Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T02:42:36.327Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

QUANTIFYING THE DIFFERENCE IN READING FLUENCY BETWEEN L1 AND L2 READERS OF ENGLISH

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 July 2021

Kelly Nisbet Open the ORCID record for Kelly Nisbet [Opens in a new window] ,
Raymond Bertram ,
Charlotte Erlinghagen ,
Aleks Pieczykolan  and
Victor Kuperman Open the ORCID record for Victor Kuperman [Opens in a new window]
Kelly Nisbet*
Affiliation:
McMaster University
Raymond Bertram
Affiliation:
University of Turku
Charlotte Erlinghagen
Affiliation:
University of Würzburg
Aleks Pieczykolan
Affiliation:
University of Würzburg
Victor Kuperman
Affiliation:
McMaster University
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kelly Nisbet, Department of Linguistics and Languages, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4L8, Canada. E-mail: nisbetk@mcmaster.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study is a comparative examination of reading behavior of first-language (L1) Canadian and second-language (L2) Finnish and German readers of English. We measured eye-movement patterns during reading the same set of English sentences and administered tests of English vocabulary, spelling, and exposure to print. The core of our study is a novel method of statistical prediction used to generate hypothetical Finnish and German participants with maximum observed L1 scores in all component skills. We found that with L1-like component skills, hypothetical German readers can show the same reading speed as the L1 group. We hypothesize this advantage comes from the small linguistic distance to English. Conversely, hypothetical Finnish readers remain disadvantaged even with maximum component skills, likely due to a larger linguistic distance. We discuss theoretical and applied implications of our method for L2 acquisition research.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , May 2022 , pp. 407 - 434
Check for updates
Open Practices
Open data
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

The experiment in this article earned an Open Data badge for transparent practices. The materials are available at https://osf.io/ex9fj/

References

REFERENCES

Acheson, D. J., Wells, J. B., & MacDonald, M. C. (2008). New and updated tests of print exposure and reading abilities in college students. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 278–289. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.40.1.278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, S., & Hersch, J. (2010). Lexical precision in skilled readers: Individual differences in masked neighbor priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 139, 299–318. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018366.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andrews, S., & Lo, S. (2013). Is morphological priming stronger for transparent than opaque words? It depends on individual differences in spelling and vocabulary. Journal of Memory and Language, 68, 279–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2012.12.001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, S., Veldre, A., & Clarke, I. E. (2020). Measuring lexical quality: The role of spelling ability. Behavior Research Methods, 52, 2257–2282. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-020-01387-3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arkoudis, S., Baik, C., Bexley, E., & Doughney, L. (2014). English language proficiency and employability framework for Australian higher education institutions. Centre for the Study of Higher Education.Google Scholar
Arkoudis, S., Hawthorne, L., Baik, C., Hawthorne, G., O’Loughlin, K., Leach, D., & Bexley, E. (2009). The impact of English language proficiency and workplace readiness on the employment outcomes of tertiary international students. Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne (Full report, 157 pages).Google Scholar
Aro, M. (2017). Learning to read Finnish. In Ludo, V., & Perfetti, C. (Eds.), Learning to read across languages and writing systems (pp. 416–436). Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashby, J., & Clifton, C. Jr (2005). The prosodic property of lexical stress affects eye movements during silent reading. Cognition, 96, B89–B100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2004.12.006.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bates, D., Maechler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). lme4: Linear mixed-effects models using Eigen and S4. R package version 1.1–7.Google Scholar
Beglar, D., & Hunt, A. (2014). Pleasure reading and reading rate gains. Reading in a Foreign Language, 26, 29–48.Google Scholar
Bernhardt, E. (2005). Progress and procrastination in second language reading. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 25, 133–150. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190505000073.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernhardt, E. B. (2011). Understanding advanced second-language reading. Routledge.Google Scholar
Bernhardt, E. B., & Kamil, M. L. (1995). Interpreting relationships between L1 and L2 reading: Consolidating the linguistic threshold and the linguistic interdependence hypotheses. Applied Linguistics, 16, 15–34. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/16.1.15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bleakley, H., & Chin, A. (2010). Age at arrival, English proficiency, and social assimilation among US immigrants. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2, 165–192. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.2.1.165.Google Scholar
Blumenfeld, H. K., & Marian, V. (2005). Covert bilingual language activation through cognate word processing: An eye-tracking study. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 27, 286–291.Google Scholar
Brevik, L. M., Olsen, R. V., & Hellekjær, G. O. (2016). The complexity of second language reading: Investigating the L1–L2 relationship. Reading in a Foreign Language, 28, 161–182. https://doi.org/10125/66899.Google Scholar
Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109, 104047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brysbaert, M., & New, B. (2009). Moving beyond Kucera and Francis: A critical evaluation of current word frequency norms and the introduction of a new and improved word frequency measure for American English. Behavior Research Methods, 41, 977–990. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.4.977.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bultena, S., Dijkstra, T., & van Hell, J. G. (2014). Cognate effects in sentence context depend on word class, L2 proficiency, and task. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 67, 1214–1241. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2013.853090.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chace, K. H., Rayner, K., & Well, A. D. (2005). Eye movements and phonological parafoveal preview: Effects of reading skill. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale, 59, 209. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0087476.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chung, S. C., Chen, X., & Geva, E. (2019). Deconstructing and reconstructing cross-language transfer in bilingual reading development: An interactive framework. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 50, 149–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2018.01.003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cop, U., Dirix, N., Van Assche, E., Drieghe, D., & Duyck, W. (2017). Reading a book in one or two languages? An eye movement study of cognate facilitation in L1 and L2 reading. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20, 747–769. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728916000213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa, A., Caramazza, A., & Sebastian-Galles, N. (2000). The cognate facilitation effect: Implications for models of lexical access. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26, 1283–1296. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.26.5.1283.Google ScholarPubMed
de Groot, A. M. (2006). Effects of stimulus characteristics and background music on foreign language vocabulary learning and forgetting. Language Learning, 56, 463–506. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2006.00374.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diependaele, K., Lemhöfer, K., & Brysbaert, M. (2013). The word frequency effect in first-and second-language word recognition: A lexical entrenchment account. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 66, 843–863. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2012.720994.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doughty, C. J., & Long, M. H. (2008). The handbook of second language acquisition (Vol. 27). John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Drieghe, D. (2008). Foveal processing and word skipping during reading. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 856–860. https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.15.4.856.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eurostat Statistics Explained, Education and Training. (2018). Foreign language learning statistics. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/index.php?title=Foreign_language_learning_statistics&oldid=454846.Google Scholar
Fraser, C. A. (2007). Reading rate in L1 mandarin Chinese and L2 English across five reading tasks. The Modern Language Journal, 91, 372–394. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2007.00587.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geva, E., & Wang, M. (2001). The development of basic reading skills in children: A cross-language perspective. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 21, 182. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190501000113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grabe, W. (1991). Current developments in second language reading research. TESOL Quarterly, 25, 375–406. https://doi.org/10.2307/3586977.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grabe, W. (2009). Reading in a second language: Moving from theory to practice. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Graham, J. G. (1987). English language proficiency and the prediction of academic success. TESOL Quarterly, 21, 505–521. https://doi.org/10.2307/3586500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haspelmath, M., Dryer, M. S., Gil, D., & Comrie, B. (2005). The world atlas of language structures. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jenkins, H. (2009). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeon, E. H., & Yamashita, J. (2014). L2 reading comprehension and its correlates: A meta‐analysis. Language Learning, 64, 160–212. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12034.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koda, K. (1996). L2 word recognition research: A critical review. Modern Language Journal, 80, 450–460. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1996.tb05465.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koda, K. (2005). Insights into second language reading: A cross-linguistic approach. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuperman, V., Siegelman, N., Schroeder, S., Alexeeva, A., Acartürk, C., Amenta, S., Bertram, S., Bonandrini, R., Brysbaert, M., Chernova, D., Da Fonseca, S. M., Dirix, N., Duyck, W., Fella, A., Frost, R., Gattei, C. A., Kalaitzi, A., Marelli, M., Nisbet, K., …, Usual, K. A. (2020). Text reading in English as a second language: Evidence from the multilingual eye-movements corpus (MECO). Studies in Second Language Acquisition. Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Kuperman, V., & Van Dyke, J. A. (2011). Effects of individual differences in verbal skills on eye-movement patterns during sentence reading. Journal of Memory and Language, 65, 42–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2011.03.002.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lambert, O. (2008). Who are our students? Measuring learner characteristics in adult immigrants studying English. Adult Basic Education & Literacy Journal, 2, 162–173.Google Scholar
