A Cross-Lingual Analysis of Pseudo-homophones' Recognition by Foreign Language Learners: Evidence for the Phonological basis of Word Recognition

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of foreign languages and linguistics, Shiraz University

10.22099/tesl.2025.52604.3387

Abstract

This study aimed at examining the cross-lingual recognition of French and English words and their pseudohomophones to verify the presence of Grapheme-Phoneme Conversion (GPC) for the word recognition of foreign language learners. Considering the study’s purposes, 100 Iranian advanced English and French learners were chosen and recruited for the study through the convenience sampling procedure. The participants' homogeneity and proficiency level were checked with the aid of an English proficiency test (McMillan Placement Test (MPT)) and a French proficiency test (Test d'Évaluation de Français (TEF)) before the examination phase. In order to investigate the participants' reaction-times for recognizing the real words, illegal non-words and legal non-words (pseudohomophones) a computerized test was designed which sought the participants' judgments about the presented linguistic construct on the screen. The employed words were chosen according to their morphological complexity, frequency and length from the learners’ course-books. Data analysis revealed that pseudohomophones were more challenging for recognition for both English and French learners; this was shown by their higher reaction-time needed for recognizing pseudohomophones compared with the real words and the illegal non-words. Although the occurrence of GPC for both groups was attested, it was significantly stronger for the French learners. These findings suggest that word recognition is inherently a phonological process (not an orthographic one) among foreign language learners.

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Teaching English as a Second Language Quarterly (Formerly Journal of Teaching Language Skills)

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 03 May 2025

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History

  • Receive Date: 02 March 2025
  • Revise Date: 30 April 2025
  • Accept Date: 03 May 2025

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