Abstract
The study investigated L1 orthographic impact on cognitive processing involved in L2 reading. In a cross-linguistic experiment with four orthographically diverse groups (Arabic, English, Japanese, and Spanish), the effects of two types of phonological encoding interference (phonological similarity and unpronounceability) on short-term memory recall performance in English were compared. Data demonstrate that (a) STM recall performance of all four groups was seriously impaired when phonological encoding interference was present, (b) the two types of interference had differential effects on STM performance between phonographic (Arabic, English, and Spanish) and morphographic (Japanese) readers, and (c) phonological coding strategies used in L1 and L2 are consistent. These results seem to indicate, first, that a phonological code is dominantly used in the STM encoding process regardless of the language background: second, that different phonological coding strategies are used among subjects with contrasting orthographic backgrounds; and, third, that strategies used in L1 processing are transferred to L2 processing. Hence, the findings of the study suggest that there is a strong relationship between orthography and cognition.
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Koda, K. Effects of L1 orthographic representation on L2 phonological coding strategies. J Psycholinguist Res 18, 201–222 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067782
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067782