We assessed the relationship between word-to-text-integration (WTI) and reading comprehension in 7th grade students (n = 441) learning English as a second language (L2). The students performed a self-paced WTI reading task in Fall (T1) and Spring (T2), consisting of three text manipulation types (anaphora resolution, argument overlap, anomaly detection), divided in simple and complex passages. The passages contained proximate versus distant anaphora, explicit repetitions versus implicit inferences, and no anomalies versus anomalies. We first examined how WTI complexity was related to reading times on target, target plus one, and target plus two, controlling for word frequency, decoding fluency, gender, and age. Mixed-effects models showed shorter reading times on T2 than on T1 and for simple compared to complex passages, indicating improvement of L2 reading speed. Complexity affected WTI for our L2 learners, as was reflected by longer reading times on complex compared to simple argument overlap and anomaly detection passages. We then assessed whether reading comprehension could be predicted by WTI. Longer reading times on complex compared to simple argument overlap and anomaly detection passages predicted offline reading comprehension. These WTI-measures of complexity are thus indicators of WTI proficiency for novice L2 learners.

我们评估了7年级学生的单词到文本整合（WTI）与阅读理解之间的关系（n = 441）学习英语作为第二语言（L2）。学生在秋季（T1）和春季（T2）执行了自定进度的WTI阅读任务，该任务由三种文本操作类型（回指分辨率，参数重叠，异常检测）组成，分为简单和复杂的段落。这些段落包含近距与远距照应，显式重复与隐含推论，无异常与异常。我们首先研究了WTI复杂度与目标，目标加一和目标加二的阅读时间之间的关系，控制单词频率，解码流畅度，性别和年龄。混合效果模型显示，与复杂段落相比，T2上的阅读时间比T1上的阅读时间短，这表明L2阅读速度有所提高。复杂性影响了我们第二语言学习者的WTI，与简单的参数重叠和异常检测通道相比，在复合体上的较长读取时间反映了这一点。然后，我们评估了WTI是否可以预测阅读理解。与简单的参数重叠和异常检测段落相比，复杂阅读时间更长，可以预测离线阅读理解。这些复杂性的WTI量度因此成为L2新手学习者WTI能力的指标。