A Developmental Study On The Role Of Word Frequency And Predictability In The Recognition Of Chinese Words

The study about words recognition is one of the most important fields of eye movement research in reading and psycholinguistics. What role do word frequency and predictability play in the process of words recognition? Do word frequency and predictability affect the same stage of words recognition? Do word frequency and predictability have an interaction relationship? Many studies have been carried out to explore these questions in alphabetic languages. In the present study, two eye movement experiments were conducted. We used normal reading paradigm and boundary paradigm separately to investigate the role of word frequency and predictability and its developmental characteristics in the process of Chinese compound words recognition.Twenty middle school students and twenty college students with normal or corrected-to-normal vision participated in the experiment 1. It was a mixed experimental design. Grade was between participants factor, word frequency and word predictability were within participants factors. The frequency and predictability of the target words were manipulated to determine the mechanism of words recognition and its developmental characteristics during normal reading.Eighteen middle school students and sixteen college students with normal or corrected-to-normal vision participated in the experiment 2. It was a mixed experimental design. Grade was between participants factor, word frequency and word predictability were within participants factors. The frequency and predictability of target words were manipulated to determine the mechanism of words recognition and its developmental characteristics in the condition of boundary paradigm.We could draw following conclusions: (1) The main effect of grade was significant. The fixation duration of different target words for middle school students was longer than college students.(2) The main effect of word frequency was significant. Readers fixated for less time on high frequency target words than on low frequency words. Word frequency did influence the process of Chinese words recognition.(3) The main effect of word predictability was significant. Readers fixated for less time on high predictability target words than on low predictability words. Word predictability did influence the process of Chinese words recognition.(4) Word frequency and predictability didn't have an interaction relationship during the process of Chinese words recognition.(5) Our findings were generally compatible with the E-Z reader model. And also they supported the modularity theory of context.