Abstract
This chapter examines word recognition skill as a key aspect of second language (L2) vocabulary skill and, in turn, a basic element of L2 proficiency. It identifies the role of word recognition skill in text comprehension, describes the lexical decision task (LDT) as a tool for measuring of word recognition skill, and examines LDT performance as a window on word knowledge.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Akamatsu, N. (2003). The effects of first language orthographic features on second language reading in text. Language Learning, 53(2), 207–231.
Akamatsu, N. (2008). The effects of training on automatization of word recognition in English as a foreign language. Applied PsychoLinguistics, 29(2), 175–193. doi:10.1017/S0142716408080089.
Andrews, S. (1992). Frequency and neighborhood effects on lexical access: Lexical similarity or orthographic redundancy? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 18(2), 234–254. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.18.2.234.
Balota, D. A., & Chumbley, J. I. (1984). Are lexical decisions a good measure of lexical access? The role of word frequency in the neglected decision phase. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 10(3), 340–357. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.10.3.340.
Balota, D. A., Yap, M. J., & Cortese, M. J. (2006). Visual word recognition: The journey from features to meaning (a travel update). In M. J. Traxler & M. A. Gernsbacher (Eds.), Handbook of psycholinguistics (2nd ed., pp. 285–375). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Bell, L. C., & Perfetti, C. A. (1994). Reading skill: Some adult comparisons. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86(2), 244–255. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.86.2.244.
Brown, J. D. (2005). Testing in language programs: A comprehensive guide to English language assessment. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Carreiras, M., Perea, M., & Grainger, J. (1997). Effects of the orthographic neighborhood in visual word recognition: Cross-task comparisons. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 23(4), 857.
De Groot, A. M., Delmaar, P., & Lupker, S. J. (2000). The processing of interlexical homographs in translation recognition and lexical decision: Support for non-selective access to bilingual memory. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: Section A, 53(2), 397–428.
Dijkstra, T. (2005). Bilingual visual word recognition and lexical access. In J. F. Kroll & A. M. B. de Groot (Eds.), Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches (pp. 179–201). New York: Oxford University Press.
Elgort, I. (2013). Effects of L1 definitions and cognate status of test items on the vocabulary size test. Language Testing, 30(2), 253–272. doi:10.1177/0265532212459028.
Ellis, N. C. (2002). Frequency effects in language processing: A review with implications for theories of implicit and explicit language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24(2), 143–188.
Favreau, M., & Segalowitz, N. S. (1983). Automatic and controlled processes in the first and second language of reading fluent bilinguals. Memory and Cognition, 11(6), 565–574. doi:10.3758/BF03198281.
Fender, M. J. (2001). A review of L1 and L2/ESL word integration development involved in lower-level text processing. Language Learning, 51(2), 319–396. doi:10.1111/0023-8333.00157.
Fodor, J. (1983). Modularity of mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Geva, E., & Wang, M. (2001). The development of basic reading skills in children: A cross-language perspective. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 21, 182–204.
Harley, T. A. (2013). The psychology of language: From data to theory (4th ed.). Hove: Psychology Press.
Harrington, M. (2006). The lexical decision task as a measure of L2 lexical proficiency. EUROSLA Yearbook, 6(1), 147–168.
Holmes, V. M. (2009). Bottom-up processing and reading comprehension in experienced adult readers. Journal of Research in Reading, 32(3), 309–326. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9817.2009.01396.
Hoover, W. A., & Gough, P. B. (1990). The simple view of reading. Reading and Writing, 2(2), 127–160. doi:10.1007/BF00401799.
Hulstijn, J. H., Van Gelderen, A., & Schoonen, R. (2009). Automatization in second language acquisition: What does the coefficient of variation tell us? Applied PsychoLinguistics, 30(04), 555–582.
Jacobs, A. M., & Grainger, J. (1994). Models of visual word recognition: Sampling the state of the art. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 20(6), 1311.
Jeon, E. H., & Yamashita, J. (2014). L2 reading comprehension and its correlates: A meta-analysis. Language Learning, 64(1), 160–212. doi:10.1111/lang.12034.
Jiang, N. (2013). Conducting reaction time research in second language studies. New York: Routledge.
Juffs, M., & Harrington, M. (2011). Aspects of working memory in L2 learning. Language Teaching, 44(2), 137–166. doi:10.1017/S0261444810000509.
Just, M. A., & Carpenter, P. A. (1992). A capacity theory comprehension: Individual differences in working memory. Psychological Review, 99(1), 122–149.
Kintsch, W. (1998). Comprehension: A paradigm for cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kintsch, W. (2005). An overview of top-down and bottom-up effects in comprehension: The C-I perspective. Discourse Processes, 39(2–3), 125–128. doi:10.1080/0163853X.2005.9651676.
