The article introduces triangulation to converge evidence from corpus and experimental data, by means of two case studies in second language (L2) learners of Greek. The first case study investigates the acquisition of gender agreement, while the second probes the development of relative clauses. In both studies, findings from the corpus are tested…

This study examined the relationship between lexical coverage (i.e., the percentage of known word tokens in a text) and second language (L2) reading comprehension. Several studies have suggested that adequate comprehension occurs between 95% and 98% coverage, but no study has investigated beginning-level learners reading under the conditions of…

In studying the relationship between word recognition and reading development, a distinction is made between analytic and holistic processing of words. These strategies are often assessed in a length effect in an alphabetic language or in a stroke-number effect in a logographic language. Analytical processing is associated with a robust length or…

The present study investigated the effects of 2 forms of text-based second language (L2) vocabulary glosses, namely dynamic and nondynamic glosses on EFL learners' vocabulary knowledge. Dynamic glosses were operationalized as a set of incrementally ordered mediating annotations designed to help learners identify the correct word definition while…

Although English and German are both Germanic languages, due to various historical changes, many of their cognates are no longer easily recognizable. This study examined whether knowledge of language history can be beneficial to learners when learning English-German cognates. Thirty-five English-speaking second language (L2) learners of…

Comprehension of many types of texts involves constructing meaning from text and pictures. However, research examining how second language (L2) learners process text and pictures and the relationship with comprehension is scarce. Thus, while verbal input is often presented in written and auditory modes simultaneously (i.e., audio of text with…

This study examined how mode of input affects the learning of pronunciation and form-meaning connection of second language (L2) words. Seventy-five Japanese learners of English were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions (reading while listening, reading only, listening only), studied 40 low-frequency words while viewing their corresponding…

This study aimed to examine how second language (L2) readers process and comprehend paired sentences based on the causal and semantic relatedness of the sentences. Causal relatedness refers to the cause-and-effect relations between the events described, whereas semantic relatedness refers to the similarity of meaning conveyed by the sentences. In…

This study investigated the role of morphological and contextual information in inferring the meaning of unknown L2 words during reading. Four groups of college-level ESL students, beginning (n?=?34), intermediate (n?=?27), high-intermediate (n?=?21), and advanced (n?=?25), chose the inferred meanings of 20 pseudo compounds (e.g.,…

The effect of articulatory suppression on second language (L2) visual sentence comprehension and its relation to L2 reading proficiency and lower level processing efficiency were investigated in a series of experiments using 64 college-level Japanese English as a second language learners as participants. The results supported the hypothesis that…

Data from a study on second-language reading comprehension show that assessment task type, language of assessment, and target language experience uniformly affect learners' ability to demonstrate their reading comprehension. A literature review is included. (Contains 57 references.) (LB)

One of the characteristics of the well-documented bifurcation in collegiate foreign language (FL) instruction is the difficult transition from lower- to upper-level instruction. Particularly pronounced are the expectations placed on readers at the upper level. No longer engaged in surface readings and sentence-level exercises that stay focused on…

Discusses contemporary theory on the comprehension process in first language reading research and psychology. Examines beliefs, materials, and classroom behaviors which have been under recent discussion and applies the theory of comprehension--that comprehension is the process of relating incoming or new information to information already stored…

Focuses on two primary meanings of the term interaction in the second-language (L2) context: face-to-face interaction in which two or more people create meaning, and the creative interaction between the reader and the text. Argues that many claims related to the value of L2 spoken interaction can apply equally well to L2 reading. (94 references)…

Compares the reading processing strategies of native and proficient nonnative speakers of Chinese. At the word level natives show a phonological strategy, while nonnatives mix phonological and visual processing. At the sentence level natives mix visual and semantic strategies, and nonnatives prefer visual processing. (LMO)