Rob Schoonen
Biographic Data
| ID | 1691773 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rob Schoonen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rob |
| FAMILY NAME | Schoonen |
| SIGNATURE | SCHOONEN R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Amsterdam |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3500-9262 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 111 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Cross-linguistic influence in the acquisition of grammatical gender in Dutch as a heritage language in bilingual children
The influence of one of a bilingual’s languages on the other is known as cross-linguistic influence (CLI). In grammatical gender acquisition, CLI can occur during gender discovery, assignment and agreement. The present study investigates CLI in Dutch as a heritage language, a language with a non-transparent gender system, in two groups of bilingual children. One (i.e., Dutch-German bilingual children) is acquiring languages with similar gender sy…
Structural Equation Modeling
Structural equation modeling (SEM) refers to a flexible and rich analytic approach that can be used to address a variety of research questions through a combination of factor analysis and path analysis. Although not (yet) widely used in applied linguistics, SEM has been applied in research to test complex hypotheses about performance levels of groups, relationships between variables, and the invariance of these relations across various groups, su…
The role of linguistic context and language similarity in the relationship between language exposure and language proficiency in bilingual children
Amount of exposure has consistently been shown to influence language development in bilingual children. To date, it has been treated as a variable that affects language development in the same way in different groups of bilingual children, but insights from several fields suggest that the similarity between languages and the context in which they are acquired may play a modulating role. This study therefore investigated the relationship between a…
Voluntary and cued language switching in late bilingual speakers
Previous research examining the factors that determine language choice and voluntary switching mainly involved early bilinguals. Here, using picture naming, we investigated language choice and switching in late Dutch–English bilinguals. We found that naming was overall slower in cued than in voluntary switching, but switch costs occurred in both types of switching. The magnitude of switch costs differed depending on the task and language, and was…
Executive control in bilingual aphasia: A systematic review
Much research has been dedicated to the effects of bilingualism on executive control (EC). For bilinguals with aphasia , the interplay with EC is complex. In this systematic review, we synthesize research on this topic and provide an overview of the current state of the field. First, we examine the evidence for EC deficits in bilingual persons with aphasia (bPWA). We then discuss the domain generality of bilingual language control impairments. Fi…
The Effect of Learning Context on L2 Listening Development: Knowledge and Processing
Little research has been done on the effect of learning context on L2 listening development. Motivated by DeKeyser’s (2015) skill acquisition theory of second language acquisition, this study compares L2 listening development in study abroad (SA) and at home (AH) contexts from both language knowledge and processing perspectives. One hundred forty-nine Chinese postgraduates studying in either China or the United Kingdom participated in a battery o…
Professional and non-professional raters’ responsiveness to fluency and accuracy in L2 speech: An experimental approach
It is general practice to use rater judgments in speaking proficiency testing. However, it has been shown that raters’ knowledge and experience may influence their ratings, both in terms of leniency and varied focus on different aspects of speech. The purpose of this study is to identify raters’ relative responsiveness to fluency and linguistic accuracy in an occupational context, and to investigate whether professional and non-professional rater…
Second language fluency: Speaking style or proficiency? Correcting measures of second language fluency for first language behavior
In second language (L2) research and testing, measures of oral fluency are used as diagnostics for proficiency. However, fluency is also determined by personality or speaking style, raising the question to what extent L2 fluency measures are valid indicators of L2 proficiency. In this study, we obtained a measure of L2 (Dutch) proficiency (vocabulary knowledge), L2 fluency measures, and fluency measures that were corrected for first language beha…
Structural Equation Modeling: Possibilities for Language Learning Researchers1
Although classical statistical techniques have been a valuable tool in second language (L2) research, L2 research questions have started to grow beyond those techniques' capabilities, and indeed are often limited by them. Questions about how complex constructs relate to each other or to constituent subskills, about longitudinal development in those constructs and factors affecting that development, and about differences among populations in avera…
Improving the Validity of Quantitative Measures in Applied Linguistics Research1
In empirical applied linguistics research it is essential that the key variables are operationalized in a valid and reliable way, and that the scores are treated appropriately, allowing for a proper testing of the hypotheses under investigation. The current article addresses several theoretical and practical issues regarding the use of measurement instruments and scores. Starting from an elaborated treatment of validity and validation, it introdu…
Improving Second Language Quantitative Research
Guidelines for Reporting Quantitative Methods and Results in Primary Research
Adequate reporting of quantitative research about language learning involves careful consideration of the logic, rationale, and actions underlying both study designs and the ways in which data are analyzed. These guidelines, commissioned and vetted by the board of directors of Language Learning, outline the basic expectations for reporting of quantitative primary research with a specific focus on Method and Results sections. The guidelines are ba…
Linguistic skills and speaking fluency in a second language
This study investigated how individual differences in linguistic knowledge and processing skills relate to individual differences in speaking fluency. Speakers of Dutch as a second language ( N = 179) performed eight speaking tasks, from which several measures of fluency were derived such as measures for pausing, repairing, and speed (mean syllable duration). In addition, participants performed separate tasks, designed to gauge individuals’ secon…
Structural Equation Modeling
Structural equation modeling (SEM) refers to a flexible and rich analytic approach that can be used to address a variety of research questions through a combination of factor analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression analysis.
