Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Recoding strategies of German learners of English as a foreign language

  • Published:
Reading and Writing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study investigated whether German learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) acquire additional recoding strategies that they do not need for recoding in the consistent German orthography. Based on the psycholinguistic grain size theory (Ziegler & Goswami, 2005) we expected students with little experience in EFL to use the same small-grain recoding strategy as in German, while more advanced students were expected to switch flexibly between small and large grain size recoding strategies when reading English nonwords. German students in Grades 5, 7, and 9, as well as university students were presented with an experimental nonword reading paradigm introduced by Goswami, Ziegler, Dalton, and Schneider (2003) which assesses the effects of language (nonwords derived from German vs. English), orthographic neighborhood, item length and presentation format (blocked vs. mixed) on reading latencies and accuracies. The data were analyzed using hierarchical linear models. The youngest age group did not use larger units to read English nonwords, but mostly applied simple grapheme-phoneme translation, as they would in their first language. University students were able to switch flexibly between large- and small size recoding strategies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. “Rimes are the phonologically defined terminal vowel-consonant clusters of words […] and two words rhyme when they share the same terminal rime.” (Barry, 1994, p. 30).

  2. The three-syllabic items of the original Goswami et al. (2003) item set were not presented because of time limitations.

  3. The English nonword rull was created in order to induce analogies with the word dull, however, it could also be read analogous to full. Similarly, the German nonword Rond was derived from the word Mond (pronounced with a long vowel), but could also be read in analogy to blond (pronounced with short vowel). The German nonwords included the pair dot (sharing the rime unit with rot) and dodt (no orthographic neighbor). However, the two nonwords are not identical in pronunciation—while dot is pronounced with a long vowel, the dt grapheme in dodt unanimously marks a short preceding vowel. The German nonword tunt was included in the items with no orthographic neighbors but has one nevertheless (bunt—colorful).

References

  • Akamatsu, N. (2003). The effects of first language orthographic features on second language reading in text. Language Learning, 53, 207–231. doi:10.1111/1467-9922.00216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aro, M., & Wimmer, H. (2003). Learning to read: English in comparison to six more regular orthographies. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24, 621–635. doi:10.1017/S0142716403000316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barry, C. (1994). Spelling routes (or roots or rutes). In G. D. A. Brown & N. C. Ellis (Eds.), Handbook of spelling. Theory, process and intervention (pp. 27–49). Chichester: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, G. D. A., & Deavers, R. P. (1999). Units of analysis in nonword reading: Evidence from children and adults. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 73, 208–242. doi:10.1006/jecp.1999.2502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diehr, B., & Frisch, S. (2010). A roadmap to reading: Bewusstmachende Verfahren im Umgang mit der englischen Schriftsprache [A roadmap to reading: Techniques of raising awareness for the use of written English]. Grundschule, 9, 26–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frith, U., Wimmer, H., & Landerl, K. (1998). Differences in phonological recoding in German- and English-speaking children. Scientific Studies of Reading, 2, 31–54. doi:10.1207/s1532799xssr0201_2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gerlach, D. (2013). Wordly-Lesetraining [Wordly – reading exercises]. http://www.wordly.de/.

