Numerous studies have shown processing advantages for collocations, but they only investigated processing of adjacent collocations (e.g., "provide information"). However, in naturally occurring language, nonadjacent collocations ("provide" some of the "information") are equally, if not more frequent. This raises the…

This paper builds on recent research looking at how reading speed measures from a reading rate training course are reflected in non-course texts. In this study, 23 first language (L1) Japanese English majors enrolled in a university level reading class completed 20 speed reading exercises with comprehension quizzes from an assigned textbook at the…

The effects of repeated oral reading and timed reading on L2 oral reading fluency were examined among Japanese university students (N = 50) over 12 weeks. Three quasi-experimental groups were used in the study. Group 1 practiced two types of reading: Repeated oral reading with chunking practice and timed reading. Group 2 did timed reading only.…

A perennial challenge to second language educators and learners is getting sufficient input in settings where the L2 is not widely used, in this case beginning-level American university students learning Japanese. Reading is a significant means of getting L2 input, with recent calls for attention to reading and authentic texts as curriculum…

Research on emotion inferences has shown that readers include a representation of the main character's emotional state in their mental representations of the text. We examined the specificity of emotion representations as a function of the emotion content of short narratives, in terms of the quantity and quality of emotion components included in…

The current study looks at whether bilinguals varying in language dominance show a processing advantage for idiomatic over non-idiomatic phrases and to what extent this effect is modulated by idiom transparency (i.e., the degree to which the idiom's figurative meaning can be inferred from its literal analysis) and cross-language similarity (i.e.,…

This article reports the findings of a study in which we investigated the possible effects of word order on the acquisition of case marking. In linguistic typology (e.g. Greenberg, 1963) a very strong correlation has been shown between dominant SOV (subject object verb) word order and case marking. No such correlation exists for SVO (subject verb…

This study investigated the efficacy of the Fluency Development Lesson (FDL) in improving reading achievement in primary grade struggling readers. 30 readers, enrolled in a summer reading clinic, participated in daily 40-min mini-reading lessons across 5 weeks. During the fluency lessons, readers practiced and developed their literacy skills…

Two experiments demonstrate that individual differences among normal adult readers, including lexical quality, are expressed in silent reading at the word level. In the first of two studies we identified major dimensions of variability among college readers and among words using factor analysis. We then examined the effects of these dimensions of…

Frequency and contingency are two primary statistical factors that drive the acquisition and processing of language. This study explores the role of phrasal frequency and contingency (the co-occurrence probability/statistical association of the constituent words in multiword sequences) during online processing of multiword sequences. Meanwhile, it…

Research regarding the academic reading load experienced by first year students at universities in South Africa indicated that students are woefully under-prepared to deal with this load as they have limited reading experiences and strategies. This led to the implementation of an academic reading programme at a university of technology. In order…

During narrative comprehension, reading times increase for changes in time, space, characters, goals, and causation. This study examined the extent to which instructional manipulations modify dimension monitoring during reading and whether this affects comprehension. Sixty-seven participants read three narratives (pretest). Half of the…

As a very important skill both in English teaching and learning, reading strategy has been emphasized at home and abroad for a long time. Many scholars and teachers make research on undergraduates of English major or non-English major. However, the postgraduates are often neglected. Actually, it is also imperative to make a study among…

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of imagination and learner-generated drawing on comprehension, reading time, cognitive load, and eye movements, and whether prior knowledge moderated the effects of these two strategies. Sixty-three undergraduate students participated in a pretest-posttest between-subjects study with the…

This poster session will describe a study that took place at a university in the United Arab Emirates. The study included a reading app that was downloaded onto each student's individual mobile device. Students could read while listening to the stories. The primary goal of the study was to determine how, if at all, listening while reading in a…