Determinants of Word‐Reading Development in English Learner University Students: A Longitudinal Eye Movement Study

Abstract

We investigated the word‐reading development of adult second‐language learners of English. A sample of 70 (Mandarin or Cantonese) Chinese‐speaking students enrolled in a university‐level English bridging program at a Canadian university silently read passages of text at the beginning and end of the program while their eye movements were recorded. At each timepoint, we also administered a battery of tests that measure key component skills of second‐language reading (phonological processing, vocabulary knowledge, and listening comprehension). We found longitudinal changes in lexical processing for long words in early (refixation probability and gaze duration) and late (go‐past time and total reading time) eye movement measures, indicating a shift from a sublexical to a holistic word‐processing strategy. We found the largest gains in sublexical processing among students with stronger phonological awareness upon entry to the program and students who acquired more vocabulary than their peers during the program. We interpret the results of this study as evidence of a transition from a lexical processing strategy that is heavily reliant on phonological decoding to word‐reading behavior that is more actively engaged in higher order cognitive processes, such as meaning integration. This research offers novel insights into predictors of reading skill in postsecondary English‐language bridging programs.

Monolingual and Bilingual Reading Processes in Russian: An Exploratory Scanpath Analysis

“…The natural tendency of readers to avoid such failures also triggers a careful reading pattern, which is characterized by the absence of skipping and slower total reading times. This reading behavior might be optimal for readers who have insufficient exposure to the language (e.g., L2 learners; Gollan, Montoya, Cera, & Sandoval, 2008; Schmidtke & Moro, 2020; Whitford & Titone, 2012, 2016) or are unfamiliar with reading materials (e.g., children, adult poor readers; Barnes & Kim, 2016; Kuperman & Van Dyke, 2011).…”

“…Over the last decade, eye tracking has become a widely used methodology in bilingual language reading research (Cop, Dirix, Drieghe, & Duyck, 2017; Cop, Drieghe, & Duyck, 2015; Dirix, Vander Beken, De Bruyne, Brysbaert, & Duyck, 2020; Kang, 2014; Roberts & Siyanova‐Chanturia, 2013; Schmidtke & Moro, 2020; Whitford & Titone, 2012). Silent reading without metalinguistic tasks allows the study of written language comprehension in real time and, therefore, in laboratory settings, reflects the closest approach obtainable to the natural reading behavior of bilingual readers.…”

Students’ Abilities and Difficulties in Comprehending English Reading Texts at Secondary Schools; An Effect of Phonemic Awareness

“…Reading relates to recognize morphemes, words, and phrases to construct meaning (Nation, 2006). If learners read a text and answer reading questions or retell facts, they are assumed as good comprehender (Schmidtke & Moro, 2021). To be a good comprehender is a hope for language learners.…”

An examination of prosody and second language sentence processing through pause insertion

“…Finally, researchers should endeavor to include measures of phonological awareness given its importance for the interpretation of meaning. 2 A recent study published after we conducted the current study (Schmidtke & Moro, 2020/Forthcoming) found evidence of a transition from a lexical processing strategy that is heavily reliant on phonological decoding to word-reading behavior that is more actively engaged in higher order cognitive processes, such as meaning integration. Measuring the phonological awareness should be included in the materials of future studies, including those that employ pause-insertion, as this may help to further elucidate our knowledge of the integration of prosody and syntax during auditory L2 sentence comprehension.…”