  • Göbel, K., Vieluf, S., & Hesse, H. G. (2010). Die Sprachentransferunterstützung im Deutsch- und Englischunterricht bei Schülerinnen und Schülern unterschiedlicher Sprachlernerfahrung [Language transfer support in German and English lessons including students of varied expertise in language learning]. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 55, 101–122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goswami, U. (1995). Phonological development and reading by analogy: What is analogy, and what is it not? Journal of Research in Reading, 18, 139–145. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9817.1995.tb00080.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goswami, U., Gombert, J. E., & Fraca de Barrera, L. (1998). Children’s orthographic representations and linguistic transparency: Nonsense word reading in English, French and Spanish. Applied Psycholinguistics, 19, 19–52. doi:10.1017/S0142716400010560.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goswami, U., Ziegler, J., Dalton, L., & Schneider, W. (2001). Pseudohomophone effects and phonological recoding procedures in reading development in English and German. Journal of Memory and Language, 45, 648–664. doi:10.1006/jmla.2001.2790.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goswami, U., Ziegler, J. C., Dalton, L., & Schneider, W. (2003). Nonword reading across orthographies: How flexible is the choice of reading units? Applied Psycholinguistics, 24, 235–247. doi:10.1017/S0142716403000134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landerl, K., & Wimmer, H. (2008). Development of word reading fluency and orthographic spelling in a consistent orthography: An 8-year follow-up. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 150–161. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.100.1.150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marinelli, C. V., Traficante, D., Zoccolotti, P., & Burani, C. (2013). Orthographic neighborhood-size effects on the reading aloud of Italian children with and without dyslexia. Scientific Studies of Reading, 17, 333–349. doi:10.1080/10888438.2012.723080.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Näslund, J. C. (1999). Phonemic and graphemic consistency: Effects on decoding for German and American children. Reading and Writing, 11, 129–152. doi:10.1023/A:1008090007198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perfetti, C. A., Cao, F., & Booth, J. (2013). Specialization and universals in the development of reading skill: How Chinese research informs a universal science of reading. Scientific Studies of Reading, 17, 5–21. doi:10.1080/10888438.2012.689786.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plaut, D. C., McClelland, J. L., Seidenberg, M. S., & Patterson, K. (1996). Understanding normal and impaired word reading: Computational principles in quasi-regular domains. Psychological Review, 103, 56–115. doi:10.1037//0033-295X.103.1.56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quené, H., & van den Bergh, H. (2004). On multi-level modeling of data from repeated measures designs: A tutorial. Speech Communication, 43, 103–121. doi:10.1016/j.specom.2004.02.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quené, H., & van den Bergh, H. (2008). Examples of mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects and with binomial data. Journal of Memory and Language, 59, 413–425. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2008.02.002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rau, A., Moeller, K., & Landerl, K. (2014). The transition from sublexical to lexical processing in a consistent orthography: An eye tracking study. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18, 224–233. doi:10.1080/10888438.2013.857673.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rau, A., Moll, K., Snowling, M., & Landerl, K. (2015). Effects of orthographic consistency on eye movement behavior: German and English children and adults process the same words differently. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 130, 92–105. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2014.09.012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models. Applications and data analysis methods. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raudenbush, S. W., Bryk, A. S., & Congdon, R. (2005). HLM for Windows (6.02) [Computer software]. Lincolnwood, IL: Scientific Software International Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • SR Research. (2008). ExperimentBuilder (Version 1.5.58) [Computer software]. Mississauga, ON: SR Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treiman, R., Mullennix, J., Bijeljac-Babic, R., & Richmond-Welty, E. D. (1995). The special role of rimes in the description, use, and acquisition of English orthography. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 124, 107–136. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.124.2.107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van den Boer, M., de Jong, P. F., & Haentjens-van Meeteren, M. (2013). Modeling the length effect: Specifying the relation with visual and phonological correlates of reading. Scientific Studies of Reading, 17, 243–256. doi:10.1080/10888438.2012.683222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wimmer, H., & Goswami, U. (1994). The influence of orthographic consistency on reading development: Word recognition in English and German children. Cognition, 51, 91–103. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(94)90010-8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ziegler, J., & Goswami, U. (2005). Reading acquisition, developmental dyslexia, and skilled reading across languages: A psycholinguistic grain size theory. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 3–29. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.131.1.3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ziegler, J. C., Perry, C., Jacobs, A. M., & Braun, M. (2001). Identical words are read differently in different languages. Psychological Science, 12, 379–384. doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Karin Landerl

    Present address: Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, University of Stuttgart, Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 24D, 70174, Stuttgart, Germany

    Anke Treutlein

  2. University of Education Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Hermann Schöler

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Karin Landerl

Authors
  1. Anke Treutlein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hermann Schöler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Karin Landerl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anke Treutlein.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 5.

Table 5 Monosyllabic and disyllabic nonwords used in the experiment
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Treutlein, A., Schöler, H. & Landerl, K. Recoding strategies of German learners of English as a foreign language. Read Writ 30, 1215–1230 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-016-9719-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-016-9719-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation