Cognitive, Motivational and Ecological Factors in Second Language Acquisition Flashcards
what is the relevance of english as a second language
- there is a dramatic increase in bilingual learners of english in north america
- there are often difficulties in english reading comprehension
- english is a conventional medium in higher education in many non-english speaking countries
what is a valuable technique to study reading processes
eye-tracking
why is eye-tracking a valuable technique for studying reading processes
- high spatial and temporal resolution to study reading
- captures the natural reading process without confounds
- more reliable than previous methods to study reading processes
wat is L1 en L2
L1 is reading in native language, L2 is reading in non-native language
Eye-tracking Psychology students studying L2 texts: results
- reading processes of L2 readers are less effective compared to L1 readers
- words are recognized slower
- less information is processed on a high-level simultaneously
-> Eye-tracking shows and confirms difficulties in English L2 reading comprehension at a process level
learning goals:
- Why is reading in English difficult (Introduction/Recap)?
- Simple view of reading (Li et al., 2020)
- Componential model of reading (Li et al., 2020)
- The role of cognitive, psychological and ecological factors in Second Language English reading (Li et al., 2020)
- Relative contribution of Motivation and Extramural exposure to Foreign Language English Vocabulary (Leona et al., 2021)
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what is reading?
- highly complex skill
- long tradition in psychology
- skilled reader: very fast and fluent
- in evolutionary terms: relatively newly acquired skill
the process of learning to read in the first language:
- concept -> spoken sound
- written word -> spoken sound -> concept
orthographic depth =
in hoeverre een taal arbitraire relaties heeft tussen letters en geluiden
- shallow/transperant (a specific letter is almost always pronounced the same)
- deep/intransperant (relations between letters and sounds are more arbitrary)
voorbeelden transparent vs intransparent languages
- shallow/transparent: finnish, greek, italian, spanish
- deep/intransparent: english, danish, french, portuguese
Impact of Orthographic Depth on the development of word reading skill
meer transparent talen hebben lagere error rates bij words vs. non words dan intransparent languages (engels de hoogste, fins de laagste)
effect of transparency on development word reading
- no difference in letter knowledge between transparent and intransparent languages (all know more than 90% of the letters after the first year of school)
- there are differences in familiar word reading: intransparent languages have 70-80% accuracy of familiar words, more transparent languages already have >90% after the first year. english children only get to >90% after the second year (1 jaar later dus pas).
- english word reading is therefore difficult to learn
waarom zijn intransparante talen lastiger te leren
The reason is that English has many irregularities and inconsistencies in how letters are pronounced, which makes the process of learning to read slower and more challenging compared to languages with clearer, more consistent spelling rules.
simple view of reading =
decoding x linguistic comprehension = reading comprehension
- useful framework: specific skills are needed to become successful readers
- new insight: decoding/word recognition and linguistic/language comprehension are both needed
word recognition =
- phonological awareness
- phonics
- fluency
language comprehension=
- comprehension and vocab
- language concepts
- communication
phonological awareness=
ability to recognize and manipulate the spoken parts of words (rhyming, blending, segmenting)
phonics=
matching the sounds of spoken english with individual letters or groups of letters
language concepts =
big, cold etc.
communication=
strategic reading
variables of the componential model of reading
- cognitive domain: word recognition, word reading fluency, vocabulary, and listening comprehension
- psychological domain: reading motivation and mainstream acculturation (adaptation to majority of social and cultural norms)
- ecological domain (home and school environmental factors)
ecological domain:
- maternal education
- number of books in the home
- starting age at which one was read to
results of the Li et al (2020) study on reading comprehension (RC)
- effect of ecological domain on RC completely mediated by both cognitive and psychological domains (explains 84% of the variance)
- cognitive and psychological domains are direct contributions to the RC
- the cognitive domain has the largest contribution
- ecological domain directly affects the cognitive and psychological domain, also indirectly affects the RC
wat zijn de implicaties van Li et al
- supports the simple view of reading (SVR) framework for older bilingual children (not just native grade 1 children)
- direct contribution of the psychological domain: reading motivation and mainstream acculturation also important in elementary education