Readability for foreign language learning

Abstract

In this paper, we analyse the differences between L1 acquisition and L2 learning and identify four main aspects: input quality and quantity, mapping processes, cross-lingual influence, and reading experience. As a consequence of these differences, we conclude that L1 readability measures cannot be directly mapped to L2 readability. We propose to calculate L2 readability for various dimensions and for smaller units. It is particularly important to account for the cross-lingual influence from the learner’s L1 and other previously acquired languages and for the learner’s higher experience in reading.In our analysis, we focus on lexical readability as it has been found to be the most influential dimension for L2 reading comprehension. We discuss the features frequency, lexical variation, concreteness, polysemy, and context specificity and analyse their impact on L2 readability. As a new feature specific to L2 readability, we propose the cognateness of words with words in languages the learner already knows. A pilot study confirms our assumption that learners can deduce the meaning of new words by their cognateness to other languages.

Continuous fluency tracking and the challenges of varying text complexity

“…Text Complexity Estimation: While for Dale and Chall (1949) the notion of text readability involved "the extent to which they [readers] understand it [the text], read it at an optimal speed, and find it interesting", 3 most classical (Flesch, 1948;Gunning, 1952;Kincaid et al, 1975;McLaughlin, 1969) and modern (Sheehan et al, 2014;Flor and Beigman Klebanov, 2014;Vajjala and Meurers, 2012;Schwarm and Ostendorf, 2005) measures of text readability/complexity focus on reading comprehension, including special formulas and models designed for special populations, such as young children (Spache, 1953), learners of English as a second language (Beinborn et al, 2014;Heilman et al, 2007), adults with mental disabilities (Feng et al, 2009), among others.…”

Analyzing Learner Understanding of Novel L2 Vocabulary

“…Vajjala and Meurers (2012) classify the difficulty level of longer L2 texts. Beinborn et al (2014b) provide an overview of ways that readability measures and user background may be modeled specifically in the context of L2 learners, including through the use of cognateness features. They include a 17-word pilot study of German L1 speakers' ability to guess the meanings of Czech cognates with no context, and hypothesize that observing the words in an understandable context would improve guessability (which we confirm in the English-German case in this work).…”

Candidate evaluation strategies for improved difficulty prediction of language tests

“…Our approach combines traditional features as the average sentence and word length with more advanced features from all linguistic levels (e.g. lexical, syntactic, semantic, discourse) including features specific to readability for language learning as for example the "cognateness of words" (Beinborn et al, 2014b).…”