母语阅读能力和外语语言水平对外语阅读能力的不同作用

TheRelativeContributionofLIReadingAbilityandL2Proficiency

toL2ReadingAbility

LinLing

(SupervisedbyBaoGui)

Abstract：ThisstudyaimsatexploringtherelativecontributionofLIreadingabilityandL2proficiencytoL2

readingabilityintermsofthelinguisticthresholdhypothesis(LTH)andthelinguisticinterdependence

hypothesis(LIH).Itaddressesthefollowingtworesearchquestions:

1.WhatistherelativecontributionofLIreadingabilityandL2proficiencytoL2readingabilityatthe

lowL2proficiencylevel?

2.WhatistherelativecontributionofLIreadingabilityandL2proficiencytoL2readingabilityatthe

highL2proficiencylevel?

Inthisstudy,L2proficiencyisoperationalizedasacomprehensiveEnglishproficiencytestpaper,which

includeslisteningcomprehension,vocabulary,grammarandwritingtest.Anothertworeadingtestpapersare

employedforthemeasurementofLIreadingabilityandL2readingabilityrespectively.EightyEnglishmajors,

whoareeitherfreshmenorjuniors,participatedintotheresearchandeachoneofthemcompletedthesethree

tests.Then,basedupontheirscoresonL2proficiencytest,thesubjectsaredividedintotwogroups:thelowL2

proficiencygroupandhighL2proficiencygroup.Multipleregressionanalysesofthetwovariablespredicting

L2readingabilityindicatethatatthelowL2proficiencylevel,onlyL2proficiencyplaysaroleinL2reading

abilityandthatatthehighL2proficiencylevel,bothLIreadingabilityandL2proficiencycontribute

significantlytoL2readingability,withL2proficiencyremainingabetterpredictor.

TheresultsconfirmLTHandprovidepartialsupportforLIH,thussuggestingimportantpedagogical

implicationsforthesecondlanguageinstruction.Ifthestudents'L2proficiencyisbelowthethresholdlevel,

teachersshouldattachmuchimportancetoL2linguisticknowledgeinstruction,otherwise,teachersshould

includeLIreadingstrategiesinstructiontohelptheirstudentstohaveasmoothtransferofLIreadingskills

andstrategiestoL2reading.Inaddition,teachersshouldchooseappropriatereadingmaterialsfortheir

studentsbasedontheirL2proficiencylevels,sothattheycouldnotonlyunderstandthemajorcontentofthe

readingpassagesbyemployingLIreadingstrategiesandskillsaswellasL2knowledgeinthereadingprocess,

butacquireL2linguisticknowledgefromthereadingmaterialstofurtherimprovetheirL2proficiencylevel.

Keywords:LIreadingabilityL2proficiencyL2readingabilitylinguisticthresholdhypothesis

