This experimental study investigated how text difficulty and different working memory capacity(WMC)affected Chinese EFL learners’reading comprehension and their tendency to engage in task-unrelated thoughts,that is,m...This experimental study investigated how text difficulty and different working memory capacity(WMC)affected Chinese EFL learners’reading comprehension and their tendency to engage in task-unrelated thoughts,that is,mind wandering(MW),in the course of reading.Sixty first-year university non-English majors participated in the study.A two-factor mixed experimental design of 2(text difficulty:difficult and simple)×2(WMC:high/large and low/small)was employed.Results revealed that 1)the main and interaction effects of WMC and text difficulty on voluntary MW were significant,whereas those on involuntary MW were not;2)while reading the easy texts,the involuntary MW of high-WMC individuals was less frequent than that of low-WMC ones,whereas while reading the difficult ones,the direct relationship between WMC and involuntary MW was not found;and that 3)high-WMC individuals had a lower overall rate of MW and better reading performance than low-WMC individuals did,but with increasing text difficulty,their rates of overall MW and voluntary MW were getting higher and higher,and the reading performance was getting lower and lower.These results lend support to WM theory and have pedagogical implications for the instruction of L2 reading.展开更多
Recently, the researchers put their attention on the literature works on Virginia Woolf or James Joyce too heavily just because the skill of stream of consciousness is used through the novel completely. Choosing this ...Recently, the researchers put their attention on the literature works on Virginia Woolf or James Joyce too heavily just because the skill of stream of consciousness is used through the novel completely. Choosing this novel by Japanese writer as an example is an experiment, because the stream of consciousness as a composing method has melted its impression into the modem novel. And in the researcher＇s opinion, regardless the traditional part, the researching focus should be shifted on the works written by nowadays writer. To begin this paper, there are four questions should be solved： First, the definition of stream of consciousness should be known clearly; another question is the structure analysis of structure of Hear the Wind Sing; secondly, compared with the mental space theory and blending theory by Fauconnier, how to judge the function of Three Phases of memory＇s direction on reading should be focused on; thirdly, the reason why readers meet the problem of barrier when they read the stream of consciousness novel, and how the memory helps to solve the problem should be study in this section. Fourth, the extra factors which support the function of memory will enhance the skill of reading the SOC novel and finally foreground the meaning.展开更多
文摘This experimental study investigated how text difficulty and different working memory capacity(WMC)affected Chinese EFL learners’reading comprehension and their tendency to engage in task-unrelated thoughts,that is,mind wandering(MW),in the course of reading.Sixty first-year university non-English majors participated in the study.A two-factor mixed experimental design of 2(text difficulty:difficult and simple)×2(WMC:high/large and low/small)was employed.Results revealed that 1)the main and interaction effects of WMC and text difficulty on voluntary MW were significant,whereas those on involuntary MW were not;2)while reading the easy texts,the involuntary MW of high-WMC individuals was less frequent than that of low-WMC ones,whereas while reading the difficult ones,the direct relationship between WMC and involuntary MW was not found;and that 3)high-WMC individuals had a lower overall rate of MW and better reading performance than low-WMC individuals did,but with increasing text difficulty,their rates of overall MW and voluntary MW were getting higher and higher,and the reading performance was getting lower and lower.These results lend support to WM theory and have pedagogical implications for the instruction of L2 reading.
文摘Recently, the researchers put their attention on the literature works on Virginia Woolf or James Joyce too heavily just because the skill of stream of consciousness is used through the novel completely. Choosing this novel by Japanese writer as an example is an experiment, because the stream of consciousness as a composing method has melted its impression into the modem novel. And in the researcher＇s opinion, regardless the traditional part, the researching focus should be shifted on the works written by nowadays writer. To begin this paper, there are four questions should be solved： First, the definition of stream of consciousness should be known clearly; another question is the structure analysis of structure of Hear the Wind Sing; secondly, compared with the mental space theory and blending theory by Fauconnier, how to judge the function of Three Phases of memory＇s direction on reading should be focused on; thirdly, the reason why readers meet the problem of barrier when they read the stream of consciousness novel, and how the memory helps to solve the problem should be study in this section. Fourth, the extra factors which support the function of memory will enhance the skill of reading the SOC novel and finally foreground the meaning.
