- Otsu, Shiga, Japan
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This research utilised eye tracking to examine the vocabulary coping strategies and dictionary skills of Japanese English learners in task-based reading. Participants had access to an online dictionary with four definitions per word,... more
This research utilised eye tracking to examine the vocabulary coping strategies and dictionary skills of Japanese English learners in task-based reading. Participants had access to an online dictionary with four definitions per word, including three inapplicable definitions. The interplay and outcomes of reading strategies and dictionary skills were investigated. The research found that performance was not statistically different compared to previous research where participants had access to a dictionary with only the applicable definition. Given the more difficult dictionary, participants more often made regressions to investigate the context in the text, but they did not reduce their dictionary use. Most participants lacked strategic competence while reading, but they demonstrated competence in dictionary skills. In rare instances of failed dictionary use, readers usually had not inspected the context cues in the text. For task-relevant words, participants who re-read context cues...
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Second language (L2) motivation is a complex yet vital component in the L2 acquisition process. L2 motivation has been the center of much research over the years as understanding the factors that facilitate and constrain L2 motivation is... more
Second language (L2) motivation is a complex yet vital component in the L2 acquisition process. L2 motivation has been the center of much research over the years as understanding the factors that facilitate and constrain L2 motivation is vital for both L2 teachers and learners. This paper presents a single case study of the L2 motivational process of a Japanese high school graduate in a study abroad context and discusses significant factors that facilitated and constrained her L2 motivation. Six factors thought to have enhanced her L2 motivation are contrasted with five that appear to have inhibited it.
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Selective attention to task-relevant content is an essential strategy for readers. There is evidence that proficient readers more often consider their purpose and focus attention selectively. However, eye tracking research has revealed... more
Selective attention to task-relevant content is an essential strategy for readers. There is evidence that proficient readers more often consider their purpose and focus attention selectively. However, eye tracking research has revealed several limitations with survey data on reading strategies, and few second language (L2) reading studies have explicitly examined selective attention. This study includes two experiments utilizing eye tracking to determine how Japanese university-aged learners read an online text to research specific information. The first experiment evaluates the reading strategies of the participants and examines the effect on task performance. The second experiment investigates the effect of strategy training. The eye tracking results in experiment one suggested that many participants did not display strategic competence. Selective attention and the number of reading strategies identified in the data correlated with taskperformance. The second experiment revealed t...
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Research Interests: Mathematics and Chaos
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Timed Reading (TR) in an L2 context has been researched since the 1960s, although the name given to it has often been different. Yet conclusive empirical research into the effectiveness of TR is still unavailable, and this chapter is an... more
Timed Reading (TR) in an L2 context has been researched since the 1960s, although the name given to it has often been different. Yet conclusive empirical research into the effectiveness of TR is still unavailable, and this chapter is an effort to move closer to understanding TR and whether as teachers we should allot time to the practice.
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Previewing a text is a key global reading strategy. Previewing may increase comprehension as it can activate schema, increase global awareness of the text, and enhance the use of other reading strategies. Despite its importance, an... more
Previewing a text is a key global reading strategy. Previewing may increase comprehension as it can activate schema, increase global awareness of the text, and enhance the use of other reading strategies. Despite its importance, an explicit focus on previewing skills has been lacking and previous research on the reading strategies of second language (L2) learners’ has largely relied on surveys. This study utilizes eye tracking technology, in addition to surveys, to evaluate the previewing strategies of Japanese L2 readers of English. The eye movement data revealed that most learners did very little previewing of the text. One measure of previewing significantly correlated with learners’ summary protocol scores, which were poor overall. Finally, the eye movement data did not correlate strongly with participants’ survey results. Implications for both reading education and research are discussed.
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This paper will describe how power was distributed between the participants of a current affairs television interview when one participant was an “ordinary person” (Carpentier & Hannot, 2009) and the other an experienced journalist. It... more
This paper will describe how power was distributed between the participants of a current affairs television interview when one participant was an “ordinary person” (Carpentier & Hannot, 2009) and the other an experienced journalist. It would perhaps be assumed by many people that in a television interview of this type, the power would reside with the interviewer who controls the direction of the discourse. However, if “knowledge is power” (Bacon, 1597) then the interviewee, even with less familiarity with the genre, will also have a good share of the power, especially if they are an expert guest, or as in the text studied in this paper, talking about events concerning their own life. The unseen audience, who have the power to change channels or even turn off the television, must also be considered as having power by both interactants.
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Research suggests that second language (L2) readers often lack strategic competence in dealing with unknown lexica. This mixed methods study of Japanese readers of English used eye tracking and other methods to empirically examine the use... more
Research suggests that second language (L2) readers often lack strategic competence in dealing with unknown lexica. This mixed methods study of Japanese readers of English used eye tracking and other methods to empirically examine the use and efficacy of vocabulary coping strategies, including dictionary use, inferring meaning from context, and ignoring unknown words. The 16 novel words (pseudowords) in the text were linked to an online dictionary. In order to examine the effect of relevance and context cues on vocabulary coping strategies, half of the pseudowords were in sections relevant to the assigned research task and half were presented with clear context cues. The results reveal that participants relied on dictionary use even when the word was irrelevant and the meaning could be easily inferred. The data suggest that many participants considered relevance but not the presence of context cues when determining whether to look up a word. Eye tracking confirmed that participants tended to access dictionary links even before context cues were read. Overall, accessing numerous dictionary definitions nonselectively and viewing definitions for a short time were detrimental to task performance. One could argue that L2 readers should consider the context and relevance of words before dictionary use. However, further research on vocabulary coping strategies is needed involving different texts, tasks, and dictionary types.
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... Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seedhouse, P. 1996. 'Classroom interaction:possibilities and impossibilities'. In ELT Journal. Volume 50/1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sinclair, J. and Coulthard, M. 1975.... more
... Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seedhouse, P. 1996. 'Classroom interaction:possibilities and impossibilities'. In ELT Journal. Volume 50/1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sinclair, J. and Coulthard, M. 1975. Towards an Analysis of Discourse. ...
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This study was an attempt ,to investigate ,the distribution of power ,within the genre of a television interview, looking at the effects of context on register, especially tenor, when an ordinary man was interviewed on television. The... more
This study was an attempt ,to investigate ,the distribution of power ,within the genre of a television interview, looking at the effects of context on register, especially tenor, when an ordinary man was interviewed on television. The analysis was performed using a framework outlined in Eggins and Slade (1997), which is derived from the work of Halliday (1961, 1985,
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Previewing a text is a key global reading strategy. Previewing may increase comprehension as it can activate schema, increase global awareness of the text, and enhance the use of other reading strategies. Despite its importance, an... more
Previewing a text is a key global reading strategy. Previewing may increase comprehension as it can activate schema, increase global awareness of the text, and enhance the use of other reading strategies. Despite its importance, an explicit focus on previewing skills has been lacking and previous research on the reading strategies of second language (L2) learners' has largely relied on surveys. This study utilizes eye tracking technology, in addition to surveys, to evaluate the previewing strategies of Japanese L2 readers of English. The eye movement data revealed that most learners did very little previewing of the text. One measure of previewing significantly correlated with learners' summary protocol scores, which were poor overall. Finally, the eye movement data did not correlate strongly with participants' survey results. Implications for both reading education and research are discussed.