linguisticinterdependencehypothesis

母语阅读能力和外语语言水平对外语阅读能力的不同作用

林玲

（指导老师：鲍贵）

摘要：本文旨在研究母语阅读能力和外语语言水平对外语阅读能力的不同作用，并对两个理论假设（语

言阈限假设和不同语言相互依赖性假设）进行检验论证。主要回答以下两个问题：

1.当外语语言水平较低时，母语阅读能力和外语语言水平对外语阅读能力的作用关系如何？

2.当外语语言水平较高时，母语阅读能力和外语语言水平对外语阅读能力的作用关系如何？

在本研究中，外语语言水平由一份综合性语言水平测试卷测量，包括听力理解、词汇、语法和写作

四个部分。另外两份阅读试卷分别用于测量受试的母语阅读能力和外语阅读能力。共80名英语专业一

年级和三年级学生参加了实验，每人按要求完成了三份试卷。基于不同的外语语言水平，将受试分成两

组：低水平组和高水平组。对两组数据的多元回归分析表明：当外语语言水平较低时，只有外语语言水

平对外语阅读能力有显著的贡献作用；当外语语言水平较高时，母语阅读能力和外语语言水平都对外语

阅读有贡献作用，但是外语语言水平的贡献作用要比母语阅读能力大得多。因此，研究结果基本证实了

语言阈限假设，同时也部分支持了不同语言相互依赖性假设。

本次研究结果告诉我们：针对不同外语语言水平的学生，教师应采取不同的教学方法。对于外语语

言水平低于语言阈限水平的学生，教学重点应放在提高学生的外语语言技能上；对■于外语语言水平越过

语言阈限的学生，教师应注重母语阅读技能的训练，使学生在外语阅读中更好地运用母语阅读技能。此

外，教师应当根据学生的外语语言水平有目的地选择难度适宜的阅读材料•，使他们既能通过在阅读过程

中运用母语阅读技能和外语知识恰如其分地领会文章的主要内容，又能有效地吸收、积累阅读材料中的

词法、句法等，从而进一步提高其外语语言水平。

关键词：母语阅读能力外语语言水平外语阅读能力语言阈限假设不同语言相互依赖性假设

1.Introduction

Thepastquartercenturyhaswitnessedmuchfirstandsecondlanguagereadingresearch,

resultinginmanynewinsightsintosecondlanguage(L2)readinginstruction.Duringthisperiod

oftime,languageresearchershaveposedmanyseminalresearchquestionsconcerningL2

reading,amongwhichiswhethersecondlanguagereadingisalanguageproblem(linguistic

threshold)orareadingproblem(linguisticinterdependence).Thelinguisticthresholdhypothesis

(LTH)positsthatLIreadingabilityis“short-circuited“ifthereaderdoesnothaveanadequate

levelofL2knowledgewhereasthelinguisticinterdependencehypothesis(LIH)supposesthatLI

readingabilitycanbegreatlytransferredtoL2reading.

1.1Needforthestudy

Althoughseveralexperimentalstudieshavebeencarriedoutbothathomeandabroadto

verifythesetwohypotheses,almostallofthemhaveexposedamajorproblem一the

inappropriateoperationaldefinitionofL2proficiency.Someresearcherseitherusethesubjects7

gradelevelortheirinstructionallevelortheirpartofL2languageproficiency(vocabularyand

grammar)torepresenttheiroverallL2languageproficiency.What'smore,therelated

experimentshaverarelybeendoneintheChinesecontext.Incontrast,mostofthemhavebeen

undertakeninthecontextofIndo-Europeanlanguages.Whethertheconclusionsdrawnfrom

thesestudiesareapplicableintheChinesecontextisstillunknownyet.Consequently,further

researchintotherelativecontributionofLI(Chinese)readingabilityandL2(English)

proficiencytoL2(English)readingabilityneedstobecarriedout.

Exceptfortheoreticalneeds,theresearchintothisquestionintheChinesecontextshouldbe

undertakenalsobecausethecorollaryofitwillhavesignificantimplicationsforteachingEnglish

readinginChina.Ifthelinguisticthresholdhypothesis(LTH)isverified,theteachersshould

focusonimprovingstudents,secondlanguageproficiency.Ifthelinguisticinterdependence

hypothesis(LIH)isconfirmed,thenpresumablytheteachingofforeignlanguagereadingshould

includeinstructioninappropriateLIreadingstrategiessothatthestudentscantransfertheirLI

readingstrategiestoL2reading.

1.2Researchpurpose

ThepresentstudyisintendedtofindouttherelativecontributionofLIreadingabilityand

L2languageproficiencytoL2readingability.Specificallyspeaking,howmuchcontribution

Chinese(LI)readingabilityandEnglish(L2)proficiencymaketoEnglish(L2)readingabilityat

differentL2proficiencylevelswillbeexaminedinthecurrentempiricalstudy.Itspurposeisto

ascertainwhetherLTHorLIHcanstillbeconfirmedevenifL2proficiencyvaries.

2.Literaturereview

Inthischapter,previousliteratureisreviewedinthreeparts,firstontwotheoretical

hypotheses-thelinguisticthresholdhypothesis(LTH)andthelinguisticinterdependence

hypothesis(LIH),secondonrelatedempiricalstudiestestingthetwohypothesesandthirdon

problemsinthepreviousstudies.

