The Relationship between Working Memory Capacity, Information Encoding Levels and Reading Comprehension in Native and Foreign language in Female College Students

Abstract

Language is considered the most supreme feature of power and uniqueness that man has (Yusef, 1997). It is a tool of thinking and a system for communication between both individuals and groups (Al- Said, 2008). Its greatest importance lies in making usunlike the other creatures- the subjects and objects of our own behavior (Vygotsky, 1978), as the language is not only a method of communication but also the means of making those meanings that we communicate (Freire & Macedo, 1987). It also plays an important role in planning the higher mental processes or as Vygotsky called "The Higher Psychological Functions", as both the language and action are parts of the same complex psychological functions directed toward solving problems or accomplishing different tasks (Vygotsky, 1978). This highlights the importance of studying language both psychologically and educationally to achieve deeper understanding of the factors that facilitate its acquisition and that lead to gain proficiency in it. Man's ability to listen, understand, speak, read and write a language is considered one of the most complex things that man is capable of (Soeters, 2009), as it requires multiple processes and various skills (Arab, 2009; Baddeley, 1999; Levitin, 2002). Spyridakis and Wenger (1992) state that reading involves nearly all the processes that interest cognitive scientists: perception, recognition, encoding, storing, retrieving of information, use of the rules of language and complex forms of reasoning and problemsolving. The memory processes can be divided into three main stages: encoding, storing and retrieval. First of all there is the input stage, where newly perceived information is being encoded. Next comes the storage stage, where the information is simply held. Finally there is the output stage, where the information is retrieved from storage (Groome et al., 1993). Memory is not one system but it includes many. These systems range in storage duration from a fraction of a second up to a lifetime, and in storage capacity from a tiny buffer store to the long-term memory system that exceeds in capacity and flexibility the largest available computer (Baddeley, 1990).