Cross-Language Transfer of Phonological Awareness and Letter Knowledge: Causal Evidence and Nature of Transfer

Wawire, Brenda Aromu; Kim, Young‐Suk G.

doi:10.1080/10888438.2018.1474882

Cited by 41 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…In addition, Zhao, Dixon, Quiroz & Chen (2015) comment that phonological awareness learnt in Spanish could influence the reading of words in English and that English can also influence Spanish. Wawire & Kim (2018) also confirm that a positive benefit can be found in the bilingual learning process since the phonological awareness developed in a language can be transferred to the second language.…”

Section: English Phonicssupporting

confidence: 71%

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

Rendón-Romero¹,

Navarro-Pablo²,

García‐Jiménez³

2021

PortaLin

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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.

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Section: English Phonicssupporting

confidence: 71%

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

Rendón-Romero¹,

Navarro-Pablo²,

García‐Jiménez³

2021

PortaLin

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“…These larger effects in L1 instruction are consistent with the idea that learning is facilitated when input is comprehensible to children; one of the essential components for comprehensibility is the language of instruction (Ball, ). Beyond the importance of comprehensible input, these findings are notable in relation to the benefit of literacy instruction in L1 for literacy acquisition in L2, known as cross‐language transfer (Cummins, , ; Piper, Zuilkowski, & Ong'ele, ; Vaughn et al., ; Wawire & Kim, ). It is notable, though, that the larger effect for L1 instruction was found only in oral language but not in literacy outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Third, language of instruction is a hotly debated policy issue around the globe. Literature from developmental and cognitive science is clear about the advantage of learning in L1 not only in content learning but also for literacy acquisition in L2 (see literature on cross‐language transfer; Vaughn et al., ; Wawire & Kim, ). However, policy on the language of instruction in many multilingual contexts is complex, due to several reasons including the perceived higher status of official languages (L2; Trudell & Piper, ), the lack of qualified teachers who can teach in children's L1 or materials to use in teaching, and the challenges of multilingual settings where children have many different L1s (see Kim et al., for a review).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reading acquisition, like any learning, requires comprehensible input and therefore, is easier in a child's most familiar language. Although a body of evidence indicates the effect of L1 literacy skills on L2 literacy acquisition (Vaughn et al., ; Wawire & Kim, ; see Ball, for a review), literacy instruction in many LMIC contexts is provided in only L2. This is the result of myriad political and cultural factors, often the legacies of colonial education systems, as well as practical reasons, such as the availability of teachers trained to teach in L1 and sufficient teaching materials.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of Literacy Interventions on Reading Skills in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries: A Meta‐Analysis

2019

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Reading skills are foundational for daily lives, academic achievement, and careers. In this study, we systematically reviewed literacy interventions in low‐ and middle‐income countries, and estimated their effects on children's reading skills using a meta‐analytic approach. A total of 67 studies (N = 213,464) from 32 countries found in various databases (e.g., PsycINFO, ERIC) and sources (e.g., United States Agency for International Development) met our inclusion criteria. The results revealed an overall effect of .30 across various literacy outcomes. Effects varied for different outcomes, such that largest effects were found in emergent literacy skills (e.g., .40) and the smallest effects in reading comprehension (.25) and oral language skills (.20). Effects also varied as a function of other features such as teacher training support.

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“…In their meta-analyses, Melby-Lervåg and Lervåg (2011) found moderate to large correlations for those lower order skills across languages and the authors posit this transfer occurs because general strategies can be taught effectively for skills that involve a limited number of sounds and letter-sound combinations. However, studies exploring cross-linguistic transfer of code-related skills show large variations in results ( Bialystok et al, 2005 ; Swanson et al, 2008 ; Wawire and Kim, 2018 ). Language typology has been suggested to play a role in cross language transfer effects with transfer being more likely between languages that are similar (e.g., share cognate vocabulary, phonological forms, and writing system) than between languages that share fewer features ( Odlin, 1989 ; Connor, 1996 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of an Early Literacy Intervention for Linguistically Diverse Children: A Quasi-Experimental Study

2020

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Phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge underpin children’s early literacy acquisition. Promoting these foundational skills in kindergarten should therefore lead to a better response to formal literacy instruction once started. The present study evaluated a 12-week early literacy intervention for linguistically diverse children who are learning to read in German. The study was set in Luxembourg where kindergarten education is in Luxembourgish and children learn to read in German in Grade 1 of primary school. One hundred and eighty-nine children (mean age = 5;8 years) were assigned to an early literacy intervention in Luxembourgish or to a business as usual control group. Trained teachers delivered the intervention to entire classes, four times a week, during the last year of kindergarten. The early literacy program included direct instruction in phonological awareness and letter-knowledge, while promoting print and book awareness and literacy engagement. Children were assessed pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and at a 9 months delayed follow-up using measures in Luxembourgish and in German. At the end of the intervention, children in the intervention group performed significantly better than the control group on phonological awareness and letter-knowledge measures in Luxembourgish and the gains in phonological awareness were maintained at 9 months follow-up. The effects generalized to measures of phonological awareness, word-level reading comprehension and spelling in German (effect sizes d > 0.25), but not to German single word/pseudoword reading, at delayed follow-up. Intervention programs designed to support foundational literacy skills can be successfully implemented by regular teachers in a play-based kindergarten context. The findings suggest that early literacy intervention before school entry can produce educationally meaningful effects in linguistically diverse learners.

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Cross-Language Transfer of Phonological Awareness and Letter Knowledge: Causal Evidence and Nature of Transfer

Cited by 41 publications

References 44 publications

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

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

Impact of Literacy Interventions on Reading Skills in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries: A Meta‐Analysis

Effects of an Early Literacy Intervention for Linguistically Diverse Children: A Quasi-Experimental Study

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