Reader Control in Reading: Effects of Language Competence, Text Type, and Task

Abstract

Reader control was examined with native and nonnative readers of Japanese who thought aloud during reading and later recalled. Two types of text (stories and essays) and 2 types of tasks (read freely and read for coherence) were used. It was found that (a) native readers generated more backward inferences and general knowledge associations for essays and more forward inferences for stories; (b) when reading an essay for coherence, native readers generated more backward inferences, more comments on text structure, and fewer general knowledge associations in contrast to when reading it freely; (c) nonnative readers generated more elaborative inferences and more comments on text structure for essays; and (d) nonnative readers did not process an essay differently between when reading it freely and when reading it for coherence, although in the read-for-coherence condition, their recall was as good as that of native readers. These results suggest that native readers engage in different modes of processing acco...