient readers are effective methods to handle the primary factors that influence reading proficiency. Therefore, the current research provided a comprehensive review of factors affecting the acquisition of second-language reading skills. The review consisted of thirty-two research articles related to L2 reading acquisition. The results demonstrated primary factors which impacted the L2 reading skills and a wide range of reading techniques adopted by proficient English language learners to construct meanings from the written text. Finally, it is likely to expect that the review of factors affecting reading skills can provide English language teachers and English language learners with in-depth insights into social and cognitive factors affecting L2 reading literacy.

WHEN TO TEACH L2 READING TO YOUNG LEARNERS: GENERAL GUIDELINES TO A SEQUENCE OF INSTRUCTION

This paper has two main aims. First, it will clarify some common misconceptions regarding the teaching of reading to young learners in a second language, and second, it will describe some general guidelines that can be followed when implementing a second language reading program. Because reading is a two-step process that involves decoding and then comprehension, second-language reading instruction should not begin until the learners have the appropriate foundation. This paper will describe that foundation in terms of when reading in a second language should begin, how to prepare young learners for the reading program, the importance of building lexical resources, balancing phonics and sight word instructions, and the value of using engaging and comprehensible texts.

Development of Reading Ability in Childhood by the Example of Georgian Language

Reading as a skill is divided into many subskills, which take almost entire early childhood to develop. Children go through stages of getting comprehension of phonemes and grammar structure until they can connect letters to sounds and read without problems. Learning how to read in second language is usually harder because of new sets of phonemes and differences in alphabet. On the other hand, learning how to read Georgian Language might be easier than most other languages. Georgian Language has 33 phonemes and 33 letters of alphabet, which directly correspond to each other. Reading is straightforward due to no differences between what is written and how it should be pronounced. The article will be covering how reading skill develops in children and how these aspects might be connected to learning to read Georgian.

Development of Reading Ability in Childhood by the Example of Georgian Language

Reading as a skill is divided into many subskills, which take almost entire early childhood to develop. Children go through stages of getting comprehension of phonemes and grammar structure until they can connect letters to sounds and read without problems. Learning how to read in second language is usually harder because of new sets of phonemes and differences in alphabet. On the other hand, learning how to read Georgian Language might be easier than most other languages. Georgian Language has 33 phonemes and 33 letters of alphabet, which directly correspond to each other. Reading is straightforward due to no differences between what is written and how it should be pronounced. The article will be covering how reading skill develops in children and how these aspects might be connected to learning to read Georgian.

Reading in Language Introductory Program Classrooms in Sweden

The ability to read is important for studies, work and social life, and therefore, reading needs to be central in all school subjects. The purpose of this article is to shed light on the factors that either facilitate or limit second-language students in a transitional program at an upper secondary school in Sweden in terms of their reading and reading comprehension skills. Observations of teacher-initiated reading practices and interviews with teachers about reading and texts, which were analyzed using Bernhardt’s compensatory model for second-language reading, show that all teachers highlight the importance of reading and the fact that reading in the subject they teach can help students to become competent readers of Swedish texts. Despite this, the amount of reading and processing of texts varies—in some classes, students do not read at all, and in other classes, they read a great deal. The only teacher who seems both to include the processing of texts and to choose texts that interest students is the teacher of Swedish as a Second Language (SSL).

Second-Language Reading Process for Professional English: A Case Study

Although much research on English for specific purposes (ESP) has been conducted, little focus has been placed on investigating the mechanisms involved in ESP readers’ comprehension process. This case study explored the reading process that characterizes a competent ESP reader’s comprehension. A juris doctor student attending a major university in the United States was selected for the case study. Qualitative data were gathered through a semi-structured interview, recall protocol, and document analysis, and were thematically coded. The findings revealed the following: (a) The professional domain determines the major purposes of ESP reading. (b) Institutional demands and inadequate L2 proficiency within the target discourse prevent background knowledge in the first language (L1) from being transferred to L2 texts are the major sources of comprehension difficulty. (c) Three strategies can be used to overcome such difficulties. First, schemata (background knowledge) in L1 can facilitate comprehension and enhance the reading process. Second, genre knowledge learned in L1 can be used to dissect the information structure of L2 texts. Finally, the use of L1-based materials can help to overcome the comprehension difficulties arising from the L2 material. The implications for L2 reading instruction and future ESP reading research are discussed.