2.1Twotheoreticalhypotheses:LTHandLIH

Formorethanthirtyyears,thequestionofwhetherreadinginaforeignlanguageisa

readingproblemoralanguageproblemhasarousedmuchattentioninthesecondlanguage

readingresearchcommunity,beginningwithAlderson's(1984,p.4)testingofthefollowing

hypotheses:

1.PoorreadingintheL2isduetopoorabilityintheLI;therefore,poorLIreaderswill

readpoorlyintheL2andgoodLIreaderswillreadwellintheL2.

2.PoorreadingintheL2isduetoinadequateknowledgeoftheL2.

Underlyingthesehypothesesaretwootherseeminglyconflictingyetcomplementaryones:

thelinguisticthresholdhypothesis(LTH)andthelinguisticinterdependencehypothesis(LIH).

Thefirsthypothesis,alsoknowninitsearliestiterationsasthe'shortcircuithypothesis9,is

originallystatedas:Inordertoreadinasecondlanguage,alevelofsecondlanguagelinguistic

abilitymustfirstbeachieved(Bernhardt&Kamil,1995).

Thesecondhypothesis,attimestermedCommonUnderlyingProficiency(CUP),is

originallystatedas:L2readingabilityislargelysharedwithLIreadingability.Concretely

speaking,LIHassumesthatlanguageoperationssuchasreadingandwritingaretransferableand

intertwined;thatis,secondlanguageskillsareonlysuperficiallydistinctandinessencetheyare

interdependentorthesame.

2.2Relatedempiricalstudies

Sofar,anumberofreadingspecialistshaveattemptedtoverifythesetwohypotheses

empiricallysoastoidentifythemainfactortoinfluenceL2readingcomprehension.

Firstly,manyexperimentshaveprovidedstrongevidenceforLTH(Cummins,1979;Carrell,

1988b;Bossers,1991;Davis&Bistodeau,1993;Taillefer,1996;Lee&Shallert,1997;

Schoonen,HulstijnandBossers,1998).Cummins(1979,p.229),basedonstudyingthereading

behaviorofEnglish-Frenchbilingualchildren,proposedthatthepositiveeffectsofbalanced

bilingualismwere"unlikelytocomeintoeffectuntilthechildhasattainedacertainminimumof

thresholdlevelofcompetenceinasecondlanguage.^^Studyingthestrategiesoflow-levelESL

studentswhowereeithergoodorpoorreadersintheirnativeSpanishandEnglish,Clarke(1978,

1980)foundthatlowL2proficiencyrestrictedareader'sabilitytointeractwithanL2text.

Bossers(1991)used50nativespeakersofTurkishinDutchpost-secondaryeducationassubjects,

whoread4passagesintheirfirstandsecondlanguagesandanswered16multiple-choice

questionspertext.Bossers(1991)wasabletoaccountfor73percentofthevarianceintheir

scores,19percentofwhichwasattributabletofirstlanguagereading.Fortheleastskilled

readers(N=35),onlyL2knowledgewasabletoaccountforthevarianceinL2readingability;

forthemostskilled(N=15),LIreadingwastheprimarypredictor,accountingfor34percentof

thevariance.Thesefindings,Bossersargues,areevidenceforathresholdhypothesis:Direct

transferofLIreadingskillsoccursonlywhenacertainlevelofL2proficiencyhasbeenattained.

BernhardtandKamil(1995)furtherexaminedtherelationshipbetweenL2proficiencyandLI

readingabilitywithL2learnersofSpanishatthreelevelsofL2proficiency.Theyreporteda

sharedvarianceof48%forLIreadingabilityandL2proficiencyinL2readingintheirstudy.

