본 연구는 한국인 영어 학습자들이 영어 모국어화자와 유사한 방식으로 철자와 소리 간 규칙성 정보를 사용하여 영어단어를 재인하는지 알아보기 위해 두 가지 읽기과제(단어 명명과제, 어휘판단과제)를 실시하였다. 영어단어 재인 시, 단어의 빈도와 규칙성 여부가 읽기의 속도와 정확도에 영향을 미치는데 이 과정에서 철자-소리 대응관계 규칙(grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence rule)이 어떠한 역할을 하는지 알아보고자 하였다. 영어 모국어화자의 경우, 철자-소리 대응관계 규칙에 따라 규칙적인 단어(예: save)가 불규칙적인 단어(예: have)에 비해 더 빠르게 재인되고 오류율도 낮다. 이러한 현상을 단어 규칙성 효과(regularity effect)라고 하는데 이는 시각적 단어재인에서 이중경로모형(dual-route model)을 지지하는 근거로 사용된다. 따라서 한국인 영어 학습자들도 영어단어의 철자-소리 대응규칙에 따른 규칙성 효과가 발생하는지 알아보기 위해 실험 1에서는 음독과정을 거치는 단어 명명과제(word naming task)를 사용하였고, 실험 2에서는 묵독과정을 거치는 어휘판단과제(lexical decision task)를 사용하였다. 실험 1의 결과, 단어 빈도와 규칙성 조건 간 상호작용 효과가 나타났으며, 단어 빈도 효과는 모든 조건에서 유의미했으나, 규칙성 효과는 저빈도 단어 조건에서만 유의미한 수준의 경향성을 보였다. 실험 2의 결과, 단어의 소리정보를 생성하지 않아도 되는 어휘판단과제에서는 단어 빈도 효과만 유의미하였고 규칙성 효과는 발생하지 않았다. 이러한 연구 결과로 미루어 볼 때, 한국인 영어 학습자들은 영어단어 재인 시, 철자-소리 대응규칙 정보를 사용할 수는 있으나 이를 적극적으로 활용하는 음운경로(간접경로)를 이용하기보다는 철자 유사성에 기초한 어휘경로(직접경로)를 주로 사용하는 것으로 보인다.
The present study examined whether Korean learners of English use grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence rule as in native English speakers during English word recognition. In visual word recognition, both word frequency and regularity play a major role in reading speed and reading accuracy. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate how spelling-to-sound regularity and word frequency influence performance on explicit reading and silent reading tasks among English second language learners. Previous word recognition studies with English monolinguals have reported word regularity effect, in which regular words(e.g., save) are recognized faster with lower error rates compared to irregular words(e.g., have). Word regularity effect has been widely used as the supporting evidence for dual route model in visual word recognition. In Experiment 1, an explicit reading task(English word naming task) was used to examine the presence of word regularity effect during read-aloud process. In Experiment 2, a silent reading task(lexical decision task) was administered to examine the influence of irregularities in spelling and sound when participants were not required to generate sound information from spellings during English word recognition. Results from Experiment 1 demonstrated a significant interaction between word frequency and regularity, where word frequency effect was significant in all experimental conditions. On the other hand, word regularity effect showed marginal significance in low frequency word condition only. Results from Experiment 2 only revealed a significant word frequency main effect. Overall, these results indicate that Korean English L2 learners also seem to be able to use spelling-to-sound information during English word recognition similar to those of English monolinguals. However, rather than actively making use of this information via phonological(indirect) route, they have the tendency to use lexical(direct) route which is more sensitive to spelling information. The current study re-evaluated the English word regularity effect among Korean learners of English in terms of their use of spelling-to-sound information during English word recognition.
The present study examined whether Korean learners of English use grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence rule as in native English speakers during English word recognition. In visual word recognition, both word frequency and regularity play a major role in reading speed and reading accuracy. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate how spelling-to-sound regularity and word frequency influence performance on explicit reading and silent reading tasks among English second language learners. Previous word recognition studies with English monolinguals have reported word regularity effect, in which regular words(e.g., save) are recognized faster with lower error rates compared to irregular words(e.g., have). Word regularity effect has been widely used as the supporting evidence for dual route model in visual word recognition. In Experiment 1, an explicit reading task(English word naming task) was used to examine the presence of word regularity effect during read-aloud process. In Experiment 2, a silent reading task(lexical decision task) was administered to examine the influence of irregularities in spelling and sound when participants were not required to generate sound information from spellings during English word recognition. Results from Experiment 1 demonstrated a significant interaction between word frequency and regularity, where word frequency effect was significant in all experimental conditions. On the other hand, word regularity effect showed marginal significance in low frequency word condition only. Results from Experiment 2 only revealed a significant word frequency main effect. Overall, these results indicate that Korean English L2 learners also seem to be able to use spelling-to-sound information during English word recognition similar to those of English monolinguals. However, rather than actively making use of this information via phonological(indirect) route, they have the tendency to use lexical(direct) route which is more sensitive to spelling information. The current study re-evaluated the English word regularity effect among Korean learners of English in terms of their use of spelling-to-sound information during English word recognition.
