The Influence of First Language on Reading and

Spelling in English

Linda SiegelUniversity of British Columbia

Vancouver, CANADA

linda.siegel@ubc.ca

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

14

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

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

linda.siegel@ubc.ca