Usingstepwiseregressionanalysis,theyfurtherdeterminedthat,atthebeginninglevel,LI

readingabilityaccountedforabout10%ofthevarianceinL2readingability,whileL2

proficiencyaccountedforabout38%ofthevariance.Atthemoreadvancedlevel,L2proficiency

sharedonlytwiceasmuchvariancewithL2readingability.Theirfindingismainlyconsistent

withLeeandShallert(1997),s:LIreadingabilityandL2proficiencytogetheraccountedfor

62%ofthevariance,withL2proficiencysharingtwiceasmuchvariancewithL2readingability

asLIreadingabilitydid.WhencorrelatingthescoresfortwodifferentgradelevelsofKorean

learnersofEnglish,LeeandShallert(1997)observedthatthecorrelationbetweenLIreading

abilityandL2readingabilitywassignificantandstabilizedinanascendingpatternonlybeyond

level2.LikeLeeandShallert,Taillerfer(1996)andSchoonenetaL(1998)providedevidencefor

supportoftheLTHintheirexperimentalstudiesaswell.

Secondly,inreferencetoLIH,therearefarfewexperimentalstudiesverifyingit.Asearly

asin1977,PatRigg,who,usingmiscueanalysis,foundconsiderablesimilaritiesinreading

miscuesforEFLlearnersfromavarietyofdifferentlanguagebackgrounds.Ifthereading

processisthesameorverysimilarinalllanguages,thenonecouldexpectreadingabilityto

transferacrosslanguages.Thatis,asClarke(1978,p.121)states,“Ifthereadingprocessis

basicallythesameinalllanguages,wewouldlogicallyexpectgoodnativelanguagereadersto

begoodsecondlanguagereaders.Furthermorewewouldexpectgoodreaderstomaintaintheir

advantageoverpoorreadersinthesecondlanguage.^^Shohamy'sstudy(1984)ofdifferent

methodsofmeasuringreadingcomprehension(multiple-choiceoropen-endedquestionsinthe

nativeortargetlanguage)providedcompellingyetconfounded(duetosometargetlanguage

responsemeasures)evidenceforLIH.Shefoundthatshecouldaccountforstudentperformance

acrossproficiencylevelsbasedonthemethodoftestinginconjunctionwiththelanguageusedin

thetest:themoreL2proficientthestudentswere,thelessinfluencetheL2proficiencyhadon

theirreadingperformance.

Lastly,otherstudiesofsecondlanguagereadingprovidesupportforbothLTHandLIH.

Carrell(1991)usedtwodifferentsetsofsubjects:45firstlanguagespeakersofSpanishat

varyinglevelsofL2proficiencyand75speakersofEnglishatthreelevelsofSpanishproficiency.

Itwasobservedthatforbothgroups,LIreadingandL2proficiencycontributedsignificantlyto

L2reading.Together,LIreadingandL2proficiencyaccountedfor35%ofthevarianceinthe

caseoftheSpanishLIgroupand53%inthecaseoftheEnglish-speakinggroup.Astothe

relativeimportanceofeachofthesevariables,L2proficiencywasabetterpredictorofreading

performancefortheEnglishLIgroup(aboutfourtimesmorepowerful),whereasLIreading

abilitywasbetterfortheSpanishLIgroup(abouttwiceaspowerful).Carrell(1991)attributed

thisdifferencetothefactthattheSpanishLIgroupwaslearningEnglishinasecond(notforeign)

languagecontext.Brisbois(1992)madethemostextensiveanalysisofliteracyinterdependence

andlinguisticthreshold.Shetested126college-levellearnersofFrenchusinganarrayof

predictorvariables:twoLIreadingmeasures,anLIwritingmeasure,avocabularymeasure,and

agrammarmeasure.BrisboisfoundthatLIreading(measuredthroughastandardizedreading

testforadults)accountedfor14percentofthevarianceinsecondlanguagereadingscores

(measuredacrosstwopassages).Othervariables(LIwritingability,L2vocabulary,andL2

grammar)accountedforatotalof59percentofthevarianceinthecomprehensionscores.Both

CarrelPsandBrisbois5studiesprovidecompellingevidenceforbothLTHandLIH:LIreading

abilityandL2proficiencytogetherplayaroleinsuccessfulL2reading.Whentherelative

contributionofeachvariableisexamined,L2proficiencyappearstoplayagreaterroleinitially

andLIreadingabilitybeginstoplayagreaterroleatmoreadvancedlevelsofL2proficiency,

whichconstitutesevidenceforalanguagethreshold.Belowthisthreshold,thetransferofLI

readingskillstoL2ispresumablyobstructedbylimitedL2knowledge.

