BOOK OF ABSTRACTS - EUROSLA

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Cognitive bases of reading and writing in a second/foreign language
Lea Nieminen 1 , Riikka Ullakonoja 1 , Eeva-Leena Haapakangas 1 , Ari
Huhta 1 and J. Charles Alderson 2
1 2
University of Jyväskylä, Lancaster University
Language testing researchers have recently shown interest in diagnostic
testing, which is an area that intersects both language testing and second
language acquisition research. Diagnostic testing, however, requires a better
and more detailed understanding of language abilities than is currently the
case, and this has posed challenges to testers to define their diagnostic
constructs both theoretically and operationally. Tests claimed to be
diagnostic are very rarely based on a theory of language learning, or a theory
of diagnosis.
This paper reports on the first study in a 4-year (2010-2013) research
project into the diagnosis of reading and writing, which is studying two types
of learners: Finnish learners of English as a foreign language in three
different age groups (10 to 18-year-olds), and Russian learners of Finnish as
a second language in two age groups (10 to 15-year-olds). Close to 600
learners of English and about 200 learners of Finnish were studied. We will
report on the findings of the first study and focus on the ability of the
cognitive and psycholinguistic measures (e.g., working memory,
phonological processing, ability to process non-words) to predict informants’
reading and writing in L1 and L2.
This first study explores the diagnostic potential of a range of cognitive
and psycholinguistic measures as used for detecting L1 dyslexia. These were
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