Assessing the relationship of working memory to L2 reading: Does the nature of comprehension process and reading span task make a difference?

System

Volumn 37, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 627-639

  Alptekin, Cem ^a   Erçetin, Gülcan ^a  

^a BOGAZICI UNIVERSITY   (Turkey)

Author keywords

Inferential comprehension; L2 reading; Literal comprehension; Reading span tests; Working memory capacity

Indexed keywords

EID: 70449530739     PISSN: 0346251X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.system.2009.09.007     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. Andrade J. An introduction to working memory. In: Andrade J. (Ed). Working Memory in Perspective (2006), Psychology Press, Hove 3-30
2. Andreassen, R., Bråten, I., 2007. Working memory influences on reading comprehension assessed with different measures. In: Paper presented at the 12th EARLI Biennial Conference, Budapest, Hungary.
3. Baddeley A.D. Working Memory (1986), Clarendon Press, Oxford
4. Baddeley A.D. The episodic buffer: a new component of working memory?. Trends in Cognitive Science 4 (2000) 417-423
5. Baddeley A.D. Working memory and language: an overview. Journal of Communication Disorders 36 (2003) 189-208
6. Brünken, R., Seufert, T., 2007. Presentation modality and working memory capacity. In: Paper presented at the 12th EARLI Biennial Conference, Budapest, Hungary.
7. Chun D.C., and Payne J.S. What makes students click: working memory and look-up behavior. System 32 (2004) 481-504
8. Conway A.R.A., and Engle R.W. Working memory and retrieval: a resource-dependent inhibition model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 123 (1994) 354-373
9. Conway A.R.A., and Engle R.W. Individual differences in working memory capacity: more evidence for a general capacity theory. Memory 4 (1996) 577-590
10. Conway A.R.A., Kane M.J., Bunting M.F., Hambrick D.Z., Wilhelm O., and Engle R.W. Working memory span tasks: a methodological review and user's guide. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 12 (2005) 769-786
11. Daneman M., and Carpenter P.A. Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 19 (1980) 450-466
12. Diao Y.L., and Sweller J. Redundancy in foreign language reading comprehension instruction: concurrent written and spoken presentations. Learning and Instruction 17 (2007) 78-88
13. Engle R.W. Working memory capacity as executive attention. Current Directions in Psychological Science 11 (2002) 19-23
14. Ericsson K.A., and Kintsch W. Long-term working memory. Psychological Review 102 (1995) 211-245
15. Friedman N.P., and Miyake A. The reading span test and its predictive power for reading comprehension ability. Journal of Memory and Language 51 (2004) 136-158
16. Friedman N.P., and Miyake A. Comparison of four scoring methods for the reading span test. Behavior Research Methods 37 (2005) 581-590
17. Hambrick D.Z., and Engle R.W. The role of working memory in problem solving. In: Davidson J.E., and Sternberg R.J. (Eds). The Psychology of Problem Solving (2003), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 176-206
18. Harrington M., and Sawyer M. L2 working memory capacity and L2 reading skill. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 14 (1992) 25-38
19. Hitch G.J. Working memory. In: Braisby N., and Gellatly A. (Eds). Cognitive Psychology (2005), Oxford University Press, Oxford 307-341
20. Horiba Y. Comprehension processes in L2 reading. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 18 (1996) 433-473
21. Jonz J. Textual sequence and second language comprehension. Language Learning 39 (1989) 207-249
22. Juffs A. Representation, processing and working memory in a second language. Transactions of the Philological Society 102 (2004) 199-226
23. Just M.A., and Carpenter P.A. A capacity theory of comprehension: individual differences in working memory. Psychological Review 98 (1992) 122-149
24. Kane M.J., Conway A.R.A., Hambrick D.Z., and Engle R.W. Variation in working memory capacity as variation in executive attention and control. In: Conway A.R.A., Jarrold C., Kane M.J., Miyake A., and Towse J.N. (Eds). Variation in Working Memory (2007), Oxford University Press, New York 21-48
25. Kintsch W. Comprehension: A Paradigm for Cognition (1998), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
26. Koda K. Insights into Second Language Reading: A Cross-linguistic Approach (2005), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
27. Leeser M.J. Learner-based factors in L2 reading comprehension and processing grammatical form: topic familiarity and working memory. Language Learning 57 (2007) 229-270
28. MacDonald M.C., and Christiansen M.H. Reassessing working memory: a comment on Just & Carpenter (1992) and Waters & Caplan (1996). Psychological Review 109 (2002) 35-54
29. Maehara Y., and Saito S. The relationship between processing and storage in working memory span: not two sides of the same coin. Journal of Memory and Language 56 (2007) 212-228
30. Miyake A., and Friedman N.P. Individual differences in second language proficiency: working memory as language aptitude. In: Healy A.F., and Bourne L.E. (Eds). Foreign Language Learning: Psycholinguistic Studies on Training and Retention (1998), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ 339-364
31. van den Noort M., Bosch P., and Hugdahl K. Foreign language proficiency and working memory capacity. European Psychologist 11 (2006) 289-296
32. Osaka M., and Osaka N. Language-independent working memory as measured by Japanese and English reading span tests. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society 30 (1992) 287-289
33. Osaka M., Osaka N., and Groner R. Language-independent working memory: evidence from German and French reading span tests. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society 31 (1993) 117-118
34. Pearson P.D., and Johnson D.D. Teaching Reading Comprehension (1978), Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York
35. Rupp A.A., Ferne T., and Choi H. How assessing reading comprehension with multiple-choice questions shapes the construct: a cognitive processing perspective. Language Testing 23 (2006) 441-474
36. Schwartz D. In dreams begin responsibilities. In: Atlas J. (Ed). In Dreams Begin Responsibilities and Other Stories (1978), New Directions Publishing Corporation, New York 1-9
37. Service E., Simola M., Metsaenheimo O., and Maury S. Bilingual working memory span is affected by language skill. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology 14 (2002) 383-407
38. Sweller J. Cognitive load theory, learning difficulty, and instructional design. Learning and Instruction 4 (1994) 295-312
39. Taillefer G. L2 reading ability: further insight into the short-circuit hypothesis. Modern Language Journal 80 (1996) 461-477
40. Towse J.N., and Hitch G.J. Is there a relationship between task demand and storage space in tests of working memory capacity?. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 48A (1995) 108-124
41. Towse J.N., Hitch G.J., and Hutton U. On the nature of the relationship between processing activity and item retention in children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 82 (2002) 156-184
42. Traxler M.J. Commentary on Clahsen and Felser. Applied Psycholinguistics 27 (2006) 95-97
43. Turner M.L., and Engle R.W. Is working memory capacity task dependent?. Journal of Memory and Language 28 (1989) 127-154
44. Unsworth N., and Engle R.W. The nature of individual differences in working memory capacity: active maintenance in primary memory and controlled search from secondary memory. Psychological Review 14 (2007) 104-132
45. Walter C. Transfer of reading comprehension skills to L2 is linked to mental representations of text and to L2 working memory. Applied Linguistics 25 (2004) 315-339
46. Waters G.S., and Caplan D. The measurement of verbal working memory capacity and its relation to reading comprehension. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 49A (1996) 51-79
47. Whitney P., Arnett P.A., Driver A., and Budd D. Measuring central executive functioning: what's in a reading span?. Brain and Cognition 45 (2001) 1-14