A Case Study on Intermediate CSL Learners’ Word Recognition Processes and Strategies in Contextual Reading Settings

This study investigates word recognition processes and strategies of intermediate learners of Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) in contextual reading settings. Two intermediate CSL learners were chosen as research participants, and think-aloud methods and retrospective interviews were used to collect data. The data were analyzed by using Moustakas’ data analysis procedure, Creswell’s three steps and Bogdon and Biklen’s data analysis methods. Results indicated that intermediate CSL learners go through different processes of word recognition as it might be automatic, based on context, pronunciation, previous knowledge and the meaning of characters, or, in case of word recognition failure, skipping the words or skipping them but reading them again later; and their word recognition strategies in contextual reading settings mainly include cognitive strategies and self-regulatory strategies. Among these strategies, cognitive strategies consist of direct transformation, translation, interpretation, guessing, inferring and finding key words; and self-regulatory strategies include metacognitive strategies, behavior regulating strategies, emotion regulating strategies and motivation regulating strategies. A model of intermediate CSL learners’ word recognition strategies can be constructed based on the results. The present study provides both theoretical and pedagogical implications in the field of CSL vocabulary acquisition and teaching.