Rob Schoonen

Individual differences in first and second language proficiency: (psycho)linguistic sources

Radboud University Nijmegen

In this presentation the construct of language proficiency will be analyzed. Based on a series of empirical studies, I will decompose reading, writing, listening and speaking proficiency in terms of lexical and grammatical skills and knowledge required to successfully perform general language tasks. In these studies, the target languages are Dutch as a first or second language and English as a foreign language. The decomposition of language proficiency in (psycho)linguistic skills and knowledge allows us to explore the relationship between, for example, L1 and EFL reading and writing proficiency as a consequence of shared resources.