Application of the orthographic depth hypothesis to Chinese-English bilingual word recognition

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study investigated the nature of bilingual word recognition in English monolinguals and Chinese-English bilinguals. It has been argued that bilinguals have two interdependent language systems and that ability in one language can affect performance in the other according to orthographic depth (Frost & Katz, 1992) of the respective scripts. Reaction time and accuracy were recorded while participants (n=40) completed a continuous recognition task in which the orthographic depth of stimuli were varied. Results indicated that English monolinguals were more accurate than Chinese-English bilinguals at the phonological task, but less accurate at logographic (orthographic) tasks, while both groups performed at the same level with the English real word task. These results suggest that the orthographic depth of a bilingual's original language affects performance in the second language.