Interplay of Working Memory, Strategy Use, and Task Difficulty in L2 Reading Comprehension

Abstract

In pursuit of the precise mechanism by which working memory (WM) functions in second language (L2) reading comprehension (RC), the current study examined whether strategy use or task difficulty influences the role of WM in L2 RC. Eighty Korean adult EFL learners participated, and their WM capacity, RC performance, and strategy use were measured. The variable of task difficulty was operationalized by the relative difficulty of texts on which RC items were based. The results showed that difference in strategy use brought about significant difference in RC performance when the readers with insufficient WM capacity had to comprehend difficult texts, whereas no such difference was found with easier texts or among L2 readers with more WM capacity. These findings not only illustrate intricate interrelationships among WM and other variables in L2 RC, but also provide a noteworthy implication for L2 reading instruction that L2 learners with deficient WM capacity could benefit from active strategy use when faced with a difficult L2 reading task. The compensatory role of strategy and the necessity of remedial strategy training for the learners with limited WM is further implicated for L2 reading classrooms.

Input Modality and Working Memory Capacity : Effects on the Acquisition of Receptive and Productive Vocabulary Knowledge

“…Since an important role has been attributed to WMC in the processing of L2 verbal input and verbal intelligence (Nowbakht & Fazilatfar, 2019), most of the studies in this field have primarily been concerned with WMC as a facilitator of comprehension of the content of L2 texts (Joh, 2018;Joh & Plakans, 2017;Kozan, Erçetin, & Richardson, 2015). Relatively few studies have explored the effect of WMC on learning vocabulary or grammatical forms besides comprehension in contextualized settings (Leeser, 2007;Yang et al, 2017); the findings are indicative of a positive relationship between WMC and the learning of vocabulary and syntax.…”

The Effects of Working Memory, Intelligence and Personality on English Learners’ Speaking Ability

“…the simultaneous storage and processing of information, is a powerful predictor of successful cognitive tasks, acting as a bottleneck for the learning mechanism . WM has been found influential in general intellectual abilities and general intelligence (Colom, Flores_Mendoza, & Rebollo, 2003;Conway, Kane, & Engle, 2003;Salthouse & Pink, 2008), foreign language aptitude (Yuncai, 2013), learning of grammar (Wright, 2013), vocabulary learning (Baddeley & Atkins, 1998;Verhagen & Leseman, 2016), reading comprehension (Joh, 2018;Walter, 2004) language comprehension (Just & Carpenter, 1992;Swanson & Berninger, 1995), language processing (Ellis, 2005;Nowbakht, 2018;Robinson, 2002), corrective feedback and output (Goo, 2012;Mackey, Adams, Stafford, & Winke, 2010;Shahnazari, Adams, & Ketabi, 2013), proficiency (Van den Noort et al, 2006), writing processes and quality (Gathercole & Alloway, 2008;Olive, 2004Olive, , 2012Piolat, Olive, & Kellogg, 2005;Ransdell, Arecco, & Levy, 2001), and several other aspects of language; however, few (if any) studies have focused on the role of complex WM as well as its separate components in EFL learners" speaking ability.…”

The Role of Glossing and Working Memory Capacity in Second Language Reading Comprehension

“…More recently, researchers have explored if L2 readers' working memory moderated the impact of cognitive complexity of the reading tasks on their reading comprehension (e.g., Joh, 2018;Jung, 2018). In Jung (2018), for example, fifty-two Korean university students read TOEFL passages under either a simple (less text subparts to be ordered) or complex (more text subparts to be ordered) condition, while answering reading comprehension questions.…”