Distributional analyses of word frequency effects in Chinese sentence reading and lexical decision tasks

Ma, Guojie; Zhuang, Xiangling

doi:10.1111/1467-9817.12259

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 36 publications

(75 reference statements)

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“…However, the holistic hypothesis supports the notion that the visual information system, character recognition system and word-recognition system affect the word-segmentation stage and word-recognition stage interactively. Previous studies supported the holistic assumption being suitable for Chinese reading, which is consistent with the results in this study ( Li et al, 2009 , 2011a ; Ma, 2017 ; Ma and Zhuang, 2018 ). Based on the holistic hypothesis, the inter-word spaces as low-level visual information affect reading comprehension from bottom to top, while the reading experience as a high-level cognition factor affects reading comprehension from top to bottom.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…The primary task for readers of Chinese is to segment words from Chinese texts which do not contain inter-word spaces as an indicator of word segmentation. The characteristic of no inter-word spaces has been the subject of many studies focusing on the mechanism of word segmentation in Chinese reading ( Rayner, 1998 ; Bai et al, 2008 ; Bassetti, 2009 ; Li et al, 2009 , 2014 ; Cui et al, 2014 ; Zang et al, 2016 ; Ma, 2017 ; Liu and Lu, 2018 ; Ma and Zhuang, 2018 ; Zhou et al, 2020 ). Moreover, the reading direction is one of the significant characteristics among languages.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Trade-Off Between Format Familiarity and Word-Segmentation Facilitation in Chinese Reading

et al. 2021

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In alphabetic writing systems (such as English), the spaces between words mark the word boundaries, and the basic unit of reading is distinguished during visual-level processing. The visual-level information of word boundaries facilitates reading. Chinese is an ideographic language whose text contains no intrinsic inter-word spaces as the marker of word boundaries. Previous studies have shown that the basic processing unit of Chinese reading is also a word. However, findings remain inconsistent regarding whether inserting spaces between words in Chinese text promotes reading performance. Researchers have proposed that there may be a trade-off between format familiarity and the facilitation effect of inter-word spaces. In order to verify this, this study manipulated the format familiarity via reversing the Chinese reading direction from right to left to investigate this issue in Experiment 1 and Experiment 2. The purpose of Experiment 1 was to examine whether inter-word spaces facilitated Chinese reading in an unfamiliar format. Experiment 1 was conducted that 40 native Chinese undergraduates read Chinese sentences from right to left on four format conditions. The results showed faster reading speed and shorter total reading time for the inter-word spaced format. Based on this finding, Experiment 2 examined whether the facilitation effect of inter-word spaces would reduce or disappear after improving the format familiarity; this experiment was conducted that 40 native Chinese undergraduates who did not participate in Experiment 1 read Chinese sentences from right to left on four format conditions after ten-day reading training. There was no significant difference between the total reading time and reading speed in the inter-word spaced format and unspaced format, which suggests that the facilitation effect of inter-word spaces in Chinese reading changed smaller. The combined results of the two experiments suggest that there is indeed a trade-off between format familiarity and the facilitation of word segmentation, which supports the assumption of previous studies.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Trade-Off Between Format Familiarity and Word-Segmentation Facilitation in Chinese Reading

et al. 2021

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“…RR was also higher from left to right than from right to left (b= 1.222, SE= 0.090, t= 13.537, p< 0.001). Compared with right to left and LF words, there were shorter fixation durations, higher SP, and lower refixation probability for left to right and HF words, which is consistent with expectations and previous research (Chen et al, 2021;Li et al, 2011;Liu et al, 2016;Ma, 2017;Ma & Zhuang, 2018;Rayner, Fischer & Pollatsek, 1998;Wang et al, 2018;).…”

Section: Experiments 1 Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

“…The results of Experiment 2 support the view that reading experience influences vocabulary recognition in Chinese reading. The word-frequency effect could reflect the vocabulary-recognition stage sensitively ( 19 ; 20 ; 21 ; 22 ; 32 ; 38 ). Notably, the interaction between format familiarity and word frequency was significant in the early indexes, which may indicate a delay in the word-frequency effect in right-to-left reading.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the skipping probability of the HF words is higher than for LF words ( 26 ; 29 ; 28 ; 38 ; 41 ). Some studies manipulate word frequency to examine the mechanism and characteristics of lexical processing ( 21 ; 22 ; 32 ). Using survival analysis, Ma ( 21 ) found that the word-frequency effect was delayed by 21 ms for unspaced (vs. spaced) text.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The role of format familiarity and word frequency in Chinese reading

Chen,

2023

JEMR

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For Chinese readers, reading from left to right is the norm, while reading from right to left is unfamiliar. This study comprises two experiments investigating how format familiarity and word frequency affect reading by Chinese people. Experiment 1 examines the roles of format familiarity (reading from left to right is the familiar Chinese format, and reading from right to left is the unfamiliar Chinese format) and word frequency in vocabulary recognition. Forty students read the same Chinese sentences from left to right and from right to left. Target words were divided into high and low frequency words. In Experiment 2, participants engaged in right-to-left reading training for 10 days to test whether their right-to-left reading performance could be improved. The study yields several main findings. First, format familiarity affects vocabulary recognition. Participants reading from left to right had shorter fixation times, higher skipping rates, and viewing positions closer to word center.. Second, word frequency affects vocabulary recognition in Chinese reading. Third, right-to-left reading training could improve reading performance. In the early indexes, the interaction effect of format familiarity and word frequency was significant. There was also a significant word-frequency effect from left to right but not from right to left. Therefore, word segmentation and vocabulary recognition may be sequential in Chinese reading.

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An ex-Gaussian analysis of eye movements in L2 reading

et al. 2022

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Second language learners’ reading is less efficient and more effortful than native reading. However, the source of their difficulty is unclear; L2 readers might struggle with reading in a different orthography, or they might have difficulty with later stages of linguistic interpretation of the input, or both. The present study explored the source of L2 reading difficulty by analyzing the distribution of fixation durations in reading. In three studies, we observed that L2 readers experience an increase in Mu, which we interpret as indicating early orthographic processing difficulty, when the L2 has a significantly different writing system than the L1 (e.g., Chinese and English) but not when the writing systems were similar (e.g., Portuguese and English). L2 readers also experienced an increase in Tau, indicating later-arising processing difficulty which likely reflects later-stage linguistic processes, when they read for comprehension. L2 readers of Chinese also experienced an additional increase in Tau.

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Distributional analyses of word frequency effects in Chinese sentence reading and lexical decision tasks

Cited by 4 publications

References 36 publications

The Trade-Off Between Format Familiarity and Word-Segmentation Facilitation in Chinese Reading

The Trade-Off Between Format Familiarity and Word-Segmentation Facilitation in Chinese Reading

The role of format familiarity and word frequency in Chinese reading

An ex-Gaussian analysis of eye movements in L2 reading

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