Facets of Speaking Proficiency
This study examined the componential structure of second-language (L2) speaking proficiency. Participants—181 L2 and 54 native speakers of Dutch—performed eight speaking tasks and six tasks tapping nine linguistic skills. Performance in the speaking tasks was rated on functional adequacy by a panel of judges and formed the dependent variable in subsequent analyses (structural equation modeling). The following independent variables were assessed s…
Linguistic competences of learners of Dutch as a second language at the B1 and B2 levels of speaking proficiency of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Cefr)
This study examines the associations between the speaking proficiency of 181 adult learners of Dutch as a second language and their linguistic competences. Performance in eight speaking tasks was rated on a scale of communicative adequacy. After extrapolation of these ratings to the Overall Oral Production scale of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) (Council of Europe, 2001), 80 and 30 participants (on average per spe…
Determinants of Success in Native and Non-Native Listening Comprehension: An Individual Differences Approach
The goal of this study was to explain individual differences in both native and non-native listening comprehension; 121 native and 113 non-native speakers of Dutch were tested on various linguistic and nonlinguistic cognitive skills thought to underlie listening comprehension. Structural equation modeling was used to identify the predictors of individual differences in listening comprehension and to test for differences between the native and non…
Do word associations assess word knowledge? A comparison of L1 and L2, child and adult word associations
Differences in word associations between monolingual and bilingual speakers of Dutch can reflect differences in how well seemingly familiar words are known. In this (exploratory) study mono-and bilingual, child and adult free word associations were compared. Responses of children and of monolingual speakers were found to be more dispersed across response categories than responses of adults and of L2 speakers, respectively. Log linear analyses sho…
Modeling the Development of L1 and EFL Writing Proficiency of Secondary School Students
This longitudinal study investigates the development of writing proficiency in English as a foreign language (EFL), in contrast to the development of first language (L1) writing proficiency in Dutch L1, in a sample of almost 400 secondary school students in the Netherlands. Students performed several writing tasks in both languages in three consecutive years. Furthermore, data were collected about students' metacognitive and linguistic knowledge …
The assessment of deep word knowledge in young first and second language learners
The assessment of so-called depth of word knowledge has been the focus of research for some years now. In this article the construct of deep word knowledge is further specified as the decontextualized knowledge of word meanings and word associations. Most studies so far have involved adolescent and adult second language learners. In this article, we extend the focus to younger first and second language learning children in primary school in the N…
Unraveling the Componential Structure of Second‐Language Skills
Inhibition or Compensation? A Multidimensional Comparison of Reading Processes in Dutch and English
This article examines 2 hypotheses about processing of global text content in second language reading: the inhibition hypothesis and the compensation hypothesis. A 3-dimensional classification scheme is used to compare 22 Dutch high school students' reading strategies in Dutch and English. Results show that the readers use higher proportions of Language-Oriented strategies, Regulatory strategies, and Above-Clause strategies in English than in Dut…
Editors' Announcement
Generalizability of writing scores: An application of structural equation modeling
The assessment of writing ability is notoriously difficult. Different facets of the assessment seem to influence its outcome. Besides the writer’s writing proficiency, the topic of the assignment, the features or traits scored (e.g., content or language use) and even the way in which these traits are scored (e.g., holistically or analytically) may contribute to the writer’s score. In this article, the effect of these facets is estimated in a gene…
Street Language: A Multilingual Youth Register in the Netherlands
This paper reports on an empirical study of street language, a multilingual youth register in the Netherlands. Nearly 300 secondary school students completed a questionnaire on their acquaintance with and use of street language. A subsample of students was also interviewed. Use of street language will be related to background information about the students, their Dutch language proficiency and contextual characteristics. The results of the study …
First Language and Second Language Writing: The Role of Linguistic Knowledge, Speed of Processing, and Metacognitive Knowledge
In this study the relative importance of linguistic knowledge, metacognitive knowledge, and fluency or accessibility of this linguistic knowledge in both first language (L1; Dutch) and second language (L2; English) writing was explored. Data were collected from 281 grade 8 students. Using structural equation modeling, the relative importance of the three components was studied and compared across L1 and L2 writing. The results showed that the flu…
Metacognitive and Language-Specific Knowledge in Native and Foreign Language Reading Comprehension: An Empirical Study Among Dutch Students in Grades 6, 8 and 10
