The development of orthographic processing skills in children in early French immersion programs
-
Eva Commissaire
Abstract
Children learning to read in two languages are faced with orthographic features from both languages, either unique to a language or similar across languages. In the present study, we examined how children develop orthographic processing skills over time (from grade 1 to grade 2) with a sample of Canadian children attending a French immersion program and we investigated the underlying factor structure of orthographic skills across English and French. Two orthographic processing tasks were administered in both languages: lexical orthographic processing (e.g. choose the correct spelling from people–peeple) and sub-lexical orthographic processing (e.g. which is the more word-like vaid–vayd?), which included both language-specific and language-shared orthographic regularities. Children’s performances in sub-lexical tasks increased with grade but were comparable across languages. Further, evidence for a one factor model including all measures suggested that there is a common underlying orthographic processing skill that cuts across measurement and language variables.
Abstract
Children learning to read in two languages are faced with orthographic features from both languages, either unique to a language or similar across languages. In the present study, we examined how children develop orthographic processing skills over time (from grade 1 to grade 2) with a sample of Canadian children attending a French immersion program and we investigated the underlying factor structure of orthographic skills across English and French. Two orthographic processing tasks were administered in both languages: lexical orthographic processing (e.g. choose the correct spelling from people–peeple) and sub-lexical orthographic processing (e.g. which is the more word-like vaid–vayd?), which included both language-specific and language-shared orthographic regularities. Children’s performances in sub-lexical tasks increased with grade but were comparable across languages. Further, evidence for a one factor model including all measures suggested that there is a common underlying orthographic processing skill that cuts across measurement and language variables.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction 1
- The development of orthographic processing skills in children in early French immersion programs 17
- How do previously acquired languages affect acquisition of English as a foreign language 43
- Bidirectional cross-linguistic relations of first and second language skills in reading comprehension of Spanish-speaking English learners 65
- Concurrent and longitudinal cross-linguistic transfer of phonological awareness and morphological awareness in Chinese-English bilingual children 93
- The effects of bilingual education on the English language and literacy outcomes of Chinese-speaking children 121
- The role of L1 and L2 reading on L1 preservation and positive cross-linguistic transfer among sequential bilinguals 145
- Contributors 171
- Index 173
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction 1
- The development of orthographic processing skills in children in early French immersion programs 17
- How do previously acquired languages affect acquisition of English as a foreign language 43
- Bidirectional cross-linguistic relations of first and second language skills in reading comprehension of Spanish-speaking English learners 65
- Concurrent and longitudinal cross-linguistic transfer of phonological awareness and morphological awareness in Chinese-English bilingual children 93
- The effects of bilingual education on the English language and literacy outcomes of Chinese-speaking children 121
- The role of L1 and L2 reading on L1 preservation and positive cross-linguistic transfer among sequential bilinguals 145
- Contributors 171
- Index 173
