The Influence of First Language on Reading and
Spelling in English
Linda SiegelUniversity of British Columbia
Vancouver, CANADA
[email protected]
Aims of the Study• Identify children at risk for
literacy difficulties
• Provide an appropriate intervention
• Assess the effectiveness of the intervention
Longitudinal Study• Screening at age 5 when
children enter school• Tested every year on
reading, spelling, arithmetic, language and memory skills
• Results at grade 7 – age 13
Longitudinal Sample• All the children in the North
Vancouver School District• 30 schools• Varying SES levels• 20% English Language Learners
(ESL)• Inclusion
• Arabic• Armenian• Bulgarian• Cantonese• Croatian• Czech• Dutch• Farsi
• Japanese• Korean• Kurdish• Mandarin• Norwegian• Polish• Punjabi• Romanian
LANGUAGES IN THE STUDY
GermanGreekHindiHungarianIndonesianItalianFinnish
RussianSerbianSlovakSpanishSwedishTagalogTamilTurkish
normales
L1 English ELL
Kindergarten
Dyslexic
Normal
Dyslexic
Normal
Grade 7
L1 English ELL
8
Influence of First Language
• English
• Slavic
• Farsi-Persian
• Chinese
• Romance
9
Reading/Spelling
Word recognition
Fluency – word and pseudoword
Pseudoword Reading
Spelling
10
Reading Grade 3
11
1 Minute Word Reading
12
1 Minute Pseudoword Reading
13
Spelling Grade 3
15
Arabic
4-Feb.2010 UNESCO-DITT-Paris
English SpellingPortuguese L1
English SpellingItalian L1
English SpellingArabic L1
Grade 5 Spelling
A
20
Phonological
• Phoneme deletion
• Pseudoword spelling
21
Phoneme Deletion
22
Pseudoword Spelling
23
Syntactic Awareness
24
• Jane ____her sister went up the hill.
• Dad ____ Bobby a letter yesterday.
Oral cloze
25
Oral Cloze - Kindergarten
26
Oral Cloze – Grade 3
27
Memory for Sentences – Grade 3
Conclusions
• Children’s first language has an influence on the acquisition of language and literacy skills in a second language.
• Bilingualism is an advantage in the acquisition of literacy and language skills.
Word ReadingPortuguese L1
Word Reading Italian L1
Word Reading Arabic L1
Woodcock Word Attack(Pseudoword Reading)
deegouchcigbet
bafmotbemmonglustamer
Word AttackPortuguese L1
Word AttackItalian L1
Word AttackArabic L1
Morphology
37
Hungarian for “at risk of dyslexia”.
Diszlexiaveszélyeztetettség
Morphological - Words
• They need to diversionary
diversity
diversion
diversify
39
Morphological - Words
• They need to diversionary
diversity
diversion
diversify
40
Morphological Task- Words
Morphology
• Related to reading comprehension
• Related to spelling
• A better predictor of reading comprehension and spelling than phonological awareness or syntactic awareness
Kindergarten
SYNTACTIC AWARENESS
Grade 5
SYNTACTIC AWARENESS
The Influence of First Language on Reading and
Spelling in English
Linda SiegelUniversity of British Columbia
Vancouver, CANADA
[email protected]