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Loanwords and Word Guessing: The Impact of a Training Intervention #1267

When reading in a second language (L2), we often come across words that we do not know. At such times, we may guess word meaning by using available information, such as sentence context. We may also notice similarities in form (i.e., spelling and/or the expected pronunciation) with words that we know in our first language (L1). Cognates and loanwords, which typically share some degree of form and meaning across languages, may be particularly helpful for guessing unknown L2 word meanings. However, it has been reported that learners often fail to notice cross-linguistic similarities and thus fail to take advantage of them during inferencing. The present study investigated whether a brief training intervention, which raises awareness of Japanese loanwords derived from English (e.g., イルミネーション / irumineeshon/ ‘illumination’), can improve word guessing accuracy. Initial findings from a study with Japanese learners of English reveal small but significant increases in guessing accuracy for unknown English words that have loanwords in Japanese. This presentation will describe the research design, preliminary findings, and implications of the ongoing study.