The role of working memory in unfamiliar word processing across proficiency levels: evidence from eye movements

ABSTRACT

The present study examined how working memory (WM) affects unfamiliar word processing during L2 reading comprehension among L2 learners with different proficiency levels. Forty-four participants were divided into the higher proficiency group (n = 22) and the lower proficiency group (n = 22). All of them read an English text with 17 target unfamiliar words while their eye movements were tracked. After online reading, they subsequently completed an L2 reading comprehension test and a WM test respectively. The results showed that WM significantly correlated with L2 reading comprehension in the higher proficiency group. In addition, the effect of WM capacity on L2 reading comprehension performance was mediated by unfamiliar words’ first fixation duration in the higher proficiency group. Results of the study revealed the different mechanisms of unfamiliar word processing among learners with different proficiency levels from the cognitive dimension of WM.

KEYWORDS:

• Working memory
• unfamiliar word processing
• L2 proficiency
• eye movement
• reading comprehension

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the participants and Jinghui Ouyang, without whom this work would not be possible, and special thanks are also extended to the reviewers of Journal of Cognitive Psychology for their helpful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study can be found online at http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/y334dzzrgw.1.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China [grant number 17AYY021].