Reading and Language Learning: Crosslinguistic Constraints on Second Language Reading Development

Abstract

The ultimate goal of reading is to construct text meaning based on visually encoded information. Essentially, it entails converting print into language and then to the message intended by the author. It is hardly accidental, therefore, that, in all languages, reading builds on oral language competence and that learning to read uniformly requires making links between a language and its writing system. As a system of communication, moreover, languages vary in their meaning-making conventions and methods of signaling those conventions. Writing systems also vary in what they encode and how they end it. It is thus essential to clarify how reading subskills-and their development-are altered by the properties of a particular language and its writing system. A small but growing body of evidence suggests that systematic variations do exist in literacy learning and processing in diverse languages.These variations have critical implications for theories of second language (L2) reading because, unlike first language (L1) reading, it involves two languages. The dual-language involvement implies continual interactions between the two languages as well as incessant adjustments in accommodating the disparate demands each language imposes. For this reason, L2 reading is crosslinguistic and, thus, inherently more complex than L1 reading. To deal with these complexities, L2 reading research must incorporate three basic facts about reading development in both theory formation and empirical validation: (a) reading is a complex, multifaceted construct, comprising a number of subskills; (b) the acquisition of each subskill necessitates distinct linguistic knowledge; and

Cross-linguistic Transfer (from L1 to L2, L2 to L1, and L2 to L3) of Reading Strategies in a Multicompetent Mind

“…Reading in L1, L2 or any further language is active skill in which readers construct meaning based on the print (Koda, 2007). In literature, there is distinction between the product and process of reading (Bossers, 1991, Sarig 1987, Taillefer and Pugh 1998.…”

Explicit Instruction of Memory vs Cognitive Strategies and Reading Comprehension: An Empirical Study with IELTS Candidates

“…Since reading in a foreign or second language is both a language and a reading problem (Hudson, 2007;Koda, 2007), students can be assisted to form good reading habits by explicitly teaching them reading strategies that will help them improve their comprehension abilities. Students need to associate reading not with effort or failure but with success.…”

Ciri-Ciri Linguistik dalam Buku Teks Berbahasa Arab dan Hubungannya dengan Tahap Kebolehbacaan Teks di Malaysia (Linguistic Features of Arabic Textbooks and its Correlation with Text Readability Level in Malaysia)

“…Kefahaman yang diperoleh bergantung kepada apa yang telah diketahui dan bagaimana pembaca menambahkan pengetahuan sedia ada tentang topik daripada teks. Dapatan kajian-kajian mengenai tahap berbahasa (threshold) juga menunjukkan pembaca dapat memahami teks dengan mudah tanpa bimbingan guru sekiranya pembaca tersebut mempunyai pengetahuan makna perkataan sekurang-kurangnya 98 peratus (Koda, 2007). Oleh yang demikian, pembaca di Malaysia perlu diberikan teks yang mempunyai banyak perkataan biasa dan kerap untuk membantu mereka memahami teks dan meningkatkan interaksi secara berkesan dengan teks.…”

“…Meskipun nilai positif tersebut tidak menunjukkan hubungan sebab akibat, namun dapatan ini menyokong teori kognitif membaca yang menyatakan bahawa kapasiti pemprosesan pembaca dalam interaksi dengan teks harus sepadan dengan struktur bahasa teks kerana mereka yang masih belum menguasai kemahiran berbahasa menghadapi kesukaran dalam mencerakin ayat panjang memandangkan mereka masih di peringkat awal mempelajari bahasa, terutamanya bahasa asing (Koda, 2007).…”