Literature review

Reading in L2
Many of the present views of L2 reading have been determined by research on L1. Although L1 reading and L2 reading share some characteristics, there are some differences that exist between the two (Urquhart & Weir, 1998). One of the major differences is that L2 readers start with a smaller L2 vocabulary than L1 readers (Devine, 1998b). On the other hand, L2 readers start with greater world knowledge than L1 readers. Another important difference between L1 and L2 reading relates to the amount of exposure to L2 print. Most L2 readers are not exposed to enough L2 texts which will help them enhance their L2 vocabulary and enable them to become fluent readers (Koda, 2005). Grabe and Stoller (2002) identify the differences between L1 and
L2 reading in three main groups;
(a) Linguistic and processing differences
• Differing amounts of lexical, grammatical and discourse knowledge at initial stages of L1 and L2 reading
• Greater metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness in L2 setting
• Differing amounts of exposure to L2 reading
• Varying linguistic differences across any two languages
• Varying L2 proficiencies as a foundation for L2 reading
• Varying language transfer influences
• Interacting influence of working with two languages
(b) Individual and experiential differences
• Differing levels of L1 reading abilities
• Differing motivations for reading in the L2
• Differing kinds of texts in L2 contexts
• Differing language resources for L2 readers
(c) Socio-cultural and institutional differences
• Differing socio-cultural backgrounds of L2 readers
• Differing ways of organizing discourse and texts
• Differing expectations of L2 educational institutions (p.63)
In the literature, there are two main hypotheses on reading in L2 that conflict with each other: the Linguistic Threshold Hypothesis (LTH) and the Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis (LIH). The former suggests that a certain level of second language linguistic ability, such as vocabulary and structure knowledge, is necessary in order to be able to read in L2 as well as transfer L1 strategies and skills to an L2 text (Grabe & Stoller, 2002), whereas in the latter, it is stated that once the reading skill is acquired and a higher level of strategies are developed in L1 reading, these can easily be transferred to a second language reading situation (Bernhardt, 1998). However, there is evidence obtained from studies that support both LTH and LIH hypotheses. A study conducted by Alderson (1984) revealed that linguistic proficiency in L2 has a great effect on the ability to transfer L1 reading strategies to L2 reading. Readers with high level linguistic proficiency in L2 transferred their L1 reading skills more successfully than readers with low L2 proficiency level. In addition, Clarke (1980) indicates that readers’ use of reading strategies in L2 is highly dependent on their linguistic proficiency level in that language. If the linguistic proficiency of L2 is limited, the transfer of the top-down strategies in L1 to L2 reading is impeded. Thus, the reader is restricted to using the bottom-up strategies. In contrast to these studies supporting the LTH hypothesis, Block (1986) proposes that when readers develop higher level strategies in L1, they can easily transfer them to L2 reading. A study carried out by Devine (1998) also confirms that L2 reading is closely connected with students’ reading proficiency in L1.