A Study on the Effect of Terminology on L2 Reading Comprehension - Should Specialist Terms in Medical Texts be Avoided? - PhD Thesis

Sep 17, 2026

A study examines how terminology in English-language medical texts affects reading comprehension for Dutch readers with different levels of medical expertise and varying English proficiency. Two research questions address whether English medical terms create more comprehension difficulties than simplified common-English rewrites, and whether cognate similarity between Dutch and English medical terms improves understanding. The work combines a psycholinguistic reading-comprehension perspective with language-transfer hypotheses and develops models to analyze lexical, conceptual, and syntactic processing in medical text comprehension.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages249

Reading Time10 h 27 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

1.0 About This Research

1.1 The Psycholinguistic Perspective

1.2 The Application Dimension of This Research

2.0 Introduction

2.1 A Definition of Medical Language

2.2 The Role of Linguistic Levels of Analysis in the Characterization of Written Medical Language

2.3 The Intralinguistic Definition of the Medical English Lexicon

2.4 Operational Definition of Medical Terms

2.5 Summary and Conclusions

3.0 Introduction

3.1 Reading and Psycholinguistics

3.2 A Partial-Parallel Reading Comprehension Model

3.3 From the Visual System to the Script Recognizer

3.4 The Text and Sentence Parser

3.5 Syntactic Analysis

3.6 Conceptual Analysis

3.7 Lexical Analysis

3.8 The Mental Lexicon vs. the Conceptual System in Lexical Analysis

3.9 Interaction of Lexical Analysis and Conceptual Analysis

3.10 Summary and Conclusions

4.0 Introduction

4.1 Hypotheses

4.2 Subjects and Material

4.3 Rewriting

4.4 Design and Procedure

4.5 Results

4.6 Discussion

4.7 Medical Terms vs. Other Lexical Items

4.8 Summary and Conclusions

5.0 Introduction

5.1 Cross-linguistic Differences and Similarities between Dutch-and English-language Medical Terms

5.2 L1-L2 Transfer of Medical Terms

5.3 L1-L2 Lexical Transfer and the Comprehension of L2 Medical Terms

6.0 Introduction

6.1 Cross-linguistic Alternatives for Medical Term Formation

6.2 Subjects, Materials and Procedure

6.3 Results

6.4 Conclusion

7.0 Research Questions

7.1 The Psycholinguistic Dimension

7.2 The Application Dimension of This Research

Appendices

A. Text of Experiment 1

B. Tests A and B (Experiment 1)

C. Test Experiment 3

A study on the effect of terminology on L2 reading comprehension:should specialist terms in medical texts beavoided? Citation for published version(APA): Lankamp,R.E.(1989).A study on the effect of terminology on L2 reading comprehension:should specialistterms in medical texts be avoided?[Phd Thesis 1(Research TU/e /Graduation TU/e),Industrial Engineeringand Innovation Sciences].Rodopi.https://doi.org/10.6100/IR297032 DOI: 10.6100/IR297032 Document status and date: Published:01/01/1989 Document Version: Publisher's PDF,also known as Version of Record(includes final page,issue and volume numbers) Please check the document version of this publication: ·A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review.There can beimportant differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record.Peopleinterested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication,or visit theDOl to the publisher's website. ·The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. ·The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume,issue and pagenumbers. Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by he authors and/or other copyrigh ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. ·Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. ·You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain·You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal. f the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act,indicated by the "Taverne"license above,pleasefollow below link for the End User Agreement: www.tue.nl/taverne Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at:openaccess@tue.nl providing details and we will investgate your claim. A Study on the Effect of Terminologyon L2 Reading Comprehension Should Specialist Terms in Medical Texts be Avoided? PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctoraan de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven,op gezag van de Rector Magnificus,prof.ir.M.Tels,voor een commissie aangewezen door het College van Dekanenin het openbaar te verdedigen op dinsdag 3januari 1989 te 16.00 uur. door ROBERT EDUARD LANKAMPgeboren te Voorburg Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd doorde promotoren prof.dr.D.W.Vaagsenprof.dr.Ph.H.Quanjer Copromotor:dr.J.M.Ulijn Contents 1.Introduction 1 1.0 About This Research 1 1.1 The Psycholinguistic Persperctive 1 1.2 The Application Dimension of This Research6 2.Medical Language and Lexicon 2.0 Introduction13 2.1A Definition of Medical Language14 2.2 The Role of Linguistic Levels of Analysis in theCharacterization of Written Medical Language 23 2.3The Intralinguistic Definition of the MedicalEnglish Lex-icon 27 2.4 Operational Definition of Medical Terms 3233353536 2.5 Summary and Conclusions 3.A Reading Comprehension Model 3.0 Introduction 3.1 Reading and Psycholinguistics 3.2A Partial-Parallel Reading Comprehension Model 38 3.3 From the Visual System to the Script Recognizer 40 3.4 The Text and Sentence Parser 44 3.5 Syntactic Analysis 57 3.6 Conceptual Analysis 60 3.7Lexical Analysis 62 3.8 The Mental Lexicon vs.the Conceptual System in LexicalAnalysis 64 3.9 Interaction of Lexical Analysis and Conceptual Analysis69 3.10 Summary and Conclusions 70 4.Reading Comprehension of Medicalterms vs.Common-Language Synonyms of Medical Terms 4.0 Introduction73 4.1 Hypotheses75 4.2 Subjects and Material

FAQs

What problem does the study investigate regarding medical terminology and comprehension?

It investigates how English-language medical terms in medical texts affect reading comprehension for Dutch readers, considering differences in medical expertise and English knowledge.

Do simplified common-English rewrites improve Dutch readers’ comprehension of medical terms?

The study directly tests whether English medical terms cause more comprehension problems than simplified common-English rewrites for Dutch readers.

How does cognate similarity between Dutch and English medical terms relate to comprehension?

The study examines whether similarity (cognate status) between Dutch and English medical terms aids the comprehension of English medical terms by Dutch readers.

Sep 17, 2026

Uploaded by eBook King