Open AccessLower-Level Processing Skills in English-as-a-Second-Language Reading Comprehension: Possible Influence of First Language Orthography
Author(s) -
Xiangying Jiang
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
study in english language teaching
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2372-9740
pISSN - 2329-311X
DOI - 10.22158/selt.v5n3p448
Subject(s) - orthography , spelling , fluency , reading comprehension , reading (process) , linguistics , psychology , phonemic awareness , computer science , mathematics education , philosophy
Cross-linguistic studies on second language (L2) reading reveal that component skills of reading such as word recognition, phonemic decoding, spelling, and oral text reading are prone to the influence of first language (L1) orthography but few empirical studies have examined the possible influence of L1 orthography on these skills. This study investigates how adult ESL learners of two different L1 backgrounds (Spanish and Chinese) compare in their performances on word recognition efficiency, phonemic decoding efficiency, spelling, and oral text reading fluency and how these skills are related to their overall ability in reading comprehension. The differences in the learners’ performances on the component skills and the variations in the role of these skills in ESL reading comprehension indicated possible influence of the orthographic features of learners’ first language.