Exploring the Perceptual Span of Japanese Among Second Language Learners

Abstract

How much information do readers process within a single fixation during sentence reading? This perceptual span underlies reading theories and eye-movement research. In the present study, we focused on Japanese, where sentences are written using a combination of three types of scripts, namely Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. We adopted the gaze-contingent moving-window paradigm to explore the spatial limit of visual processes among beginning second-language (L2) readers of Japanese. The readers reached asymptotic performance when four or five upcoming characters were made visible. Each left-window condition, providing one to three preceding characters, hampered reading. The results suggest that L2-Japanese readers' perceptual spans extend beyond three characters to the left. We hypothesized that the L2 readers' high regression rate may increase the need for leftward information and concluded that such a perceptual span consisted of at least four previous characters and four to five upcoming ones. Implications for language education are discussed.