Relative Importance of Lexical Features in Word Processing During L2 Reading

Word processing during reading is known to be influenced by lexical features such as length, frequency, and predictability. This study examined the relative importance of these features in word processing during L2 English reading. We used data from an eye-tracking corpus and applied a machine-learning approach to model the data and identify key predictors. Predictors comprised several lexical features, including length, frequency, and predictability (e.g., surprisal). Additionally, sentence, passage, and reader characteristics were considered for comparison. The analysis found that word length was the most important variable across several eye-tracking measures. However, for certain measures, word frequency and predictability were more important than length, and in some cases, reader characteristics such as proficiency were more significant than lexical features. These findings indicate that different factors become more important at various stages of word processing, highlighting the complex cognitive processes involved in word processing during L2 reading.