Koda, K. (1992). The effects of lower-level processing skills on FL reading performance: Implications for instruction. The Modern Language Journal, 76(4), 502–512.
Koda, K. (1996). L2 word recognition research: A critical review. The Modern Language Journal, 80(4), 450–460.
Koda, K. (2005). Insights into second language reading: A cross-linguistic approach. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Koda, K. (2007). Reading and language learning: Crosslinguistic constraints on second language reading development. Language Learning, 57, 1–44. doi:10.1111/0023-8333.101997010-i1.
Kroll, J., Van Hell, J., Tokowicz, N., & Green, D. (2010). The revised hierarchical model: A critical review and assessment. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13(3), 373–381. doi:10.1017/S136672891000009X.
LaBerge, D., & Samuels, S. J. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6(2), 293–323. doi:10.1016/0010-0285(74)90015-2.
Lewellen, M. J., Goldinger, S. D., Pisoni, D. B., & Greene, B. G. (1993). Lexical familiarity and processing efficiency: Individual differences in naming, lexical decision, and semantic categorization. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 122(3), 316–330. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.122.3.316.
Luce, R. D. (1986). Response times. New York: Oxford University Press.
Meara, P. (2002). The rediscovery of vocabulary. Second Language Research, 18(4), 393–407. doi:10.1191/0267658302sr211xx.
Meara, P., Lightbown, P. M., & Halter, R. H. (1994). The effects of cognates on the applicability of yes/no vocabulary tests. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 50(2), 296–311.
Nassaji, H. (2014). The role and importance of lower-level processes in second language reading. Language Teaching, 47(1), 1–37.
Pachella, R. G. (1974). The interpretation of reaction time in information processing research. In B. H. Kantowitz (Ed.), Human information processing: Tutorials in performance and cognition (pp. 41–82). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Pellicer-Sánchez, A., & Schmitt, S. (2012). Scoring yes-no vocabulary tests: Reaction time vs. nonword approaches. Language Testing, 29(4), 489–509. doi:10.1177/0265532212438053.
Perfetti, C. A., & Stafura, J. (2014). Word knowledge in a theory of reading comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18(1), 22–37. doi:10.1080/10888438.2013.827687.
Plonsky, L., & Oswald, F. L. (2014). How big is “big”? Interpreting effect sizes in L2 research. Language Learning, 64, 878–912. doi:10.1111/lang. 12079.
Schmitt, N. (2010). Researching vocabulary. A vocabulary research manual. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Segalowitz, N. (2010). Cognitive bases of second language fluency. New York: Routledge.
Segalowitz, N., & Segalowitz, S. J. (1993). Skilled performance, practice and differentiation of speed-up from automatization effects: Evidence from second language word recognition. Applied PsychoLinguistics, 14(3), 369–385. doi:10.1017/S0142716400010845.
Segalowitz, N., Watson, V., & Segalowitz, S. J. (1995). Vocabulary skill: Single case assessment of automaticity of word recognition in a timed lexical decision task. Second Language Research, 11(2), 121–136.
Segalowitz, N., Segalowitz, S. J., & Wood, A. G. (1998). Assessing the development of automaticity in second language word recognition. Applied PsychoLinguistics, 19(1), 53–67.
Shiotsu, T. (2009). Reading ability and components of word recognition speed: The case of L1-Japanese EFL learners. In Z. Han & N. J. Anderson (Eds.), Second language reading research and instruction: Crossing the boundaries (pp. 15–39). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Stanovich, K. E., West, R. F., & Cunningham, A. E. (1991). Beyond phonological processes: Print exposure and orthographic processing. In Phonological processes in literacy: A tribute to Isabelle Y. Liberman (pp. 219–235). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Stone, G., & Van Orden, C. (1992). Resolving empirical inconsistencies concerning priming, frequency, and nonword foils in lexical decision. Language and Speech, 35(3), 295–324. doi:10.1177/002383099203500302.
Wagenmakers, E. J., Ratcliff, R., Gomez, P., & McKoon, G. (2008). A diffusion model account of criterion shifts in the lexical decision task. Journal of Memory and Language, 58(1), 140–159. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2007.04.006.
Yamashita, J. (2013). Word recognition subcomponents and passage level reading in a foreign language. Reading in a Foreign Language, 25(1), 52–71.
Yap, M., & Balota, D. (2015). Visual word recognition. In A. Pollastsek & R. Treiman (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of reading (pp. 26–43). New York: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Harrington, M. (2018). L2 Word Recognition Skill and Its Measurement. In: Lexical Facility. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-37262-8_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-37262-8_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-37261-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-37262-8
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)