2.3Problemsinthepreviousstudies

Inacriticalreviewofthedesignofthepreviousexperimentalstudies,Alderson(1984,p.21)

suggestedthatstudiespertainingtotherelationshipsamongL2proficiency,LIreading,andL2

readingbedesignedasfollows:

Whatisneededisatleastinformationonreadingabilityinthefirstlanguage,ideallywhere

thesampleofsubjectscontainedboth"good"and"poor”first-languagereaders;informationof

thereadingabilityintheforeignlanguage;andinformationabouttheleveland,importantly,the

nature,oftheforeignlanguageproficiencyofthesameindividual.

However,therearestillsomedefectsinthedesignsofpreviousexperiments.

Firstofall,theoperationaldefinitionofL2languageproficiencyisnotappropriateinmany

previousexperimentalstudies.Someresearcherseitherusedthesubjects'instructionallevels

(Carrell,1991;BernhardtandKamil,1995)ortheirgradelevels(DavisandBistodeau,1993;

Schoonen,HulstijnandBossers,1998)asthemeasureofsecondlanguageproficiencywhile

otherresearchersreliedheavilyontestingsubjects9knowledgeofvocabularyandgrammatical

structuresastheiroverallL2proficiency(NationandCoady,1988;Bossers,1992;Ruddell,1994;

Brisbois,1995;Taillefer,1996;LeeandShallert,1997;WuShiyuandWangTongshun,2005).

Similarly,anumberofotherresearchersdecidedontheirsubjects'L2proficiencylevel

accordingtotheirmembershipindifferentlevelsoflanguageclass(Carrell,1988a,1991;Clarke,

1978,1980)orreadingclass(Hudson,1982)oraccordingtothenumberoflanguagecourses

subjectshadtakenbeforetheexperiment(Raymond,1993).Alloftheseoperationaldefinitions

ofL2proficiencyarenotaccurate.

Secondly,theproblemwithsomerelatedstudiesusingthesubjects5entrancescoresas

informationfornative/firstlanguageliteracyhasbeenperceived.InBernhardtandKamil's

(1995)experimentonL2reading,theygotadditionalnativeEnglishlanguageliteracy

informationfromthesubjects5scoresoftheNelson-DennyReadingTest(N-D)whichhadbeen

takenbythemuponadmissiontotheAcademy.However,itisnotedthatsomeofthesesubjects

arejuniorsorseniorswhoseEnglishlanguageliteracyatthattimemayhavebeengreatly

differentfromwhentheywerejustadmittedtotheAcademy.Therefore,thereissomelimitation

inusingentrancescorestodetermineLIorL2languageproficiency.

Finally,mostoftheextantempiricalstudieshavebeenundertakeninthecontextof

Indo-Europeanlanguages.WhetherthecorollariesofthesestudiesareapplicableintheChinese

contextisstillunknownyet.InChina,therelatedexperimentalstudiesarescantyandfarfrom

conclusive.AlthoughWuShiyuandWangTongshun(2005)madeaninvestigationintowhether

ChinesereadingabilityandEnglishvocabularyandgrammarcouldcompensateforeachotherin

Englishreading,theydidnotpointouttherespectivecontributionofLI(Chinese)readingability

andL2(English)languageproficiencytoL2(English)reading.Theyalsotendedtodetermine

thesubjects9overallEnglishproficiencyonlybytestingtheirknowledgeofvocabularyand

grammar.Consequently,furtherresearchintotheissueoftherelativecontributionofLIreading

abilityandL2languageproficiencytoL2readingabilityintheChinesecontextneedstobe

carriedoutandshouldtakeintoconsiderationamoreappropriatemeanstomeasuresubjects,L2

languageproficiency.

3.Methodology

3.1Researchquestions

ThisstudyintendstofindouthowmuchcontributionLIreadingabilityandL2proficiency

maketoL2readingability.Specifically,itfocusesuponthefollowingquestions:

1.WhatistherelativecontributionofLIreadingabilityandL2proficiencytoL2reading

abilityatthelowL2proficiencylevel?

