Readers process words ahead of audio in reading-while-listening contexts

Reading-while-listening has been shown to be advantageous in second language learning. However, research to date has not addressed how the addition of auditory input changes reading itself.

A new paper by a team including IOE academic Dr Ana Pellicer-Sánchez (Department of Culture, Communication and Media) investigates how reading differs in reading-while-listening and reading-only conditions. The team use this to help better understand the advantages of reading-while-listening.

The study used eye-tracking to provide a detailed description of reading patterns with and without audio. The researchers asked first language and second language speakers to read two passages (one in a reading-only mode and another in a reading-while-listening mode) while their eye movements were monitored.

They found that in reading-only conditions, second language readers read slower than first language readers. In reading-while-listening conditions, eye-movement patterns were similar in both groups, indicating that the presence of auditory input made first language speakers read more slowly. In general, readers’ eye movements tend to be ahead of the audio. Neither group of participants fixated on the word they were hearing.

The team suggest that the processing patterns might explain the benefits of reading-while-listening. These could be that:

• The written word provides listeners with a visual cue for the boundaries of upcoming auditory words, which may help word identification.
• The process may also help them develop letter-sound correspondences.
• The support for the links between letters and sounds might also strengthen the form and meaning connections that contribute to vocabulary development.

Dr Ana Pellicer-Sánchez, Associate Professor in the IOE’s Centre for Applied Linguistics, said: “This study provides the first comprehensive description of first language and second language reading behaviour in reading-only and reading-while-listening conditions.

“These results have important implications for our understanding of reading behaviour in different conditions and the development of reading skills. In addition, they help to explain some of the benefits attributed to reading-while-listening in the literature. It also raises important questions about how the processing system deals with two competing sources of information and calls for more research in this area.”

Links

• Read the paper: ‘What eye-tracking tells us about reading-only and reading-while-listening in a first and second language'
• View Dr Ana Pellicer-Sánchez’s research profile

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• Image by pasja1000 from Pixabay