This article gives the results of a study among 685 students in grades 6, 8 and 10 in the Netherlands to whom we administered grade-appropriate measures of reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge in their native language (NL), Dutch, as well as, in grades 8 and 10, in English as a foreign language (EFL). All students answered the same questionnaire on (4 components of) metacognitive knowledge of reading. The aim was to explore the relative…
Determinants of Success in Native and Non-Native Listening Comprehension: An Individual Differences Approach
The goal of this study was to explain individual differences in both native and non-native listening comprehension; 121 native and 113 non-native speakers of Dutch were tested on various linguistic and nonlinguistic cognitive skills thought to underlie listening comprehension. Structural equation modeling was used to identify the predictors of individual differences in listening comprehension and to test for differences between the native and non…
Guidelines for Reporting Quantitative Methods and Results in Primary Research
Adequate reporting of quantitative research about language learning involves careful consideration of the logic, rationale, and actions underlying both study designs and the ways in which data are analyzed. These guidelines, commissioned and vetted by the board of directors of Language Learning, outline the basic expectations for reporting of quantitative primary research with a specific focus on Method and Results sections. The guidelines are ba…
Improving the Validity of Quantitative Measures in Applied Linguistics Research1
In empirical applied linguistics research it is essential that the key variables are operationalized in a valid and reliable way, and that the scores are treated appropriately, allowing for a proper testing of the hypotheses under investigation. The current article addresses several theoretical and practical issues regarding the use of measurement instruments and scores. Starting from an elaborated treatment of validity and validation, it introdu…
Modeling the Development of L1 and EFL Writing Proficiency of Secondary School Students
This longitudinal study investigates the development of writing proficiency in English as a foreign language (EFL), in contrast to the development of first language (L1) writing proficiency in Dutch L1, in a sample of almost 400 secondary school students in the Netherlands. Students performed several writing tasks in both languages in three consecutive years. Furthermore, data were collected about students' metacognitive and linguistic knowledge …
Structural Equation Modeling: Possibilities for Language Learning Researchers1
Although classical statistical techniques have been a valuable tool in second language (L2) research, L2 research questions have started to grow beyond those techniques' capabilities, and indeed are often limited by them. Questions about how complex constructs relate to each other or to constituent subskills, about longitudinal development in those constructs and factors affecting that development, and about differences among populations in avera…
Street Language: A Multilingual Youth Register in the Netherlands
This paper reports on an empirical study of street language, a multilingual youth register in the Netherlands. Nearly 300 secondary school students completed a questionnaire on their acquaintance with and use of street language. A subsample of students was also interviewed. Use of street language will be related to background information about the students, their Dutch language proficiency and contextual characteristics. The results of the study …
Editors' Announcement
Inhibition or Compensation? A Multidimensional Comparison of Reading Processes in Dutch and English
This article examines 2 hypotheses about processing of global text content in second language reading: the inhibition hypothesis and the compensation hypothesis. A 3-dimensional classification scheme is used to compare 22 Dutch high school students' reading strategies in Dutch and English. Results show that the readers use higher proportions of Language-Oriented strategies, Regulatory strategies, and Above-Clause strategies in English than in Dut…
Improving Second Language Quantitative Research
Generalizability of spontaneous speech data: The effect of occasion and place on the speech production of children
This study evaluated the effect of occasion and place on the generalizability of spontaneous speech data. Language samples were obtained from four normally developing children aged 3;8 and 3;9 from Dutch-speaking professional homes. Four samples of 100 utterances were gathered from each child, two samples at home and two in a clinical setting. All samples were recorded under unstructured conversational conditions. The time gap between first and l…
The assessment of writing ability: Expert readers versus lay readers
This article reports on three studies about the reading reliability of lay and expert readers in rating three kinds of writing assignments. Readers had to rate the Con tent and Language Usage of students' writing performances. The studies show that expert readers are more reliable in rating Usage, whereas both lay readers and expert readers prove to be reliable raters of Content. When the writing assignment becomes more restrictive, as is the cas…
Lexical Knowledge in L1 and L2 of Third and Fifth Graders
