Asunción López-Manjón

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid | UAM · Basic Psychology (Cognitive Processes)

This project was support by MINNECO, Spain, and the European Union. The objective of this research project is to develop a system for evaluating reading comprehension in Spanish, as both a second and a foreign language (L2), which can be used in conjunction with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF) and which will complement existing evaluations of linguistic competence in foreign languages by identifying factors which are more psychological in nature and which, up to now, have not always been taken into account. This is, therefore, an interdisciplinary project which integrates two teams of researchers. One team consists of cognitive psychologists from the Autonomous University of Madrid (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) who specialize in the comprehension of text and discourse. The other team is comprised of linguists mostly specializing in the teaching of Spanish as a foreign and second language. The majority of these are members of the Department of Applied Linguistics at the University of Nebrija. Altogether, 14 researchers are involved. The Project will analyze psychological processes and outcomes which complement linguistic processes and will investigate 4 main areas: a), The evaluation of comprehension with reference to the text being read, in which different text genres (in original and adapted versions) will be analyzed with a view to modifying them according to linguistic and cognitive criteria, in order to make them more suitable for use at beginner levels of Spanish as a L2; b), The evaluation of the cognitive variables involved during the reading comprehension process (for example, types of background knowledge, levels of mental representation, the generation of inferences) in order to identify the criteria which influence their use. This part of the study will compare the reading competence and reading processes of non-native students of Spanish when reading in their L1 and in Spanish as their L2, as well as the reading competence of native Spanish readers reading in Spanish (L1) and in the L2 they are studying; c), The evaluation of cognitive variables with reference to task type. For example, ‘open’ tasks such as summaries, paraphrase or writing headings, or ‘closed’ tasks such as multiple choice; d), A comparison between how expert readers and evaluators assess open answers with how a computational model, which has already been developed, evaluates the same answers. Although the results of the study will be directly relevant to the comprehension and production of written discourse, it is expected that they will also be of relevance to the comprehension and production of oral language.