Ratajczak, Michael, Indrarathne, Bimali orcid.org/0000-0001-7640-2565 and Kormos, Judit (2022) The effects of read-aloud assistance, vocabulary and background knowledge on comprehension of health-related texts of Sri-Lankan English as second language speakers. Journal of the European Second Language Association. pp. 133-147. ISSN 2399-9101
Abstract
In order to understand the role of the factors that can predict the comprehension of health-related texts in a second language (L2), we conducted a study that examines whether allowing L2 users to listen to a health-related text while reading it affects understanding. We also investigated what role general and health-related vocabulary knowledge play in the comprehension of health-related texts in a silent-reading and reading-while-listening conditions. Our participants were 259 Sri Lankan L2 users who read two health-related texts silently and read two other texts while listening to the text being read out to them. They also completed an L2 vocabulary knowledge and a health-related vocabulary knowledge test. We used Generalized Linear Mixed-Effects Models to predict the effect of text presentation mode, L2 and health-related vocabulary knowledge on comprehension. The results showed no significant effect of text presentation mode. However, both L2 vocabulary knowledge and health-related vocabulary knowledge were found to play a substantial role in text comprehension. Our findings also revealed that Sri Lankan L2 users generally demonstrated inadequate comprehension of health-related texts. To promote a higher level of health-related text comprehension in an additional language, the general and health-specific L2 vocabulary knowledge and language proficiency of the population needs to be improved.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Author(s). |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Social Sciences (York) > Education (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 25 Apr 2022 12:50 |
Last Modified: | 10 Nov 2024 01:27 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:186070 |