Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the validity of a bisyllabic onset task as an efficient measure of individual differences in language proficiency among adult speakers of Korean and to examine the relationship between the performance of the onset task and individual differences in language processing. Eighty-two adult participants were administered the bisyllabic onset task along with tasks that investigate language ability and linguistic information processing, and the relationship between the bisyllabic onset task measures and individual differences in linguistic information processing was analyzed through correlation analyses and linear mixed-effects model analyses. The onset task measures were significantly correlated with other measures of individual differences, and linear mixed-effects model analyses showed that the onset task measures explained well the oculomotor measures of reading and the reaction times of a lexical decision task. In addition, there was a strong inverse correlation between the order of words produced in the onset task and the frequency of words: the earlier the order of production, the higher the frequency of words, and these results are discussed based on word recognition models. Overall, the results of this study indicate that the bisyllabic onset task is an effective measure of individual differences in language proficiency.