This study investigates whether syntactic unification occurs during online L2 sentence comprehension using time-frequency analysis. We measured the oscillatory power changes in native English speakers and L1-Cantonese L2-English speakers while they were reading well-formed English sentences, syntactically intact nonsense sentences, and random word…

Analyzes major assumptions underlying schema theory. Considers an alternative perspective, a construction-integration model of text comprehension, and discusses how this perspective, when applied to second language (L2) reading comprehension offers a different and more comprehensive account of the role of knowledge and knowledge-based processes…

Describes a study that explored the relationship between performance of a schematic concept formation task (SCF) and reading performance in students of English as a second language. Above average readers had significantly higher SCF ranks than below average readers. Offers suggestions for future research with SCF tasks. (SED)

English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners in two countries participated in two parallel experiments testing whether retention of vocabulary acquired incidentally is contingent on amount of task-induced involvement. Results are discussed in light of the construct of task-induced involvement. (Author/VWL)

Reports on research into the interactive roles played in the verbal comprehension processes by the sequence of textual elements, text-specific prior knowledge, and levels of language proficiency. Four cloze tests were administered to undergraduate and graduate native speakers of English and to undergraduate non-native speakers of English at three…

Describes research done to determine whether there is a statistical relationship between an English as a second language learner's ability to determine a word's morphemes or structural units and his/her ability to comprehend written English text. (SED)

Adult native English speakers (N=20) and foreign students (N=44; most of them Japanese) enrolled in English as a second language (ESL) courses and completed a reading task and a cloze test to determine reading proficiency and prediction ability. While advanced ESL students made fewer total errors than beginning students, error patterns of all ESL…

Research measured grade 5-7 children (n=73) for intelligence; reading comprehension and both static and working memory in the first (L1) and second language (L2); and linguistic knowledge in L1. Results support the notion that increased speed of basic processing in L2 facilitates higher-level processes involved in linguistic and oral communication…