[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-597959-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-597959-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","an-l2-readers-word-recognition-strategies-transferred-or-developed","An L2 Reader’s Word-Recognition Strategies: Transferred or Developed","","Analyzes how reading strategies transfer from a first language (L1) to a second language (L2), focusing on word-recognition development when language scripts differ in alphabetic status and grapheme-phoneme consistency. Explains how orthographic depth, irregular grapheme-phoneme mappings, and the “threshold” of orthographic complexity can reduce processing efficiency and increase cognitive load. Uses an illustrative classroom example to motivate extensive reading, while outlining factors that challenge strategy adaptation across alphabet and nonalphabet languages.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/an-l2-readers-word-recognition-strategies-transferred-or-developed/597959/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/an-l2-readers-word-recognition-strategies-transferred-or-developed/597959.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Indoniesian Boy","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",6,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What determines whether L1 strategies can transfer effectively to L2 word recognition?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Transfer depends on how well L2 reading demands align with the learner’s L1-based strategy expectations, especially when grapheme-phoneme connections and orthographic characteristics differ.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What is orthographic depth and why does it matter for L2 readers?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Orthographic depth describes inconsistencies between letter combinations and sounds across languages. Greater depth in English increases irregular decoding demands, raising cognitive load and slowing processing.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How do alphabetic and nonalphabetic language backgrounds influence word-recognition strategies?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Alphabetic-language readers tend to use letter sequences before whole-word recognition, while nonalphabetic readers more often rely on visual cues and may struggle with phonological-based word recognition in L2.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},597959,1792192878,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":115,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},962090760608,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","BONNIE ALCO  \nUniversity of Scranton, Pennsylvania  \nAn L2 Reader’s Word-Recognition Strategies: Transferred or Developed  \nTransfer of reading strategies from the first language (L1) to the second language (L2) has long puzzled educators, but what happens if the L1 is an alphabet language and the second is not, or if there is a mismatch in the languages’ grapheme-phoneme connection? Although some students readily adjust to reading and writing in their second language, others do not. Research has shown that orthographic depth may play a role in how readily a student can transfer reading strategies from his or her L1 (e.g., Akamatsu, 2003; Muljani, Koda, & Moates, 1998; Seymour, Aro, & Erskine, 2003). If readers typically depend on their language’s grapheme-phoneme connection or on visual cues in a nonalphabet language to develop word-recognition strategies, ESL students may become frustrated when the graphics or orthographic depth of the second language does not match that of the first and the process, thereby, crosses the“threshold” of orthographic complexity (Seymour et al., 2003). An unreliable connection challenges the student to adjust strategies appropriately in order to develop an automaticity that furthers reading competence. If the task is too difficult, cognitive load may inhibit the process.  \nIntroduction  \nAfew years ago, I noticed that one of my students from Taiwan mis  \nspelled the word “the” as “h-t-e.” Since it was written and not spoken,  \nit could not be a case of phonological metathesis as commonly occurs in “ask” to “aks,” an alteration that follows phonological predictability. Instead, this appeared to be a case of visual processing due to an influence from his L1 nonalphabetic language. I wondered how efficient this student’s L2 word-recognition skills could be if his visual processing to recognize words were unreliable. My immediate response was to prescribe a regimen of extensive reading to address word-recognition strategies, but I was not sure how to determine the true nature of the problem nor how to address the problem.  \nThe L2 Reader’s Challenges  \nSecond language students come equipped with reading strategies from their first language, but since reading knowledge in one’s first language con-  \n66 • The CATESOL Journal 21.1 • 2009/2010  \ntributes only partially to a reading ability in the second (Bernhardt & Kamil, 1995), they need to adapt to the new system and develop appropriate strategies to read efficiently in the new language. Languages differ from one another in their manner of characterizing a symbol/referent system of coding ideas in text. Languages can have a clear orthographic-phonological connection or not. They can use an alphabet or not. The questions, therefore, are how reading strategies differ from one language to another and how readers adapt strategies for word recognition in a language that differs orthographically from their own.  \nOrthographic Depth  \nEnglish has definite rules of orthographic conventions that allow certain combinations of letters and not others, but letter combinations and resulting sounds are not consistent. Such consistency in grapheme-phoneme correspondence, called orthographic depth (Nassaji, 2003), differs across languages. Spanish, for example, is an example of a language with shallow depth and thereby displays a closer relationship between graphic configuration and meaning construction (Salazar Garcia, 2001), whereas English can be classified as a deep orthographic language because of its many inconsistencies and complexities. Seymour, Aro, and Erskine (2003) demonstrated that English-speaking children’s development in strategy building and mastery of the basic foundations of reading can lag significantly behind that of young readers beginning to read in shallow-depth languages, such as Spanish, Italian, and Greek, and attributed the discrepancy to the relative orthographic depth of the individual language.  \nWhen beginning to read, English speakers","cbCaikhIopCe9p3x","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikhIopCe9p3x","pdf",142674,"English","# Introduction\n# The L2 Reader’s Challenges\n# Orthographic Depth\n# Alphabet and Nonalphabet Languages","[{\"question\":\"What determines whether L1 strategies can transfer effectively to L2 word recognition?\",\"answer\":\"Transfer depends on how well L2 reading demands align with the learner’s L1-based strategy expectations, especially when grapheme-phoneme connections and orthographic characteristics differ.\"},{\"question\":\"What is orthographic depth and why does it matter for L2 readers?\",\"answer\":\"Orthographic depth describes inconsistencies between letter combinations and sounds across languages. Greater depth in English increases irregular decoding demands, raising cognitive load and slowing processing.\"},{\"question\":\"How do alphabetic and nonalphabetic language backgrounds influence word-recognition strategies?\",\"answer\":\"Alphabetic-language readers tend to use letter sequences before whole-word recognition, while nonalphabetic readers more often rely on visual cues and may struggle with phonological-based word recognition in L2.\"}]","An L2 Reader’s Word-Recognition Strategies: Transferred or Developed | PDF",1792086030,23]