Phoneme-based versus Rime-based Phonics: Its Effects on L2 Phonological Sensitivity and L2 Word Recognition

Abstract Research in second language (L2) learning often considers one modality only during task completion. It is unclear if L2 performance is as accurate whatever the modality. L2 learning at school is characterized by a predominance of written materials. One might expect written L2 word recognition to be more accurate than spoken one. This modality effect could also depend on L2 proficiency and the presence of cognate items, closer orthographically than phonologically for most language pairs. Two experiments were conducted with 50 intermediate proficiency French–English bilinguals. Experiment 1 highlighted this modality effect on accuracy and a session effect reflecting a benefit from oral to written modality on latency. In Experiment 2, which included both cognate and non-cognate words, modality effect was even stronger for cognate words and cognate effect depended on modality. In both experiments, these effects depend on L2 proficiency. These findings are discussed according to bilingual word recognition models.

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A Study on the Orthographic Neighbor Priming Effect in L2 Word Recognition

Modern Linguistics ◽

10.12677/ml.2020.82022 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 08 (02) ◽

pp. 149-155

Author(s):

静春李

Keyword(s):

Word Recognition ◽

Priming Effect ◽

Orthographic Neighbor ◽

L2 Word Recognition

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The effects of L1 orthography on L2 word recognition: A study of American and Chinese learners of Japanese

Studies in Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1017/s0272263100015369 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 403-432 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Nobuko Chikamatsu

Keyword(s):

Word Recognition ◽

Visual Information ◽

Native Speakers ◽

First Language ◽

Visual Coding ◽

Chinese Learners ◽

Native Speakers Of English ◽

Japanese Kana ◽

Chinese Subjects ◽

L2 Word Recognition

This paper examines the effects of a first language (L1 ) orthographic system on second language (L2) word recognition strategies. Lexical judgment tests using Japanese kana (a syllabic script consisting of hiragana and katakana) were given to native English and native Chinese learners of Japanese. The visual familiarity and length in test words were controlled to examine the involvement of phonological or visual coding in word recognition strategies. The responses of the English and Chinese subjects were compared on the basis of observed reaction time. The results indicated that (a) Chinese subjects relied more on the visual information in L2 Japanese kana words than did English subjects and (b) English subjects utilized the phonological information in Japanese kana words more than did Chinese subjects. Accordingly, these findings demonstrate that native speakers of English and Chinese utilize different word recognition strategies due to L1 orthographic characteristics, and such L1 word recognition strategies are transferred into L2 Japanese kana word recognition.

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A tale of two frequency effects: Toward a verification model of L2 word recognition

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716419000481 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 41 (1) ◽

pp. 215-236

Author(s):

Nan Jiang ◽

Man Li ◽

Taomei Guo

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Word Recognition ◽

English Proficiency ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Frequency Effect ◽

Decision Task ◽

Lexical Frequency ◽

Frequency Effects ◽

Verification Model ◽

L2 Word Recognition

AbstractThis study examined the activation of first language (L1) translations in second language (L2) word recognition in a lexical decision task. Test materials included English words that differed in the frequency of their Chinese translations or in their surface lexical frequency while other lexical properties were controlled. Chinese speakers of English as a second language of different proficiencies and native speakers of English were tested. Native speakers produced a reliable lexical frequency effect but no translation frequency effect. English as a second language speakers of lower English proficiency showed both a translation frequency effect and a lexical frequency effect, but those of higher English proficiency showed a lexical frequency effect only. The results were discussed in a verification model of L2 word recognition. According to the model, L2 word recognition entails a checking procedure in which activated L2 words are checked against their L1 translations. The two frequency effects are seen to have two different loci. The lexical frequency effect is associated with the initial activation of L2 lemmas, and the translation frequency effect arises in the verification process. Existing evidence for verification in L2 word recognition and new issues this model raises are discussed.

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Accessing Morphosyntax in L1 and L2 Word Recognition

The Mental Lexicon ◽

10.1075/ml.11.1.02bos ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 26-54 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Sina Bosch ◽

Harald Clahsen

Keyword(s):

Word Recognition ◽

Language Processing ◽

Structural Information ◽

Masked Priming ◽

L2 Processing ◽

Visual Priming ◽

And Gender ◽

L1 And L2 ◽

Case Number ◽

L2 Word Recognition

In fusional languages, inflectional affixes may encode multiple morphosyntactic features such as case, number, and gender. To determine how these features are accessed during both native (L1) and non-native (L2) word recognition, the present study compares the results from a masked visual priming experiment testing inflected adjectives of German to those of a previous overt (cross-modal) priming experiment on the same phenomenon. While for the L1 group both experiments produced converging results, a group of highly-proficient Russian L2 learners of German showed native-like modulations of repetition priming effects under overt, but not under masked priming conditions. These results indicate that not only affixes but also their morphosyntactic features are accessible during initial form-based lexical access, albeit only for L1 and not for L2 processing. We argue that this contrast is in line with other findings suggesting that non-native language processing is less influenced by structural information than the L1.

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