Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Psycholinguistic Approach to Second Language Reading

在Judith Kroll博士的指导下，Ana Schwartz女士将为她的博士论文收集数据。她的研究将考察第二语言阅读。对于许多双语者来说，第二语言的阅读熟练程度达不到第一语言的流利程度。其中一个原因可能是，在第二语言中，单词识别过程不像在第一语言中那样自动。此外，当用第二语言阅读时，双语者无法“关闭”来自第一语言的一些信息。两种语言之间的竞争使得第二语言读者很难忽视第一语言的影响。施瓦茨女士将调查双语读者如何使用句子语境来协调两种语言之间的竞争。一组实验使用反应时间测量来询问在阅读第二语言时可以获得哪些类型的信息。第二组实验使用眼动测量来询问信息何时可用。这些实验将涉及英语-西班牙语和西班牙-英语双语者，以及单语对照组。另外一组措施将评估这些研究问题的答案在多大程度上受到阅读过程中分配认知资源能力的个体差异的影响。这项研究有助于开发更全面的阅读过程模型。这也对如何在多语言课堂上教授阅读具有重要意义。鉴于美国学校中以非英语为第一语言的学生越来越多，以及阅读对学业成功的重要性，了解第二语言阅读的认知特征是至关重要的。

Under the direction of Dr. Judith Kroll, Ms. Ana Schwartz will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. Her research will examine reading in a second language. For many bilinguals, reading proficiency in a second language does not reach the same level of fluency as in the first language. One reason for this might be that word recognition processes are not as automatic in the second language as they are in the first language. Further, when reading in a second language, bilinguals are unable to "turn off" some information from their first language. The competition between the two languages makes it difficult for the second language reader to ignore first language influences. Ms. Schwartz will investigate how bilingual readers use sentence context to negotiate the competition between their two languages. One set of experiments uses response time measures to ask what type of information is available during reading in the second language. A second set of experiments uses eye movement measures to ask when that information is available. These experiments will involve English-Spanish and Spanish-English bilinguals, as well as a monolingual comparison group. An additional set of measures will assess the degree to which the answers to these research questions are affected by individual differences in the ability to allocate cognitive resources during reading. This research contributes to the development of more comprehensive models of the reading process. It also has important implications for how reading is taught in multi-lingual classrooms. Given the increasing number of students in American schools whose first language is not English, and the central importance that reading holds for academic success, it is critical to understand the cognitive characteristics of second language reading.