Effects of L1 Spanish and L2 English sublexical and lexical processing on English L2 word reading speed and accuracy, and reading comprehension
Item
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Title
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Effects of L1 Spanish and L2 English sublexical and lexical processing on English L2 word reading speed and accuracy, and reading comprehension
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:7ed5ee92a7b2:11517
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identifier
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11992
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Creator
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Quinn, Deirdre,
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Contributor
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Eva Fernandez | Elaine Klein
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Date
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2012
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Linguistics | Bilingual education | English as a second language
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Abstract
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This study explores the word identification processes used by adult bilingual Spanish/English readers of varying proficiencies in both L1 and L2, and how these relate to reading comprehension levels in L1 and L2. It has been proposed in word reading research that lexical processing (accessing the word directly from the lexicon) is more efficient than sublexical processing (assembling the phonology of a word letter by letter). This investigation is concerned with the type of bilingual processing used by readers of varying ability. Three groups of Spanish/English bilingual readers, who differed across both L1 and L2 in their reading comprehension levels, performed a reading and listening task in both Spanish (Experiment 1) and English (Experiment 2). A third monolingual control group performed the task in their L1, English (Experiment 3). The on-line procedure involved presenting words visually and aurally, for participants to make a yes/no choice as to whether the words match. This bimodal task, not previously used in second language research, presented equal difficulty for readers of all proficiency types. The written words appeared in either uniform (lower) case or alternating (aLtErNaTiNg) case, to test reliance on lexical processing during word identification. Overall, L1 Spanish readers of all proficiency levels used similar strategies for L1 word identification, but the less proficient readers showed this effect when orthographic form was disrupted, i.e., when the stimuli were presented in alternating case. In L2, the less proficient readers tended to rely more on a sublexical strategy, while the high proficiency group used a lexical strategy. Crosslinguistic correlations indicated that readers who showed more disruption (as evidenced by higher reaction times) to alternating case stimuli in L1 Spanish had lower proficiency levels in English, indicating that L1 reading skill influences L2 reading proficiency. These findings combined support dual route models of reading, and have important implications for educational decisions: both sublexical and lexical skills are emergent in L1 and L2, and should be focused on in instructional settings.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Linguistics
