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Lexical processing of nominal compounds in first- and second-language learners across primary grades

We investigated processing strategies in the reading of Dutch compound words (e.g., ‘bezemsteel’ [broomstick]) by young first- (L1) and second-language (L2) learners in three grades of primary school. Turkish-Dutch bilingual children (L2) and Dutch monolingual children (L1) from second, fourth and sixth grade performed a lexical decision task in which the frequency of the whole compound, the frequency of the first constituent and the frequency of the second constituent was manipulated. We found that reaction times and accuracy scores were influenced by both whole-word and constituent information in both the L1 and L2 learners in all grades. However, the L2 learners were typically less efficient in processing this information. In addition, the way in which whole-word and constituent frequency was processed by the L1 and L2 learners was not stable across grades. The results are discussed in terms of theories on morphological processing and reading acquisition.