Learning from expository text in L2 reading: Memory for causal relations and L2 reading proficiency

• Published in: Reading in a foreign language 2017-10, Vol.29 (2), p.245
• Main Author: Hosoda, Masaya
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Belief networks; College Students; English (Second Language); English as a second language; English as a second language learning; Foreign Countries; Inferences; Influences; Japanese language; Language proficiency; Learning outcomes; Markov analysis; Memory; Problem Solving; Qualitative Research; Reading; Reading comprehension; Reading Skills; Reading tests; Second Language Learning; Second language reading; Statistical Analysis
• ISSN: 1539-0578; 1539-0578

This study explored the relation between second-language (L2) readers’ memory for causal relations and their learning outcomes from expository text. Japanese students of English as a foreign language (EFL) with high and low L2 reading proficiency read an expository text. They completed a causal question and a problem-solving test as measures of memory for causal relations and learning from the text, respectively. It was found that memory for causal relations contributed to text learning in high-proficiency readers, but not in low-proficiency readers. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of causal question answers revealed that low-proficiency readers recalled fewer causal relations and made more incorrect inferences than high-proficiency ones. Additionally, low-proficiency readers tended to perform the problem solving using inappropriate causal sequences and irrelevant information. These findings suggest that low-proficiency readers struggled with processes at both textbase and situation-model levels; consequently, they failed to learn causal relations in the text as knowledge.