Abstract
Rapid automatized naming (RAN) is a strong predictor of reading across languages. However, it remains unclear if the effects of RAN in first language (L1) transfer to reading in second language (L2) and if the results vary as a function of the orthographic proximity of L1–L2. To fill this gap in the literature, we examined the role of RAN in reading accuracy and fluency in eight languages representing different writing systems. Seven hundred and thirty-five university students (85 Chinese-, 84 Japanese-, 100 Kannada-, 40 Oriya-, 115 English-, 115 Arabic-, 105 Portuguese-, and 91 Spanish-speaking) participated in our study. They were assessed on RAN (Digits and Objects) and reading (accuracy and fluency) in both L1 and L2 (English). Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed significant effects of L1 RAN on L2 reading accuracy in the Chinese-, Portuguese-, and Spanish-speaking groups. In addition, L2 RAN was a significant predictor of reading fluency in L1 in the same language groups. No cross-language transfer was observed in the other languages. These findings suggest first that L1 and L2 RAN capture similar processes and controlling for one does not leave unique variance for the other to explain. Second, to the extent there is cross-language transfer of RAN skills, this appears to be independent of the orthographic proximity of the languages.
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Notes
Transfer is defined as the use of linguistic and cognitive knowledge acquired in L1 for L2 learning (Odlin, 1989). It is assessed here only through correlations, not an actual observation of linguistic and cognitive knowledge acquired in L1.
We specifically refer to studies that examined the effects of L1 RAN on L2 reading after controlling for the effects of L2 RAN. There are some studies that examined the effects of L1 RAN on L2 reading without controlling for the effects of L2 RAN (see e.g., Geva et al., 2000; Lafrance & Gottardo, 2005; Morfidi et al., 2007; Pasquarella et al., 2015; Savage et al., 2018). In this case, we cannot really claim that there was a ‘transfer’ of RAN effects from L1 to L2.
Even though the English-speaking participants were not tested in a second language, we included them in our study because we wanted to see how close the correlations among the L2 (English) tasks in the other languages would be to those derived from a sample of native speakers of similar age.
Notice that since this study is concerned with correlations between RAN and reading accuracy/fluency and not with comparisons of scores in reading between the different groups, we did not match the reading tasks across languages. Such endeavor would be almost impossible with the number of languages included here and the writing systems they represent.
In Japanese, we also ran hierarchical regression analyses with Hiragana word fluency and Kanji word fluency as the outcome measures. The results were the same as those presented in Table 4 with a composite fluency score. L2 RAN did not significantly predict Hiragana fluency or Kanji fluency when entered in the regression equation at step 2.
To calculate the proportion of shared variance, we first looked at how much variance in the outcome measure the predictor explained when entered at step 1 and at step 2, and then calculated their difference. Next, we divided this difference score by the amount of variance explained by the same predictor when entered at step 1 of the regression equation. For example, in Table 4 in Japanese, L1 RAN Digits and Objects explained 58% of the variance in reading fluency when entered at step 1 and 23% of the variance when entered at step 2 (difference score = 35%). We then divided the 35 by 58 to find what percentage was shared between the two predictors (35/58 = 60.34%).
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Georgiou, G.K., Cardoso-Martins, C., Das, J.P. et al. Cross-language contributions of rapid automatized naming to reading accuracy and fluency in young adults: evidence from eight languages representing different writing systems. J Cult Cogn Sci 6, 151–168 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41809-021-00092-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41809-021-00092-7