Studies of Psychology and Behavior

Studies of Psychology and Behavior >

2022 , Vol. 20 >Issue 3: 304 - 310

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12139/j.1672-0628.2022.03.003

Word Frequency Effects in Fast and Slow Readers During Skilled Chinese Reading

  • ZHANG Manman ,
  • HU Huilan ,
  • BIAN Han ,
  • LI Fang ,
  • ZHANG Zhichao ,
  • ZANG Chuanli
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  • 1. Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387;
    2. Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387;
    3. Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students’ Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin 300387

Received date: 2021-11-01

  Online published: 2022-05-20

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Abstract

Research on alphabetic language reading has shown that highly skilled readers were more efficient at lexical processing than less skilled readers. However, it remains unclear whether lexical processing shows different patterns between fast readers and slow readers during skilled Chinese reading. The current study aimed to examine this issue by comparing the word frequency effects in fast and slow readers. Fifteen groups of fast and slow readers were selected from a total number of 67 participants based on their reading rates. Each participant was required to read sentences containing either high- or low- frequent target words while their eye movements were recorded by an EyeLink1000 Plus eye tracker. The results showed robust word frequency effect and reading group effect. Importantly, word frequency effect was modulated by reading group such that the word frequency effect was only reliable in slow readers rather than in fast readers. In conclusion, lexical processing in fast readers is highly efficient and is less influenced by word frequency than that in slow readers, indicating that individual differences in skilled Chinese readers are associated with “type” rather than “degree”. This finding provides strong evidence for lexical quality hypothesis and the linguistic-pro?ciency hypothesis in the E-Z Reader model.

Key words： reading speed; word frequency effect; Chinese reading; eye movement

Cite this article

ZHANG Manman , HU Huilan , BIAN Han , LI Fang , ZHANG Zhichao , ZANG Chuanli . Word Frequency Effects in Fast and Slow Readers During Skilled Chinese Reading[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2022 , 20(3) : 304 -310 . DOI: 10.12139/j.1672-0628.2022.03.003

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