Lexical knowledge is an important predictor of school success. The present study focuses on aspects of the lexical knowledge of bilingual children in both their L1 and L2. It not only compares the amount of knowledge they have but also deals with qualitative aspects of their lexical knowledge. Data were obtained from 40 bilingual Turkish-Dutch children (9- and 11-year-olds) living in the Netherlands. These children were asked to explain the meani…
Metacognitive and Language-Specific Knowledge in Native and Foreign Language Reading Comprehension: An Empirical Study Among Dutch Students in Grades 6, 8 and 10
This article gives the results of a study among 685 students in grades 6, 8 and 10 in the Netherlands to whom we administered grade-appropriate measures of reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge in their native language (NL), Dutch, as well as, in grades 8 and 10, in English as a foreign language (EFL). All students answered the same questionnaire on (4 components of) metacognitive knowledge of reading. The aim was to explore the relative…
Roles of linguistic knowledge, metacognitive knowledge and processing speed in L3, L2 and L1 reading comprehension: A structural equation modeling approach
In this article we present an analysis of the relationship between L3 reading comprehension and its constituent skills for bilingual Dutch students for whom English is a third language(L3) compared to monolingual Dutch students for whom English is a second language(L2). An analogous analysis is made for their Dutch reading comprehension, Dutch being their L2 and L1 respectively. Participants are 13/14 year-old secondary school students. The point…
First Language and Second Language Writing: The Role of Linguistic Knowledge, Speed of Processing, and Metacognitive Knowledge
In this study the relative importance of linguistic knowledge, metacognitive knowledge, and fluency or accessibility of this linguistic knowledge in both first language (L1; Dutch) and second language (L2; English) writing was explored. Data were collected from 281 grade 8 students. Using structural equation modeling, the relative importance of the three components was studied and compared across L1 and L2 writing. The results showed that the flu…
Generalizability of writing scores: An application of structural equation modeling
The assessment of writing ability is notoriously difficult. Different facets of the assessment seem to influence its outcome. Besides the writer’s writing proficiency, the topic of the assignment, the features or traits scored (e.g., content or language use) and even the way in which these traits are scored (e.g., holistically or analytically) may contribute to the writer’s score. In this article, the effect of these facets is estimated in a gene…
Street Language: A Multilingual Youth Register in the Netherlands
This paper reports on an empirical study of street language, a multilingual youth register in the Netherlands. Nearly 300 secondary school students completed a questionnaire on their acquaintance with and use of street language. A subsample of students was also interviewed. Use of street language will be related to background information about the students, their Dutch language proficiency and contextual characteristics. The results of the study …
Unraveling the Componential Structure of Second‐Language Skills
Inhibition or Compensation? A Multidimensional Comparison of Reading Processes in Dutch and English
This article examines 2 hypotheses about processing of global text content in second language reading: the inhibition hypothesis and the compensation hypothesis. A 3-dimensional classification scheme is used to compare 22 Dutch high school students' reading strategies in Dutch and English. Results show that the readers use higher proportions of Language-Oriented strategies, Regulatory strategies, and Above-Clause strategies in English than in Dut…
Editors' Announcement
The assessment of deep word knowledge in young first and second language learners
The assessment of so-called depth of word knowledge has been the focus of research for some years now. In this article the construct of deep word knowledge is further specified as the decontextualized knowledge of word meanings and word associations. Most studies so far have involved adolescent and adult second language learners. In this article, we extend the focus to younger first and second language learning children in primary school in the N…
Do word associations assess word knowledge? A comparison of L1 and L2, child and adult word associations
Differences in word associations between monolingual and bilingual speakers of Dutch can reflect differences in how well seemingly familiar words are known. In this (exploratory) study mono-and bilingual, child and adult free word associations were compared. Responses of children and of monolingual speakers were found to be more dispersed across response categories than responses of adults and of L2 speakers, respectively. Log linear analyses sho…
Modeling the Development of L1 and EFL Writing Proficiency of Secondary School Students
This longitudinal study investigates the development of writing proficiency in English as a foreign language (EFL), in contrast to the development of first language (L1) writing proficiency in Dutch L1, in a sample of almost 400 secondary school students in the Netherlands. Students performed several writing tasks in both languages in three consecutive years. Furthermore, data were collected about students' metacognitive and linguistic knowledge …
Structural Equation Modeling
Structural equation modeling (SEM) refers to a flexible and rich analytic approach that can be used to address a variety of research questions through a combination of factor analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression analysis.
