scholarly journals Using phonics to develop the emergent English literacy skills of Spanish learners

Author(s):  
Sara Isabel Rendón-Romero ◽  
Macarena Navarro-Pablo ◽  
Eduardo García-Jiménez

Phonics is well established in the English-speaking world, but to date it has beenimplemented to only a limited extent in contexts where English is a foreign language.This study aimed to evaluate the appropriateness of phonics for developing literacy skills of Spanishlearners of English. An experimental pre-test – post-test design was used to determine the method’sadded value. The sample consisted of two equivalent groups in a Spanish bilingual state primaryschool, a control and a treatment group, where a phonic method was implemented by the researcher.Data were collected through tests measuring emergent Spanish and English literacy skills. Non-parametric tests and correlations were used for data analysis.The treatment group presented a significant improvement in phonological awareness, naming andletter and pseudo-word reading in the Spanish and English post-test. These 7-year-old childrenattained a level in English literacy skills equivalent to English children aged 5.8. The findings alsosuggested a positive transference of skills between English word reading and Spanish pseudo-wordreading.The present study can serve as a possible proposal to help improve our Spanish bilingual programmesthrough the use of phonics in the early years in order to increase learners’ English reading level.

2021 ◽  
pp. 002221942110178
Author(s):  
Shuting Huo ◽  
Ka Chun Wu ◽  
Jianhong Mo ◽  
Jie Wang ◽  
Urs Maurer

This study investigated the impact of Chinese dyslexia subtypes on English literacy skills (i.e., reading fluency and dictation) in Hong Kong children. Eighty-four Cantonese-speaking children officially diagnosed with dyslexia ( Mage = 103 months) and 48 age-matched typical developing (TD) children were tested. Cluster analysis with performances on Chinese syllable awareness (CSA), Chinese phonemic awareness (CPA), Chinese phonological memory (CPM), Chinese orthographic awareness (COA), and matrix reasoning (MR) yielded three cognitive subtypes: the phonological deficit (PD) subtype, the orthographic deficit (OD) subtype, and the global deficit (GD) subtype. After controlling for English language experience, age, and gender, all three dyslexia subtypes performed significantly worse in English word reading fluency and dictation than TD children. In addition, PD performed worse in English PA; OD performed worse in English OA; and GD performed worse in all English skills except English PM. We compared the level of impairment in literacy between languages and dyslexia subtypes. In word reading fluency, all subtypes experienced less impairment in English than Chinese, while OD showed the largest English advantage. In dictation, only OD showed a significant language effect favoring English. The findings suggest that different subtypes of Chinese dyslexia bear different risks for difficulties in English literacy.


Author(s):  
Joana Batalha ◽  
Maria Lobo ◽  
Antónia Estrela ◽  
Bruna Bragança

In this article, we present an assessment instrument aimed at diagnosing oral language and reading and writing skills in children attending pre-school (5 years) and the early years of primary school. The instrument was mainly designed for the school context, and it was developed in collaboration with kindergarten educators and primary teachers who participated in PIPALE - Preventive Intervention Project for Reading and Writing, a project which is integrated in the National Program for the Promotion of School Success. The instrument covers the assessment of phonological and syntactic awareness, comprehension of syntactic structures, early literacy, and reading and writing skills (word reading, word and sentence writing, text comprehension, and text production). Besides offering a detailed description of the structure and tasks of the instrument, the present study includes the results of the first implementation of this tool to a total of 495 students in pre-school, first grade and second grade. The results show significant differences between the three groups (pre-school, first grade and second grade) in phonological awareness (identification of initial syllable, initial phoneme and final rhyme) and between the younger groups and the second graders in syntactic awareness (acceptability judgement task) and early literacy skills. As for reading and writing skills, the results show better performance in reading tasks than in writing tasks, a strong significant correlation between phonological awareness and word reading and word writing, and between literacy skills and word reading and writing. We also found a milder correlation between syntactic awareness and reading comprehension, as well as text writing. These results suggest that the instrument is effective for an early diagnosis and early intervention of reading and writing skills.


2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 468-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fataneh Farnia ◽  
Esther Geva

Research involving monolinguals has demonstrated that language impairment can be noticed in the early years and tends to persist into adolescence. More recently, research has begun to address the challenges of identifying and treating Developmental Language Disorders (DLD) in English Language Learners (ELLs). Developmental patterns of DLD are not necessarily consistent over time, and we hypothesized that some monolinguals and ELLs go “under the radar” in lower grades but their language difficulties become more pronounced in later years, as syntactic demands increase, hence “late-emerging DLD”. This longitudinal study examined (a) the existence of late-emerging DLD in Grades 4-6 in English-speaking monolinguals and ELLs, and (b) the Grade 1 and 3 cognitive and language profiles that predict late-emerging DLD. This study involved monolinguals (n = 149), and ELLs (n = 402) coming from diverse home language backgrounds. Cognitive (working memory, phonological short-term memory, processing speed), language (vocabulary and syntax), and word reading skills were assessed annually from grades 1 to 6. Separate parallel analyses in the monolingual and ELL samples confirmed that late-emerging DLD exists in both groups. In comparison with their typically developing peers, late-emerging DLD can be identified as early as Grade 1 based on poorer performance on phonological awareness, naming speed, and working memory.


