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Text reading in English as a second language: evidence from the Multilingual Eye-Movements Corpus
Research into bilingual reading and second language (L2) reading acquisition is an exponentially growing field. Yet, it still suffers from a relatively short supply of comparable, ecologically valid data from readers representing a variety of first languages (L1). This data scarcity, coupled with high heterogeneity of methods, tasks and populations in the present literature, hinders building of general theories. The present paper addresses this need while pursuing a central question for the research field: what factors determine reading proficiency in L2? We present a new data resource called MECO L2 (Multilingual Eye Movements Corpus), a rich behavioral eye-tracking record of text reading in English as L2 among 485 university student speakers of 11 different L1s. Additionally, MECO L2 includes a test battery of component skills of reading and allows for a comparison of the participants’ reading performance in their L1 and L2. This data resource enabled a new large-scale cross-sample analysis of the predictors of L2 reading fluency and comprehension. We quantified the contributions to L2 reading behavior stemming from four key proposed sources of variance: individual L1 reading behavior, proficiency in L2 component skills of reading, extralinguistic factors, and the L1 of the readers. Among major findings was (i) a fundamental contrast between the determinants of L2 reading fluency versus comprehension accuracy, (ii) high within-participant consistency in the real-time strategy of reading in L1 and L2, and (iii) an unexpectedly small role played by the L1 versus L2 distinction in explaining variance in L2 reading behavior. We conclude by reviewing the implications of these findings to theories of L2 acquisition and discussing how the new data resource and the analyses it makes possible may support the progress in studies of L2 reading.