A Study Of The Effects Of Reading Proficiency And Contextual Support On Lexical Inferencing During L2Reading Comprehension

This study explored the effects of reading proficiency and contextual support onChinese non-English majors’ generation of lexical inferencing during L2readingcomprehension. Based on relevant theoretical and empirical studies on lexicalinferencing at home and aboard, the present study attempted to address the followingquestions:(1) Are there any significant differences in lexical inferencing between thehigh and low reading proficiency participants during reading an English narrative?(2)Whether different contextual support could cause significant differences in Chinesenon-English majors’ lexical inferencing during reading?(3) Are there any interactiveeffects of reading proficiency and contextual support on Chinese non-English majors’lexical inferencing?The experiment was carried out with103non-English majors from OceanUniversity of China as participants and with an English narrative containing targetwords different in contextual support as lexical inferencing test material.Retrospective interviews were made to testify the contextual support assigned to eachtarget word and the thesis further discussed the cognitive process during lexicalinferencing.The results show that:(1) the lexical inferencing scores of the high-proficiencyreaders are higher than those of the low-proficiency counterparts and there existssignificant differences between them;(2) contextual support also contributes more onlearners’ lexical inferencing generation. Participants make more successful and moreaccurate lexical inferences in directive context than in general context, the same as ingeneral context than in non-directive context;(3) there is a significant interactiverelationship between the two variables in lexical inferencing. The high proficiencyreaders can generate more successful lexical inferencing in directive and general context than in non-directive context, while the low-proficiency readers are easier togenerate lexical inferencing in directive context than in general context, and lexicalinferecing generation in general context is better than in the non-directive context.This thesis is composed of five parts. Chapter One is an introduction to thepresent study, that expounds clearly the research orientation, objectives and outline ofthe thesis. Chapter Two reviews relevant literature, including definitions of some keyterms, models of lexical inferencing and factors affecting lexical inferencing. Previousempirical studies on reading proficiency and contextual support are mainly reviewed.Chapter Three is concerned with the experiment. Research questions, participants,instruments and procedures are described in detail. Chapter Four focuses on resultsand discussions of the results. The last chapter summarizes the major findings,implications and limitations of the study, followed by suggestions for future research.