Author(s):  
Mona Roxana Botezatu ◽  
Judith F. Kroll ◽  
Morgan I. Trachsel ◽  
Taomei Guo

Abstract We investigated whether the features of the second language (L2) matter when we consider the consequence of short-term L2 immersion on performance in the native language (L1). We compared L1 performance in English-speaking learners of a typologically-dissimilar L2-Chinese immersed in Chinese while living in Beijing, China and learners of a typologically-similar L2 (Spanish or French) exposed to the L2 in a classroom setting only. The groups were matched on cognitive abilities. Each group performed a battery of language tasks in English that assessed the ability to produce and recognize spoken words, as well as to name written words and pseudo-words in the native language. Immersed learners produced fewer words in their native language, made more semantic errors, and benefited more from higher lexical frequency when retrieving L1 words relative to classroom learners. Immersed learners also revealed reduced competition from dense phonological neighborhoods when listening to English words presented in noise, but no difference in English word reading and phonemic decoding performance compared to classroom learners. Results are consistent with the view that L2 immersion reduces access to the native language, but suggest that the consequences of L2 immersion on the L1 may be dependent upon the form of cross-language differences.


1973 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 117-132
Author(s):  
Renford Bambrough

In the Michaelmas Term 1968 I gave a course of lectures on the Philosophical Investigations. Until then nobody had lectured at Cambridge specifically on that book, though it had been in print for fifteen years and must by that time have been lectured on in nearly every other philosophy department in the English-speaking world. One reason why we were so slow is suggested by a remark that John Wisdom made after hearing Max Black give a lecture on the Tractatus in the early fifties. As we came out of the lecture room he said to me ‘That was a strange experience. I have a clear memory of all that from my early years in Cambridge. And yet in some ways it was like hearing a lecture on Spinoza.’


1973 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 117-132
Author(s):  
Renford Bambrough

In the Michaelmas Term 1968 I gave a course of lectures on the Philosophical Investigations. Until then nobody had lectured at Cambridge specifically on that book, though it had been in print for fifteen years and must by that time have been lectured on in nearly every other philosophy department in the English-speaking world. One reason why we were so slow is suggested by a remark that John Wisdom made after hearing Max Black give a lecture on the Tractatus in the early fifties. As we came out of the lecture room he said to me ‘That was a strange experience. I have a clear memory of all that from my early years in Cambridge. And yet in some ways it was like hearing a lecture on Spinoza.’


2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 1755-1774
Author(s):  
Language and Reading Research Conso ◽  
Carol Mesa ◽  
Gloria Yeomans-Maldonado

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to examine the role that the 1st language, Spanish, at prekindergarten (pre-K) plays in predicting 2nd language (L2), English, word reading in 1st grade. In addition, it examines the role of conceptual vocabulary in predicting word reading in English. Method As part of a longitudinal study of predictors and models of reading comprehension from pre-K to 3rd grade, 248 children attending preschool programs completed Spanish and English measures in the spring of each academic year. In this article, we report the results of English and Spanish measures of oral language and literacy skills that were administered in pre-K and 4 measures of English word reading that were administered in 1st grade. Results Results from structural equation modeling indicated that Spanish oral language made significant direct and indirect contributions to English oral language and word reading. Further, results supported previous evidence indicating that L2 letter knowledge and L2 oral language proficiency are the strongest predictors of L2 word reading in 1st grade. Discussion Similar to findings with monolingual English-speaking children, results support findings that, in the early stages of reading development, oral language in both 1st language and L2 make a significant and independent contribution to word reading. This study has important implications for the support of oral language skills in Latino preschool children.


2014 ◽  
Vol 114 (1) ◽  
pp. 272-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min-Chin Chu ◽  
Shu-Hui Chen

Empirical evidence shows that explicit phonics teaching is beneficial for English word reading. However, there has been controversy as to whether phonics teaching should incorporate meaning-involved decodable text instruction to facilitate children's word reading. This study compares the effects of phonics teaching with and without decodable text instruction on immediate and delayed English word reading in 117 Taiwanese children learning English, assigned to a Phonics-only group ( n = 58) and a phonics plus decodable text instruction (Phonics+) group ( n = 59). Results showed that although both groups significantly improved in immediate and delayed post-test word reading, the Phonics+ group performed better in both post-tests, but the difference was significant only in the delayed word reading, suggesting a better long-term retention effect produced by Phonics+ teaching. These indicated that incorporated meaning-involved decodable text reading might offer another better facultative linking route for English word reading even for non-alphabetic child learners of English. The findings were discussed from linguistic, psycholinguistic, and reading perspectives, with implications drawn for second/foreign language teaching and research in reading instruction.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 603-616
Author(s):  
Kenn Apel ◽  
Victoria S. Henbest

Purpose Morphological awareness is the ability to consciously manipulate the smallest units of meaning in language. Morphological awareness contributes to success with literacy skills for children with typical language and those with language impairment. However, little research has focused on the morphological awareness skills of children with speech sound disorders (SSD), who may be at risk for literacy impairments. No researcher has examined the morphological awareness skills of children with SSD and compared their skills to children with typical speech using tasks representing a comprehensive definition of morphological awareness, which was the main purpose of this study. Method Thirty second- and third-grade students with SSD and 30 with typical speech skills, matched on age and receptive vocabulary, completed four morphological awareness tasks and measures of receptive vocabulary, real-word reading, pseudoword reading, and word-level spelling. Results Results indicated there was no difference between the morphological awareness skills of students with and without SSD. Although morphological awareness was moderately to strongly related to the students' literacy skills, performance on the morphological awareness tasks contributed little to no additional variance to the children's real-word reading and spelling skills beyond what was accounted for by pseudoword reading. Conclusions Findings suggest that early elementary-age students with SSD may not present with concomitant morphological awareness difficulties and that the morphological awareness skills of these students may not play a unique role in their word-level literacy skills. Limitations and suggestions for future research on the morphological awareness skills of children with SSD are discussed.


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