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RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SPEECH AND READING AMONG SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Author(s) -
Muchisky Dennis M.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
language learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.882
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1467-9922
pISSN - 0023-8333
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1983.tb00987.x
Subject(s) - reading (process) , repetition (rhetorical device) , psychology , short term memory , task (project management) , presentation (obstetrics) , linguistics , first language , test (biology) , term (time) , speech production , cognitive psychology , working memory , cognition , philosophy , physics , management , radiology , quantum mechanics , neuroscience , biology , economics , medicine , paleontology
This paper describes the results of a short‐term memory, reaction time study with students of English as a second language. Thirty‐five foreign students at the University of New Mexico did a series of short‐term memory tasks designed to determine if phonological encoding of visually presented verbal material occurred during reading. The memory tasks were done in two conditions: simple visual presentation of material (nonshadowing condition) and visual presentation of material accompanied by an oral repetition task (shadowing condition). A similar study done by Kleiman (1975) with native speakers of English showed that reaction times increased (slowed down) in the shadowing condition. In the present study the second language students' reaction times decreased (speeded up) in the shadowing condition. The explanation offered for this result is that the second language students in the nonshadowing condition show phonological interference from their native language which slows reaction times; however, the shadowing task which involves the oral production of English curtails the interference, thereby improving the reaction times. In addition to the short‐term memory tasks, the students in the study took a reading proficiency test (the Nelson‐Denny Reading Test). Correlations between the results of the memory task reaction times and reading proficiency scores showed few significant results.