2.WhatistherelativecontributionofLIreadingabilityandL2proficiencytoL2reading

abilityatthehighL2proficiencylevel?

3.2Subjects

TheresearchwasconductedinEnglishDepartmentofNanjingUniversityofTechnology.

SubjectsincludedeightyEnglishmajors,whowerefirstorthirdyearstudentsatuniversity.The

timefortheirexposuretoEnglishinstructioneveryweekwasalmostthesameandthey

presentedcomparativelywidevariationintheirknowledgeofEnglish.

3.3Instruments

Threetestswereadministeredtomeasurethesubjects9Englishproficiency,Englishreading

abilityandChinesereadingabilityrespectively.Thedescriptionofthethreetestsisgivenin

Table1.

TheEnglishproficiencytest,developedfromaCollegeEnglishTest-BandSixtestpaper

(exceptforthewritingportion,whichwascarefullychosenfromanIELTStest)andconsisting

offourparts:listening,vocabulary,grammarandwritingtest,hadanaggregatemaximumscore

of60.TheparticipantscompletedthetestduringregularEnglishclasses.Completiontook65

minutes.

TheEnglishreadingcomprehensiontestconsistedoffourreadingpassagesadaptedfrom

anotherCollegeEnglishTest-BandSixtestpaper.Allthetopicsonthereadingtextswere

familiartothesubjects.Thetestof20multiple-choiceitems,whichthestudentscompleted

duringaregularEnglishlanguageclass,requiredabout35minutestocomplete.Allthe

multiple-choicequestionsweredesignatedtotestthesubjects'readingability,involving

comprehendingwhatisexplicitinthereadingmaterial,makinginferencesanddrawing

conclusionsfromwhatisgiven.Distractorswereplausiblealternativesifasubjecthadnot

understoodthepassage.

Table1

DescriptionoftheThreeTests

ItemsEnglishProficiencyChineseEnglish

ListeningVocabularyGrammarWritingReadingReading

ComprehensionComprehensionComprehen

-sion

Number2013711720

Total20137204040

Score

TestMultipleMultipleMultipleMultipleChoiceMultiple

TypesChoiceChoiceChoiceProductionResponsesPlusChoice

ResponsesResponsesResponsesBlank-fillingsResponses

Testing20Minutes10Minutes5Minutes30Minutes30Minutes35Minutes

Time

TheChinesereadingcomprehensiontestwasmadeupoffourpassagescarefullyselected

fromfourAdultCollegeEntranceChineseTest(ACECT)papers.Thereasonsaccountingforthe

adoptionofACECTpaperswerethattheywereappropriateinlengthanddifficultyforthe

subjectsandtheyhadnevertakenanACECTpaper,whichwasverifiedintheinterviewsurvey

ofthemaftertheadministrationoftheChinesereadingcomprehensiontest.Thefourreading

passageswerefollowedby12multiple-choiceitemsand5blank-fillings,whichwererequiredto

befinishedin30minutes.

3.4Datacollectionanddataanalysis

Aftertheadministrationofthethreetests,allthesubjects9paperswerecollectedand

marked.TheL2proficiencyscorewasmadeupoffourparts,thelisteningcomprehension,

vocabulary,grammarandwritingscore.Astothegradingofthewriting,aholisticapproachwas

adopted.Allthewritingsweregradedwithrespecttothefollowingsixwritingattributes:

responsivenesstotherequirementsofthewritingtest;coherentorganization;grammatical

correctness;useofstandardEnglish;clarity;conciseness.Twoexperiencedteachersgradedthe

writingsaccordingtotheaboveguidelines.Cronbachalphaforthetwoteachers5gradings

was.739,agoodindicatorofscoringreliability.Thefinalscoreofeverypieceofwritingwasthe

averagevalueofthetwoscoresgivenbythetwoteachers.Otherpartsofthethreetestswere

gradedobjectively.Afteralltheseprocedures,thethreescoresofeachsubject(scoresfor

Chinesereadingtest,EnglishreadingtestandEnglishproficiencytest)wereobtained.Allofthe

subjectscooperatedwellinthestudyandtherewasnomissingvalue.