WORKING MEMORY CAPACITY AND L2 READING

AbstractThe relationship between working memory (WM) and second-language (L2) reading has been extensively examined, with mixed results. Our meta-analysis models the potential impact of underresearched variables considered to moderate this relationship. Results from 74 studies (228 correlations) showed a significant, small relationship between WM and L2 reading (r = .300). Of the eight moderators examined, the WM–L2 reading relationship differed between studies using first-language (L1) and L2 WM tasks and between studies reporting and not reporting WM task reliability. Methodological features of reading comprehension measures or learners’ proficiency did not moderate the relationship. These results suggest that measurement practices of WM—rather than L2 reading measures or learner characteristics—matter in understanding the WM–L2 reading relationship. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Text Complexity Modulates Cross-Linguistic Sentence Integration in L2 Reading

Cross-linguistic influences (CLI) in first-language (L1) and second-language (L2) reading have been widely demonstrated in experimental paradigms with adults at the word and sentence levels. However, less is known about CLI in adolescents during naturalistic text reading. Through eye-tracking and behavioral measures, this study investigated expository reading in functionally English monolingual and Spanish (L1) - English (L2) bilingual adolescents. In particular, we examined the role of L1 (Spanish) sentence integration skills among the bilingual adolescents when L2 school texts contained challenging syntactic structures, such as complex clauses, elaborated noun phrases, and anaphoric references. Results of generalized multilevel linear regression modeling demonstrated CLI in both offline comprehension and online eye-tracking measures that were modulated by school text characteristics. We found a positive relationship (i.e., facilitation) between L1 sentence integration skills and L2 English text comprehension, especially for passages with greater clause complexity. Similar main, but not modulatory, effects of sentence integration skill were found in online eye-tracking measures. Overall, both language groups appeared to draw upon similar reading component skills to support reading fluency and comprehension when component skills were measured only in English. However, differential patterns of association across languages became evident when those skills were measured in both L1 and L2. Taken together, our findings suggest that bilingual adolescents’ engagement of cross-linguistic resources in expository reading varies dynamically according to both language-specific semantic knowledge and language-general sentence integration skills, and is modulated by text features, such as syntactic complexity.

Predictors and consequences of individual differences in cross-linguistic interactions: A model of second language reading skill

AbstractPrevious research has demonstrated that individual differences in conflict management predict second-language (L2) reading skill. The current experiment tested the hypothesis that this relation reflects the need to manage conflict from cross-linguistic interactions (CLI). A novel model specifying the relation between L2 reading skill, CLI, and the predictors of such interactions was tested in 253 L2 English speaking adults, using structural equation modeling. In support of the hypothesis, the findings revealed that stronger CLI was related to poorer L2 reading skill. In addition, variability in non-linguistic conflict management, as measured by executive attention tasks, and relative language dominance reliably predicted CLI. Specifically, better conflict management and lower L1 dominance corresponded to fewer interactions. These results fill a crucial gap by demonstrating for the first time that the ability to manage CLI is critical to L2 reading, and that both cognitive skills and language experience contribute to variability in these interactions.

Second-language learning difficulties in Italian children with reading difficulties.

Children with dyslexia often show second-language reading and writing difficulties, but the cognitive mechanisms connected to this impairment need to be clarified. The present study examined the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying learning English as a foreign language in 4th- to the 8th-grade Italian students showing reading difficulties (RD) or typical development (TD). For this purpose, screening involving 901 students was carried out to select children with RD. Ninety students with RD were compared with 90 typically developing (TD) children matched for non-verbal IQ, grade, and gender. The two groups were compared on different measures to understand the relationships between reading skills in their mother tongue and in English as a second-language (L2). Subsequently, their phonological and memory skills were investigated to understand the potential role of these variables in learning L2 English. Students with RD obtained worse results than TD students for phonological awareness and working memory, which are both crucial to L2 learning. The results suggest that memory mainly influences accuracy in English writing and, together with phonological skills, plays an important role in reading accuracy. Socio-economic status also plays an important role in L2 learning.

