The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of learning experience on second language (L2) word recognition of novice learners at junior high school. The participants were first-year students at a public junior high school in Japan. Five types of stimuli were used to measure reaction time in a two-choice reaction time task: hiragana recognition (HR), uppercase Alphabet recognition (UR), lowercase Alphabet recognition (LR), Japanese word recognition (JR) and English word recognition (ER). Their response time was recorded almost every three months (April, July, October, and February). The results showed that ER differed from the other conditions. Post-hoc tests revealed that although HR, UR, LR and JR did not change in ten months, ER was faster in July than in April, and it was faster in October than in July. ER developed in six months. In April, those who reacted slowly in LR (Slow Group) were slower in ER than those who reacted fast in LR (Fast Group). About ten months later, the Slow Group was still slower in ER than the Fast Group. It was suggested that L2 processing experience in the first six months is essential to improve L2 word recognition, and through various activities utilizing orthographic knowledge, learners with different writing system or orthography can develop their L2 word recognition abilities smoothly.
