1. David Coulson coulson@fc.ritsumei.ac.jp
English word reading development through second and tertiary education in East Asian countries

2. Written Word Recognition Ability
“WWR”: ability to recognize isolated words correctly and effortlessly
ESL reading; goal of 300 words/sec (Grabe, 2009)
Japanese university students often read at 180 words/sec ≈ 11yo L1 English children (Carver, 1992)
Word superiority effect + automatized skill

3. Relationship of WWR to reading
Rapid WWR frees attention for other tasks
e.g. van Gelderen et al. (2004) found a remarkable level of correlation
In reading, basic vocabulary constitutes a high proportion of all reading texts.

4. Cross-linguistic effects
Reading in L1 creates specific processes
Korean uses alphabetic principles
Japanese have less phonemic skill
L2 readers commonly apply L1 processes
Japanese apply orthographic processing in L2 reading (e.g. Wade-Wolley, 1999)

5. Grain size in writing systems (Wydell & Kondo, 2003)

6. Approaches to WWR testing
Slower rejection of implausible strings in L1 literacy
e.g. shrnld vs hgjcpl Adams (1990)
Finding 3-letter items e.g. baicer in dyslexia research Bruck (1990)
Syllable recognition e.g. wgfbackvcb & nonsense string processing e.g. thatboywentlast vs whatbuywantland
Adams (1990)
Item detection e.g. DANSONODEND (Lambert,1959); vmwpdreamkosy (Coulson, 2011)

7. Word Recognition Index (WRI) (Jacobson, 1995)
Designed for rapid L1 dyslexia testing
boygomeet >> boy/go/meet items/180secs
ouccnemhhe >> ouc/cnemh/he 80 items/90secs
An index is calculated ((Wch-Lch)/Lch)×100
A WRI of over 50 indicates automatic reading
Strong test-retest correlation in learners (r=0.73)

8. Subjects A high-level 6-year JHS & SHS in Niigata 608 students
A medium-ranked high school in Korea
220 students
12 native speakers of English (ESL teachers)

9. Results of word recognition age 12-18 in Japan

10. Results of word recognition age 12-18 in Japan

11. Results of word recognition age 12-18 in Japan

12. Results of word recognition age 12-18 in Japan

13. Results of word recognition age 12-18 in Japan

14. Results of word recognition age 12-18 in Japan

15. Results of word recognition age 12-18 in Japan

16. Results of word recognition age 12-18 in Japan

17. Results of word recognition age 12-18 in Japan

18. Results of word recognition age 12-18 in Japan

19. Results of word recognition age 12-18 in Japan

20. Results of word recognition age 12-18 in Japan

21. Results of word recognition age 12-18 in Japan

22. Onset of decrease in word decoding after JHS 2nd yr

23. Comparison of high schools in Japan and Korea
WRI

24. Comparison of high schools in Japan and Korea

25. Comparison of high schools in Japan and Korea

26. Educational Implications
The importance of ER is seriously underestimated in Japanese secondary education
We do not ask 12 yo L1 children to sit TOEFL
The value of ER may be misunderstood in ESL
Advanced graded readers should not be viewed as superior practice or training
WWR fluency development must be appreciated

27. references