Lee, J. W., & Schallert, D. L. (1997). The relative contribution of L2 language proficiency and L1 reading ability to L2 reading performance: A test of the threshold hypothesis in an EFL context. TESOL Quarterly, 31, 713–739. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587757.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leinenger, M., & Rayner, K. (2017). What we know about skilled, beginning, and older readers from monitoring their eye movements. In Leon, J. A., & Escudero, I. (Eds.), Reading comprehension in educational settings (pp. 1–28). John Benjamins Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Lemhöfer, K., & Broersma, M. (2012). Introducing LexTALE: A quick and valid lexical test for advanced learners of English. Behavior Research Methods, 44, 325–343. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-011-0146-0.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lemhöfer, K., & Dijkstra, T. (2004). Recognizing cognates and interlingual homographs: Effects of code similarity in language-specific and generalized lexical decision. Memory & Cognition, 32, 533–550. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195845.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Libben, M. R., & Titone, D. A. (2009). Bilingual lexical access in context: Evidence from eye movements during reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 35, 381. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014875.Google ScholarPubMed
Mason, B., & Krashen, S. (1997). Extensive reading in English as a foreign language. System, 25, 91–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0346-251X(96)00063-2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarron, S., & Kuperman, V. (2021). Is the author recognition test a useful metric for native and non-native English speakers? An item response theory analysis. Behaviour Research Methods. Advance online publication. https://doi:10.3758/s13428-021-01556-y.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McManus, W., Gould, W., & Welch, F. (1983). Earnings of Hispanic men: The role of English language proficiency. Journal of Labor Economics, 1, 101–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melby‐Lervåg, M., & Lervåg, A. (2011). Cross‐linguistic transfer of oral language, decoding, phonological awareness and reading comprehension: A meta‐analysis of the correlational evidence. Journal of Research in Reading, 34, 114–135. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2010.01477.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mol, S. E., & Bus, A. G. (2011). To read or not to read: a meta-analysis of print exposure from infancy to early adulthood. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 267. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021890.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moore, M., & Gordon, P. C. (2015). Reading ability and print exposure: Item response theory analysis of the author recognition test. Behavior Research Methods, 47, 1095–1109. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-014-0534-3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Naghdipour, B. (2015). The impact of L1 reading directionality mode on L2 reading fluency. Journal of Asia TEFL, 12, 53–77.Google Scholar
Nuttall, C. (1996). Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. Heinemann.Google Scholar
Olsen, L. (2000). Learning English and learning America: Immigrants in the center of a storm. Theory Into Practice, 39, 196–202. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip3904_2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pecorari, D. (2018). Teaching English to speakers of other Languaes (TESOL). In Seargeant, P., Hewings, A., & Pihlaja, S. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of English language studies (pp. 199–211). Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
R Core Team (2013). R: A language and environment for statistical computing . R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, http://www.R-project.org.Google Scholar
Rahmanian, S., & Kuperman, V. (2019). Spelling errors impede recognition of correctly spelled word forms. Scientific Studies of Reading, 23, 24–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2017.1359274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rayner, K. (2009). The 35th sir Frederick Bartlett lecture: Eye movements and attention in reading, scene perception, and visual search. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62, 1457–1506. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470210902816461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rayner, K., & McConkie, G. W. (1976). What guides a reader’s eye movements?. Vision Research, 16, 829–837. https://doi.org/10.1016/0042-6989(76)90143-7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rayner, K., Slattery, T. J., Drieghe, D., & Liversedge, S. P. (2011). Eye movements and word skipping during reading: Effects of word length and predictability. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 37, 514. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020990.Google ScholarPubMed
Rayner, S. (1998). Educating pupils with emotional and behaviour difficulties: Pedagogy is the key!. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 3, 39–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/1363275980030206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schepens, J., Dijkstra, T., & Grootjen, F. (2012). Distributions of cognates in Europe as based on Levenshtein distance. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15, 157–166. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728910000623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schepens, J., Van der Slik, F., & Van Hout, R. (2013). The effect of linguistic distance across IndoEuropean mother tongues on learning Dutch as a second. In Borin, L., & Sazena, A. (Eds.), Approaches to measuring linguistic differences (Vol. 265, pp. 199–245). De Gruyter Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schepens, J. J., van der Slik, F., & Van Hout, R. (2016). L1 and L2 distance effects in learning L3 Dutch. Language Learning, 66, 224–256. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, A. I., Kroll, J. F., & Diaz, M. (2007). Reading words in Spanish and English: Mapping orthography to phonology in two languages. Language and Cognitive Processes, 22, 106–129. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690960500463920.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Segalowitz, N. (2010). The cognitive bases of second language fluency. Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seymour, P. H., Aro, M., Erskine, J. M., & Collaboration with COST Action A8 Network. (2003). Foundation literacy acquisition in European orthographies. British Journal of Psychology, 94, 143–174. https://doi.org/10.1348/000712603321661859.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stanovich, K. E., & West, R. F. (1989). Exposure to print and orthographic processing. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 402–433. https://doi.org/10.2307/747605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Urquhart, A. H., & Weir, C. J. (2014). Reading in a second language: Process, product and practice. Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van der Slik, F. W. (2010). Acquisition of Dutch as a second language: The explanative power of cognate and genetic linguistic distance measures for 11 West European first languages. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 32, 401–432. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263110000021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Hell, J. G., & Dijkstra, T. (2002). Foreign language knowledge can influence native language performance in exclusively native contexts. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9, 780–789. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196335.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
West, R. F., Stanovich, K. E., & Mitchell, H. R. (1993). Reading in the real world and its correlates. Reading Research Quarterly, 28, 34–50. https://doi.org/10.2307/747815.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodrow, L. (2006). Academic success of international postgraduate education students and the role of English proficiency. University of Sydney papers in TESOL, 1, 51–70.Google Scholar
Yamashita, J., & Shiotsu, T. (2017). Comprehension and knowledge components that predict L2 reading: A latent-trait approach. Applied Linguistics, 38, 43–67. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amu079.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Nisbet et al. supplementary material

Nisbet et al. supplementary material

Download Nisbet et al. supplementary material(File)
File 20.3 KB