Facets of Speaking Proficiency
This study examined the componential structure of second-language (L2) speaking proficiency. Participants—181 L2 and 54 native speakers of Dutch—performed eight speaking tasks and six tasks tapping nine linguistic skills. Performance in the speaking tasks was rated on functional adequacy by a panel of judges and formed the dependent variable in subsequent analyses (structural equation modeling). The following independent variables were assessed s…
Linguistic competences of learners of Dutch as a second language at the B1 and B2 levels of speaking proficiency of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Cefr)
This study examines the associations between the speaking proficiency of 181 adult learners of Dutch as a second language and their linguistic competences. Performance in eight speaking tasks was rated on a scale of communicative adequacy. After extrapolation of these ratings to the Overall Oral Production scale of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) (Council of Europe, 2001), 80 and 30 participants (on average per spe…
Determinants of Success in Native and Non-Native Listening Comprehension: An Individual Differences Approach
The goal of this study was to explain individual differences in both native and non-native listening comprehension; 121 native and 113 non-native speakers of Dutch were tested on various linguistic and nonlinguistic cognitive skills thought to underlie listening comprehension. Structural equation modeling was used to identify the predictors of individual differences in listening comprehension and to test for differences between the native and non…
Linguistic skills and speaking fluency in a second language
This study investigated how individual differences in linguistic knowledge and processing skills relate to individual differences in speaking fluency. Speakers of Dutch as a second language ( N = 179) performed eight speaking tasks, from which several measures of fluency were derived such as measures for pausing, repairing, and speed (mean syllable duration). In addition, participants performed separate tasks, designed to gauge individuals’ secon…
Second language fluency: Speaking style or proficiency? Correcting measures of second language fluency for first language behavior
In second language (L2) research and testing, measures of oral fluency are used as diagnostics for proficiency. However, fluency is also determined by personality or speaking style, raising the question to what extent L2 fluency measures are valid indicators of L2 proficiency. In this study, we obtained a measure of L2 (Dutch) proficiency (vocabulary knowledge), L2 fluency measures, and fluency measures that were corrected for first language beha…
Structural Equation Modeling: Possibilities for Language Learning Researchers1
Although classical statistical techniques have been a valuable tool in second language (L2) research, L2 research questions have started to grow beyond those techniques' capabilities, and indeed are often limited by them. Questions about how complex constructs relate to each other or to constituent subskills, about longitudinal development in those constructs and factors affecting that development, and about differences among populations in avera…
Improving the Validity of Quantitative Measures in Applied Linguistics Research1
In empirical applied linguistics research it is essential that the key variables are operationalized in a valid and reliable way, and that the scores are treated appropriately, allowing for a proper testing of the hypotheses under investigation. The current article addresses several theoretical and practical issues regarding the use of measurement instruments and scores. Starting from an elaborated treatment of validity and validation, it introdu…
Improving Second Language Quantitative Research
Guidelines for Reporting Quantitative Methods and Results in Primary Research
Adequate reporting of quantitative research about language learning involves careful consideration of the logic, rationale, and actions underlying both study designs and the ways in which data are analyzed. These guidelines, commissioned and vetted by the board of directors of Language Learning, outline the basic expectations for reporting of quantitative primary research with a specific focus on Method and Results sections. The guidelines are ba…
Professional and non-professional raters’ responsiveness to fluency and accuracy in L2 speech: An experimental approach
It is general practice to use rater judgments in speaking proficiency testing. However, it has been shown that raters’ knowledge and experience may influence their ratings, both in terms of leniency and varied focus on different aspects of speech. The purpose of this study is to identify raters’ relative responsiveness to fluency and linguistic accuracy in an occupational context, and to investigate whether professional and non-professional rater…
Psychology (24 works) · Linguistics (22 works) · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning (17 works) · Mathematics education (14 works) · Computer Science (13 works) · Language proficiency (12 works) · Second Language Acquisition and Learning (12 works) · Cognitive psychology (11 works) · Reading and Literacy Development (10 works) · Vocabulary (9 works)