Aftertheinputofthreescoresofeachsubjectintothecomputer,theresearcherdivided

eightysubjectsintotwogroupsbasedontheirscoresontheEnglish(L2)proficiencytest.Group

onerepresentedlowL2proficiencygroupandgrouptwostoodforhighL2proficiencygroup.

Thenastepwisemultipleregressionanalysisofthethreevariableswereperformedforgroupone

andgrouptworespectivelytoexploretherelativecontributionofLI(Chinese)readingability

andL2(English)proficiencytoL2(English)readingabilityattwodifferentL2proficiency

levels.

4.Resultsanddiscussion

Thischapterismadeupoftwoparts.Thefirstpartreportsthemajorfindingsfromthestudy.

Thesecondpartinterpretsanddiscussesthemajorfindings.Theresultsfromthepresentstudy

aretobeevaluatedintermsofLTH(thelinguisticthresholdhypothesis)andLIH(thelinguistic

interdependencehypothesis).

4.1Results

Inthispart,theresearchermadeseveralanalysesoftherelativecontributionofLI(Chinese)

readingabilityandL2(English)proficiencytoL2(English)readingability.Thefirstanalysis

involvedcomparingthemeandifferencesintheL2proficiency,LIandL2readingscoresoftwo

groupsofsubjectsidentifiedbytheirdifferentL2proficiencylevels.Next,stepwisemultiple

regressionanalysesofthefactorspredictingL2readingscoresattwodifferentproficiencylevels

weremade.Themajorfindingsarepresentedinthefollowing.

4.1.1ResultsforthelowL2proficiencygroup

Table2displaystheranges,meansandstandarddeviationsofallthesubjects'performances

acrosstheEnglish(L2)readingtest,theEnglish(L2)proficiencytestandtheChinese(LI)

readingtest.

Table2

DescriptiveStatisticsattheLowL2ProficiencyLevel

NMinimumMaximumMeanStd.Deviation

EnglishReading

4010.0030.0021.054.57

ChineseReading

4019.0037.0029.004.61

EnglishProficiency

4018.0037.5030.904.44

AsTable2indicates,thestudents,meanscoreontheChinesereadingtest(mean=29.00,

totalscore=40)isfarhigherthanthatontheEnglishreadingtest(mean=21.05,totalscore=40)

andthatontheEnglishproficiencytest(mean=30.90,totalscore=60),whichindicatesthatthey

haveabettercommandofChinese(LI)thanEnglish(L2).Furthermore,OntheEnglishreading

test,theEnglishproficiencytestandtheChinesereadingtest,thescoresrangefrom10to30,18

to37.5and19to37respectively,whichsuggeststhatthereisagreatdifferencebetweenthe

highestscorerandthelowestscorerinthethreevariables.InteiTnsofstandarddeviation,the

Englishproficiencyhasthelowestvalue(standarddeviation=4.44/60X40=2,96)andEnlish

reading(standarddeviation=4.57)andChinesereading(standarddeviation=4.61)bearsimilarly

higherstandarddeviations.

Next,weperformedamultipleregressionanalysiswithLIreadingandL2proficiencyas

independentvariablesandL2readingasthedependentvariable.Firstly,theoutputofthe

ANOVAinTable3tellsusthatEnglishproficiencyhassignificantpredictivepowerforEnglish

readingability(F=9.527,p<.01).ThenthetableofExcludedVariablesrevealsthatChinese

readinghasbeenexcludedfromtheregressionmodel,indicatingthatitisnotasignificant

predictorforEnglishreadingability.Lastly,fromthetableofModelSummary,itcanbeseen

thatEnglishproficiencyisabletoaccountfor20%ofthevarianceinEnglishreading(R2=.200)

whileLIreadingabilitydoesnotcontributesignificantlytoL2readingabilityforthelowL2

proficiencygroup.

Table3

StepwiseMultipleRegression:L2ReadingAbilityasaFunctionofLIReadingAbilityandL2

ProficiencyattheLowL2ProficiencyLevel