The role of the phonological loop in English word learning varies between Chinese ESL learners and native English speakers

Hamada & Koda (2011) investigated whether the extent to which the phonological loop contributes to learning and remembering visually introduced words varies between college-level Chinese ESL learners and native speakers of English. The results demonstrated that both groups’ recall declined when the phonological loop was made less available (with irregularly spelled words and in the articulatory suppression condition), but the decline was greater for the native group.

The authors concluded that word learning entails phonological encoding uniformly across learners, but the contribution of phonological varies among learners with diverse linguistic backgrounds. I am confused by this finding. Does this mean phonological loop affect L1 word learning more than L2 word learning in English? Or does it mean Chinese native speaker is more sensitive to visual input than English native speaker?

 

Hamada, M. & Koda K. (2011). The role of the phonological loop in English word learning: A comparison of Chinese ESL learners and native speakers