The Effects of Simplified and Elaborated Texts on Foreign Language Reading Comprehension

Language Learning - Tập 44 Số 2 - Trang 189-219 - 1994
Yasukata Yano1, Michael H. Long2, Steven J. Ross3
1Waseda University
2University of Hawaii, Maw
3Macquurie University

Tóm tắt

Linguistic simplification of written texts can increase their comprehensibility for nonnative speakers but reduce their utility for language learning in other ways, for example, through the removal of linguistic items that learners do not know but need to learn. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that elaborative modification observed in oral foreigner talk discourse, where redundancy and explicitness compensate for unknown linguistic items, offers a potential alternative approach to written text modification. We randomly presented 13 reading passages to 483 Japanese college students in one of three forms: (a) native baseline, (b) simplified, or (c) elaborated. Comprehension, assessed by 30 multiple‐choice test items, was highest among learners reading the simplified version, but not significantly different from those reading the elaborated version. The type of modifications to the texts interacted significantly with the kind of test item used to, assess comprehension—replication, synthesis or inference—suggesting that different kinds of text modification facilitate different levels of comprehension.

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Thông tin
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Language Learning

Tập 44 Số 2

189-219

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