Differing sequences of metaphonological development in French and English

2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
LYNNE G. DUNCAN ◽  
PASCALE COLÉ ◽  
PHILIP H. K. SEYMOUR ◽  
ANNIE MAGNAN

Phonological awareness is thought to become increasingly analytic during early childhood. This study examines whether the proposed developmental sequence (syllable→onset-rime→phoneme) varies according to the characteristics of a child's native language. Experiment 1 compares the phonological segmentation skills of English speakers aged 4;11 (N=10), 5;3 (N=21), and 6;5 (N=23) and French speakers aged 5;6 (N=35), and 6;8 (N=34). Experiment 2 assesses performance in the common unit task using English speakers aged 4;7 (N=22), 5;7 (N=23), and 6;11 (N=22), and French speakers aged 4;7 (N=20), 5;6 (N=35), and 6;7 (N=33). The experiments reveal crosslinguistic differences in the processing of syllables prior to school entry with French speakers exhibiting a greater consistency in manipulating syllables. Phoneme awareness emerges in both languages once reading instruction is introduced and rime awareness appears to follow rather than precede this event. Thus, the emergence of phonological awareness did not show a universal pattern but rather was subject to the influence of both native language and literacy.

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 1083-1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALEXANDRA GOTTARDO ◽  
ADRIAN PASQUARELLA ◽  
XI CHEN ◽  
GLORIA RAMIREZ

ABSTRACTThe relationships among first language (L1) and second language (L2) phonological awareness and reading skills were examined in English L2 learners with a variety of L1s, specifically Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese (maximum N = 252). Longitudinal and concurrent relations between word reading and subcomponents of phonological awareness (i.e., syllable, onset-rime, phoneme, and, where applicable, tone awareness) were examined in kindergarten and first and second grades. The relationships between reading and specific subcomponents of phonological awareness were associated with the orthography being read, English or the L1. Phonological awareness subcomponents related to English reading were generally similar for the three English L2 groups, despite differences in the orthographies of learners’ native language. The findings support the psycholinguistic grain size theory with regard to links between phonological sensitivity and the sound–symbol correspondences used to read the specific languages.


1995 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie Bruck ◽  
Fred Genesee

ABSTRACTEnglish-speaking children (N = 91) who were attending French schools (bilingual group) were given a battery of phonological awareness tests in kindergarten and in grade 1. At the time of kindergarten testing the mean age of the children was 5:9. Their performance was compared to age-matched English-speaking children (N = 72) attending English schools (monolingual group). The bilingual children showed heightened levels of phonological awareness skills in kindergarten in the area of onset-rime awareness. By grade 1, the pattern of group differences was more complex. The monolingual and bilingual children performed similarly on onset-rime segmentation tasks. The monolingual children had higher phoneme awareness scores than their French-schooled peers; this result is interpreted to reflect the role of literacy instruction on phoneme awareness development. In comparison, the bilingual children had higher syllable segmentation scores than their monolingual peers. This result is interpreted to reflect the role of second language input on phonological awareness.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Martin ◽  
Theeraporn Ratitamkul ◽  
Klaus Abels ◽  
David Adger ◽  
Jennifer Culbertson

