Effects of frequency and idiomaticity on second language reading comprehension in children with English as an additional language

Abstract

Vocabulary plays an important role in reading comprehension in both the L1 and the L2 (Murphy, 2018). In measuring vocabulary knowledge, however, researchers typically focus on mono-lexical units where vocabulary assessments tend not to take into account multi-word expressions which include phrasal verbs, collocations, and idioms. Omitting these multi-word lexical items can lead to an over-estimation of comprehension skills, particularly in reading. Indeed, adult learners of English comprehend texts containing a larger number of multi-word expressions less well compared to texts containing fewer of these expressions, even when the same words are used in each text (Martinez & Murphy, 2011). To investigate whether children learning English as an additional language (EAL) face a similar challenge, two reading comprehension tests were administered to EAL and monolingual (non-EAL) English-speaking children in primary school. Both tests contained the same common words, but whereas in one test some of the words occurred in multi-word expressions, in the other test they did not. Reading comprehension was significantly reduced for both groups of children when multi-word expressions were included. Monolingual participants generally performed better than children with EAL on both tests further suggesting that children with EAL may face a particular disadvantage in English reading comprehension. These results are discussed within the context of the importance of developing rich vocabulary knowledge in all children, and especially emergent bilingual children, within primary school and beyond.

Understanding how time flies and what it means to be on cloud nine: English as an Additional Language (EAL) learners’ metaphor comprehension

“…The finding highlights the importance of looking at vocabulary beyond single words to understand how vocabulary items are learned and processed in the company of other words. Previous research has already noted the importance of including multi-word vocabulary in the investigation of EAL comprehension research (Kan, 2014;McKendry, 2014;McKendry & Murphy, 2011;Smith & Murphy, 2015). The current study adds to this literature by highlighting the differential development of metaphor comprehension across tasks.…”

“…Furthermore, the conventionality of phrases matters particularly for learners of EAL. Kan (2014) and Martinez and Murphy (2011) demonstrated that even highly frequent multiword phrases can cause unnoticed comprehension difficulties in learners of EAL and L2 learners, respectively. Collectively, these studies outline a critical role of frequency or conventionality of a phrase for how it is processed.…”

“…Furthermore, some words are regularly combined to make up collocations such as pay attention or idioms such as to kick the bucket (Nation, 2001). Several aspects of vocabulary depth have been shown to be particularly relevant to understanding the gap in vocabulary between (some) learners of EAL and their monolingual peers (Cameron & Besser, 2004;Kan, 2014;Martinez & Murphy, 2011;McKendry, 2014;Smith & Murphy, 2015). Importantly, it is vocabulary depth in particular that likely plays a crucial role in core skills that are educationally important, such as the ability to extract meaning from texts (Cain & Oakhill, 2014).…”

“…Experimental measures have also been developed to tap concrete aspects of multiword and figurative vocabulary that seem to be particularly relevant for the vocabulary depth of learners with EAL. For instance, monolingual primary school children and those learning EAL were compared on an experimental test probing their contextualised understanding of high-frequency collocations such as by and large through comprehension questions, followed by a later rating of their own level of understanding (Kan, 2014), a task that is difficult for foreign language learners of English (Martinez & Murphy, 2011). Learners of EAL had lower accuracy on the test compared to their monolingual peers, and their own high rating of their understanding suggested that they were not aware of their comprehension difficulties (Kan, 2014).…”

The Role of Collocations and Sociolinguistic Factors in Reading Comprehension Skills of L2 Turkish Primary School Students

“…The study also found that these students are unaware that their poor performance in comprehension is due to their lack of knowledge of collocations. Similarly, Kan and Murphy (2020) found that L2 students struggle to understand texts containing collocations and are unaware of their limitations in comprehension. Other studies in the field have also found that adult English learners have a harder time understanding texts with a higher number of collocations, even if the texts use the same words, compared to texts with fewer collocations (Martinez and Murphy, 2011).…”