The current study examined the potential language and literacy factors that best explain the L2 reading comprehension abilities of Korean EFL learners. A total of 70 intermediate-level Korean high school students participated in this study and were tested on L1 and L2 reading comprehension, L2 vocabulary, and L2 syntactic knowledge. The findings indicated that, between L1 reading skills and L2 proficiency, L2 proficiency played a more crucial role in predicting L2 reading comprehension. Throughout the analyses, the linguistic threshold hypothesis was supported, demonstrating a threshold level of language proficiency above which learners can effectively transfer their L1 reading skills to L2 reading comprehension. These results highlight the important pedagogical implications for the critical role of L2 proficiency and show the threshold level of proficiency necessary for Korean EFL learners. The insights gained from this study are expected to provide targeted instructional strategies and recommendations, aimed at effectively supporting EFL learners with diverse skills and abilities.

I. Introduction
II. Literature Review
    1. Reading Process
    2. The Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis
    3. The Linguistic Threshold Hypothesis
III. Methodology
    1. Participants
    2. Measures
    3. Analyses
IV. Results
V. Discussion and Conclusion
References

• Sungin Chin(Beondong Middle School)