This paper examines the effects of a first language (L1 ) orthographic system on second language (L2) word recognition strategies. Lexical judgment tests using Japanese kana (a syllabic script consisting of hiragana and katakana) were given to native English and native Chinese learners of Japanese. The visual familiarity and length in test words were controlled to examine the involvement of phonological or visual coding in word recognition strategies. The responses of the English and Chinese subjects were compared on the basis of observed reaction time. The results indicated that (a) Chinese subjects relied more on the visual information in L2 Japanese kana words than did English subjects and (b) English subjects utilized the phonological information in Japanese kana words more than did Chinese subjects. Accordingly, these findings demonstrate that native speakers of English and Chinese utilize different word recognition strategies due to L1 orthographic characteristics, and such L1 word recognition strategies are transferred into L2 Japanese kana word recognition.

This study focused on developmental word recognition strategies used by first language (L1) English readers of second language (L2) Japanese. There were two proficiency groups of Japanese learners. The study considered whether or not word recognition strategies are developmental and whether or not L1 orthographic interference (i.e., involvement of phonological coding) diminishes as learners gain L2 proficiency. In Experiment 1, consisting of "contextfree" lexical judgment tests controlled by visual familiarity, the higher-proficiency group showed more visual reliance and diminishing L1 English orthographic effects at the beginning stages of instruction. However, this developmental difference was not apparent in Experiment 2, in which "contextual" passage reading tests were controlled by word visual familiarity. The higher proficiency learners showed a trend toward greater reliance on visual information; however, no significant difference in visual familiarity effects was observed between the two groups. These results imply that (a) the L2 word recognition strategy is developmental and reconstructed as proficiency advances, yet (b) automaticity takes time to develop, and (c) developmental effects may be involved differently between prelexical and postlexical phonology.

This paper describes a Japanese logographic character (kanji) frequency list, which is based on an analysis of the largest recently available corpus of Japanese words and characters. This corpus comprised a full year of morning and evening editions of a major newspaper, containing more than 23 million kanji characters and more than 4,000different kanji characters. This paper lists the 3,000most frequent kanji characters, as well as an analysis of kanji usage and correlations between the present list and previous Japanese frequency lists. The authors believe that the present list will help researchers more accurately and efficiently control the selection of kanji characters in cognitive science research and interpret related psycholinguistic data.In many empirical psycholinguistic studies, word frequency is used as an independent variable to select materials having desired frequency characteristics or as a control variable to match two or more sets of materials in order to minimize performance differences attributable to word frequency effects in word recognition, memory, or retrieval performance. It is sometimes important in psycholinguistic research to focus on the frequency effects oflinguistic units smaller than words, such as letter clusters (e.g., bigrams or trigrams), syllabic-type units (syllable vs. nonsyllable), morpheme units, as well as position (i.e., word-initial, word-middle, or word-final positions;

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As computer‐assisted language learning gains popularity, word processing is becoming standard in foreign language classrooms. However, for logographic languages, which have input processes different from those of English and other Indo‐European languages, computer use by second language learners is relatively uncommon and its impact on writing is unknown. This study examined the effects of computers on writing efficiency and quality among intermediate learners of Japanese. Subjects corresponded with Japanese peers by e‐mail, and took computer‐written and handwritten tests. Response times, accuracy rates, and t‐units were compared. There was no significant difference in response times for the two modes, but accuracy rates and number of kanji characters used were significantly different, indicating that learners benefited from computer writing. This was most evident among mid‐skilled learners, suggesting that positive effects for computers may depend on level of linguistic skill.