英語學習者的中英文音韻處理大腦反應與英文字詞辨識表現之關聯性

Relationships between Electrophysiological Correlates of First and Second Language Phonological Processing Skills and Second Language Word Reading Profi ciency in Late L2 Learners

過去研究顯示，第二外語學習者的母語聲韻覺識能力，可預測其外語學習表現，但研究對象多針對兒童階段，對於成人第二外語學習者的研究較為缺乏。本研究目的是探討成人英語學習者的中英文音韻處理的大腦反應，與其英語字詞辨識表現之間的關聯性。受限於行為測驗對於偵測成人音韻處理的敏感度較為不足，本研究利用腦電波工具記錄成人在中文與英文押韻作業下的大腦神經反應，作為音韻處理的指標。結果顯示，英語學習者對於押韻與非押韻刺激兩者差異所產生的大腦反應，與他們的英文字詞辨識能力有顯著的關聯性，而此關聯性在中文音韻處理和英文字詞辨識標準化測驗的分數上尤為明顯。本研究結果顯示，在成人第二外語學習者的學習歷程當中，母語的音韻處理能力具有重要的支持角色。

Research into the relationship between word reading skills and phonological processing in bilingual speakers have established that phonological processing skills in a person’s first language (L1) and second language (L2) are related. In addition， phonological awareness in the child’s L1 predicts the ability to learn to read new words in the child’s L2. However， whether the relationship is valid for late L2 learners who are not living in the L2 environment is not clear. The present study aims to investigate the neural basis of Chinese and English phonological sublexical processing in late English learners at different levels of proficiency. By taking the advantage of the event-related potential (ERP) technique， this study identifies the interactions among the brain responses to L1 and L2 rhyming sensitivity and the L2 word reading proficiency in late L2 learners. These significant correlations suggest that phonological awareness is a language-general form of linguistic knowledge and would support the L2 learning process.