Of the 24 possible orderings of the nominal modifiers Demonstrative, Numeral, Adjective and the Noun, two specific patterns dominate the typology: Dem Num Adj N (as in English) and its mirror order N Adj Num Dem (as in Thai). This has been argued to follow from a universal underlying structure in which Adj forms a constituent with N first, Num scopes over that constituent, and finally Dem takes widest scope. We refer to noun phrase orders that follow this structure as scope-isomorphic. To test for general scope-isomorphic preferences in language users and assess a possible asymmetry between pre- and postnominal modifiers, we tested two linguistic populations with different NP orderings (English and Thai). Learners were exposed to a new language where modifiers were placed on the opposite side of the noun from their native language (i.e., English speakers learned that modifiers in the new language were postnominal and Thai speakers that they were prenominal). Crucially, though, learners were exposed only to single-modifier NPs (e.g., ‘car green’ or ‘car this’) but were not shown how modifiers were ordered relative to one another in multiple modifier phrases. In a test phase, participants were asked how to translate phrases with multiple modifiers into the new language (e.g., ‘this green car’). Speakers of both languages overwhelmingly inferred scope-isomorphic patterns (i.e., they preferred ‘car green this’ over ‘car this green’). We additionally found that Thai participants showed a stronger preference for scope isomorphism, suggesting the possibility that prenominal orders which violate scope isomorphism are particularly dispreferred. We will discuss these results in light of syntactic theory which predicts a pre-/postnominal asymmetry, but will also consider the possible influence of L2 knowledge (specifically Thai speakers’ knowledge of English) on these results, and outline future studies designed to tackle this issue.


Author(s):  
Yousef Alshaboul

Deficits in EFL teachers’ proficiency have surfaced recently as one of the possible factors contributing to children’s reading problems at their early encounters with literacy. Phonological awareness (PA) has dominated specialists’ interests well-timed with escalating reports containing more provoking evidence connecting children's reading disability with deficiencies in PA. This paper aims at investigating the impact of perceived proficiency, GPA, and gender of prospective teachers on shaping their future reading instruction detectable by prospective teachers' PA beliefs, awareness and knowledge. Towards this end, a four-section survey was administered to 158 pre-service EFL teachers. Results confirmed significant differences related to knowledge and beliefs at the expense of awareness. 


2011 ◽  
pp. 464-470
Author(s):  
Tom S. Chan

Traditional boundaries and marketplace definitions are fast becoming irrelevant due to globalization. According to recent statistics, there are approximately 208 million English speakers and 608 million non-English speakers online, and 64.2% of Web users speak a native language other than English (Global Reach, 2004). The world outside of English-speaking countries is obviously coming online fast. As with activities such as TV, radio and print, people surf in their own language. A single-language Web site simply could not provide good visibility and accessibility in this age of globalize Internet. In this article, we will focus on the approaches in the construction of an effective globalized e-commerce Web site.


Author(s):  
Margaret J. Snowling

‘How to learn to read (or not)’ looks at the stages through which a child must progress on the journey to literacy and the demands of learning to read. It argues that literacy builds on a foundation of spoken language and emphasizes the importance of the skills a child brings to reading. It also discusses the alphabetic principle, phoneme awareness, learning to spell, reading for meaning, and learning to read in different languages. In summary, a ‘triple foundation’ of symbol knowledge, phonological awareness, and rapid naming ability appears to underpin reading development universally. However, there are also additional predictors that are language-specific.


Author(s):  
Jenny DeGroot ◽  
Eileen C. Schwab

Time compression increases the rate of speech without altering its pitch. The present study investigated time compression as a means of improving the efficiency of audiotext applications for a variety of user populations. Subjects from three age groups (20-30, 40-50, and 60-70 years old) and two native language groups (native and nonnative English speakers) interacted with a prototype of an Interactive Voice Response system. Four prototypes were constructed, each containing speech compressed at a different rate: 30%, 20%, 10%, and uncompressed. Each subject telephoned one of the prototypes to learn how to use Call Forwarding and to order another telephone service feature. Compression rate did not significantly interact with age or native language. Across compression rates, 60-year-olds spent significantly more time on the phone than did 20- and 40-year-olds. Moreover, 60-year-olds were significantly less successful at forwarding phone calls, and reported more difficulty and confusion, than other subjects. Nonnative English speakers spent significantly more time on the phone than did native English speakers. Despite this difference, nonnative speakers were just as successful at forwarding phone calls, and rated the system and the announcer just as favorably as did native speakers of English. There was no main effect of compression rate on call duration; faster speech did not result in significantly shorter phone calls.


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