Abstract Reading in a second language (L2) consists of lower-level linguistic processing and higher-level meaning integration. The lower-level processing has posed great challenges for beginning readers whose L1 (alphabetic language) is drastically different from their L2 (morphosyllabary Chinese). Diagnostic assessment is designed to identify readers’ weaknesses in lower-level processing and allows language teachers to detect learners’ reading problems and to conduct targeted remediation. However, few appropriate diagnostic tools are available for L2 reading and research on these tools’ diagnostic effectiveness is scarce. The present study investigated the applicability of word reading, word segmentation, and text reading as diagnostic instruments for alphabetic-language-speaking, low-level Chinese L2 learners (n = 70). Results showed that all three instruments effectively identified weak readers, diagnosed reading problems, and pinpointed individual’s difficulties. These findings offered empirical support for the three instruments as effective diagnostic tools in Chinese low-level L2 reading instruction and suggested the importance of developing lower-level processing skills.

中文翻译：

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低水平汉语第二语言学习者阅读问题诊断

摘要 第二语言 (L2) 阅读包括低层次的语言处理和高层次的意义整合。低层次的处理给初读者带来了巨大的挑战，他们的 L1（字母语言）与 L2（形态音节汉语）截然不同。诊断性评估旨在识别读者在较低层次处理中的弱点，并使语言教师能够发现学习者的阅读问题并进行有针对性的补救。然而，很少有合适的诊断工具可用于 L2 阅读，并且对这些工具的诊断有效性的研究很少。本研究调查了单词阅读、分词和文本阅读作为使用字母语言的低水平中文 L2 学习者（n = 70）的诊断工具的适用性。结果表明，这三种工具都有效地识别了弱读者，诊断了阅读问题，并查明了个人的困难。这些发现为这三种工具作为汉语低水平二语阅读教学的有效诊断工具提供了实证支持，并表明了发展低水平处理技能的重要性。