Learning to assign stress in a second language: The role of second-language vocabulary size and transfer from the native language in second-language readers of Italian

AbstractLearning to pronounce a written word implies assigning a stress pattern to that word. This task can present a challenge for speakers of languages like Italian, in which stress information must often be computed from distributional properties of the language, especially for individuals learning Italian as a second language (L2). Here, we aimed to characterize the processes underlying the development of stress assignment in native English and native Chinese speakers learning L2 Italian. Both types of bilinguals produced evidence supporting a role of vocabulary size in modulating the type of distributional information used in stress assignment, with an early bias for Italian's dominant stress pattern being gradually replaced by use of associations between orthographic sequences and stress patterns in more advanced bilinguals. We also obtained some evidence for a transfer of stress assignment habits from the bilinguals’ native language to Italian, although only in English native speakers.

From the Editors

From the Editors

The Impact of Second-Language Storybook Reading on the Vocabulary Acquisition of Grade 1 Learners

Vocabulary development is positively associated with reading development, reading comprehension and academic achievement. This article explores how integrating storybook reading with explicit, interactive vocabulary instruction affects Grade 1 second-language vocabulary acquisition. The study participants comprised 69 Grade 1 English second- language learners from three classes in two schools. Using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) as pre- and post-test, an intervention—consisting of 30-minute storybook reading sessions accompanied by interactive vocabulary instruction—was administered twice a week for two school terms. The PPVT results show that second-language storybook reading, accompanied by explicit, interactive vocabulary instruction, has a positive impact on Grade 1 vocabulary acquisition.

Reading Strategies and Reading Fluency: A Case Study of Reading in First or Second Language

The ability to read in second or foreign language (L2/FL) is a vital skill for academic and autonomous language learning. This study investigates the reading performance of two TEFL students from different language backgrounds on two English texts and their equivalent Persian translations comparing their reading rate and comprehension in L1 and L2. A combination of think-aloud protocol, interview and observation methods was used in order to figure out the reading strategies used by each participant in the process of reading and comprehending each text. First, participants were asked to model the steps of their thinking when reading the same text and to discuss what strategies and process they went through while interacting with the passage. Then, they were asked to respond some questions at the end of each reading passage. Last, an interview about their reading experiences and strategies is conducted. Findings of collected data from multiple sources were examined in the sense that the overall extracted themes were triangulated. The data were analyzed based on the Uso-Juan, Esther and Alicia Martinez-Flor (2006) framework for key reading strategies. The result showed that there is a positive relationship between reading fluency and reading comprehension. The most effective strategies employed by each participant were also reported. Through critically and analytically reflecting on differences between L1 and L2 reading, language learners can learn how to read so as to get the most out of their academic materials.

Grammatical aspect and world knowledge in second language reading

Abstract During normal reading, readers’ perceptions of time in a narrative shift according to grammatical and semantic cues. This study investigated the extent to which second-language (L2) readers’ interpretations of situations depicted in narratives are influenced by the grammatical aspect (perfective/progressive) and temporal duration (short/long) of intervening events. The study further examined whether reading fluency and L2 proficiency modulated how readers’ mentally constructed the depicted situations. Thirty-one L2 learners of English and 37 English-first-language (L1) controls completed a reading comprehension task in which each of 40 stories contained a target event with an inherent endpoint, with accomplishment verbs that were described as completed or in progress, followed by a short- or long-duration event. A reading-fluency task and a cloze test were administered. While grammatical marking played a significant role for both groups of participants, grammatical aspect and event duration showed an interaction only for L2 learners. The construction of a situation was modulated for both groups by reading fluency.