The Chinese writing system is different from English in that individual words both comprise one to four characters and are not separated by clear word boundaries (e.g., interword spaces). These differences raise the question of how readers of Chinese know where to move their eyes to support efficient lexical processing? The widely accepted…

Purpose: Punctuation is traditionally seen to represent grammatical structures in writing, but some authors argue that it can also reflect the intonation and pauses of speech. In two experiments, we examined the influence of grammar and prosody on adults' judgments of comma placement. Method: University students rated the appropriateness of commas…

Reading efficiently in a second language (L2) is a crucial skill, but it is not universally achieved. Here we ask whether L2 reading efficiency is better captured as a language specific skill or whether it is mostly shared across L1 and L2, relying on general language abilities. To this end, we examined word frequency and predictability effects in…

In studies of visual object recognition, strong inversion effects accompany the acquisition of expertise and imply the involvement of configural processing. Chinese literacy results in sensitivity to the orthography of Chinese characters. While there is some evidence that this orthographic sensitivity results in an inversion effect, and thus…

Written expression is a high-level language process susceptible to impairment given mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI); however, minimal research exists about assessing or treating this aspect of language performance. This study's purpose was to determine the effect of a multicomponent intervention on the written expression of an undergraduate…

This study aimed to explore writing problems among undergraduate students at the university level, based on students self reporting technique and the verification from their teachers' ratings. Twenty-eight students were considered good candidates for this research using two criteria of self reporting and high means of responses. Twenty-five…

Reflective thinking is an important feature of study-abroad learning, yet research on reflection in this context is sparse. The current study examined student reflection on 3 content areas (Academic Expectations, Cultural Expectations, and Psychological Issues) at 3 times (before, during, and after study abroad). A content analysis approach with…

Studies from information-processing and language comprehension research have reported that background knowledge facilitates reading and writing. By comparing Chinese language development of heritage students who had home background in Chinese language and culture with those who did not, this study found that heritage learners did significantly…