Orthographic effects in second-language spoken-word recognition.

Abstract

Evidence from both alphabetic and nonalphabetic languages has suggested the role of orthography in the processing of spoken words in individuals' native language (L1). Less evidence has existed for such effects in nonnative (L2) spoken-word processing. Whereas in L1 orthographic representations are learned only after phonological representations have long been established, in L2 the sound and spelling of words are often learned in conjunction; this might predict stronger orthographic effects in L2 than in L1 spoken processing. On the other hand, lexical codes are typically less integrated and stable in L2 than in L1, which might entail less pronounced orthographic effects. To explore this issue, Tibetan Chinese bilinguals judged whether Chinese spoken words presented in pairs were related in meaning. Some of the unrelated word pairs were orthographically related, and critically, this orthographic overlap induced a significant increase in response latencies. Compared to previous results from L1 listeners with the identical procedure, the orthographic effect for L2 listeners was more pronounced. These findings indicate that orthographic information is involuntarily accessed in native and nonnative spoken-word recognition alike and that it may play a more important role in the latter compared to the former. (PsycINFO Database Record

Native speakers like affixes, L2 speakers like letters? An overt visual priming study investigating the role of orthography in L2 morphological processing

“…Instead, the fact that L2-specific form priming effects persist even in overt visual priming, where L1 speakers normally show at least a trend for inhibition, suggests that, as claimed by Heyer and Clahsen [20], the larger reliance on (orthographic) surface form properties of complex words in L2 speakers is a general property of L2 visual word recognition, at least in lexical decision tasks. This is in line with previous L2 research from other domains [21–25].…”

“…Indeed, the results from several studies investigating visual [21, 22] as well as auditory lexical processing [23–25] suggest that L2 speakers focus relatively more on surface form properties of words than L1 speakers, which, in priming studies, may lead to increased form priming effects. There is at least some evidence suggesting that such L2-specific form priming effects may even emerge when primes and targets are presented in different modalities.…”

The role of orthography in second-language spoken word production: Evidence from Tibetan Chinese bilinguals

“…An interesting component of the current study is the direct comparison of native versus non-native language. As briefly summarized in the Introduction, in previous work we (Qu, Cui & Damian, 2017) compared effects of orthography in spoken Chinese word perception between Chinese monolinguals and Tibetan-Chinese bilinguals, and found that orthography affected perception more so for bilingual L2 listeners than monolinguals, as evidenced by a significant group x orthography interaction in a joint analysis. By contrast, in the present study the orthographic effect in spoken production was numerically somewhat larger Orthography in L2 Spoken Word Production 15 what we previously found for monolinguals (Qu & Damian, 2019) but the joint analysis did not show a significant interaction.…”

“…In language comprehension, very few studies have explored this issue, but the limited evidence suggests that non-native listeners engage orthographic access to the same, or even a greater, extent than native listeners. For instance, Qu, Cui, and Damian (2017) presented Tibetan non-native Chinese speakers with two successive spoken Chinese words on a given trial, and participants were asked to judge whether or not the two words were semantically related. Pairs were either semantically related, orthographically related, or unrelated.…”

Effects of computerized grapho-phonological training on literacy acquisition and vocabulary knowledge in children with an immigrant background learning German as L2

“…Therefore, orthographic representations help learners to specify and clarify phonological forms, leading to distinctive and robust phonological representations. Recent evidence suggests that the orthographic facilitation effect is still more pronounced in L2 when compared to L1 learners (Qu et al 2018). A possible explanation is that, in L2 learners, language representations are often acquired through spoken and written language input in parallel.…”