Precerpt from My 20th Language: Cognitive Load
Precerpt (excerpt prior to publication) from My 20th Language by Dr. Betty Lou Leaver -- Cognitive Load In native language processing, cognitive load is often minimized by familiarity. The reader (or listener) processes syntax, vocabulary, and idiomatic expressions with automaticity, allowing attention to shift toward higher-order tasks: inference, tone, nuance, and editorial judgment. For me, this means I can read and edit at quick speed in English, absorbing full lines and paragraphs in a single glance (I actually learned to speed read as a child)—my mind chunking meaning with ease, like a pianist playing from muscle memory. Foreign language reading, however, introduces a layered complexity. Depending upon the text (something simple like an advertisement vs something more nuanced like an op ed piece), many words may demand conscious decoding for denotative, connotative, and sociolinguistic meaning—and sometimes, when working alone, that might even mean conduct...