Cross-linguistic transfer in bilinguals reading in two alphabetic orthographies: The grain size accommodation hypothesis

Abstract

Reading acquisition is one of the most complex and demanding learning processes faced by children in their first years of schooling. If reading acquisition is challenging in one language, how is it when reading is acquired simultaneously in two languages? What is the impact of bilingualism on the development of literacy? We review behavioral and neuroimaging evidence from alphabetic writing systems suggesting that early bilingualism modulates reading development. Particularly, we show that cross-linguistic variations and cross-linguistic transfer affect bilingual reading strategies as well as their cognitive underpinnings. We stress the fact that the impact of bilingualism on literacy acquisition depends on the specific combination of languages learned and does not manifest itself similarly across bilingual populations. We argue that these differences can be explained by variations due to orthographic depth in the grain sizes used to perform reading and reading-related tasks. Overall, we propose novel hypotheses to shed light on the behavioral and neural variability observed in reading skills among bilinguals.Keywords Bilingualism . Reading development . Orthographic depth . Grain size Reading acquisition involves the recruitment and coordination of multiple cognitive and neural resources to build up fluent letter-to-sound mappings. However, the development of these complex mechanisms is not equal across languages. In alphabetic orthographies, the degree of difficulty affecting reading acquisition is modulated by factors linked to the complexity of letter-sound associations and to the size of the grain used in reading and reading related tasks. Although research has endeavored to improve our knowledge of reading acquisition across languages in monolingual settings, the number of behavioral (and neuroimaging) studies that look at reading development in bilinguals is rather scarce, making this population a clear outlier in this field of research. However, the rapid increase in the number of children acquiring reading in two languages simultaneously begs for more research on this question. The main goal of this article is to complement classic monolingual-centered research and take a step forward in proposing a novel framework on reading acquisition in bilinguals that will help to address unresolved questions on this topic: Namely, does bilingualism affect reading acquisition? And, if so, how does this influence manifest itself?In that aim, first, we present work that highlights the cognitive and neural bases of reading skills and reading subskills (auditory phonology and visual attention) in the context of monolingual and bilingual reading acquisition in alphabetic orthographies. Second, we review behavioral and neuroimaging evidence in monolinguals and bilinguals showing how orthographic-specific modulations shape the use of reading strategies and the size of the grain used in reading and reading-related tasks. Third, we propose the grain size accommodation hypothesis, which should contribute to predicti...

Learning to Read Bilingually Modulates the Manifestations of Dyslexia in Adults

“…This study supports the hypothesis that a cross-linguistic transfer takes place between the languages of bilingual dyslexic readers (Lallier & Carreiras, 2017). As predicted, dyslexic adults who learned to read in Welsh (a consistent orthography) in addition to English (an inconsistent orthography) showed benefits in literacy tasks engaging phonological processing to a high degree.…”

“…It has been repeatedly shown that learning to read in a consistent orthography promotes the development of sublexical decoding strategies and in turn, the development of phonemic awareness, because the mappings between letters and sounds are simple and consistent (e.g., Seymour et al, 2003). Based on evidence that interactions occur between the two languages of bilingual readers (Lallier & Carreiras, 2017), we hypothesized that the over-reliance on sublexical reading strategies prompted by reading in the consistent Welsh orthography would transfer to English and boost the use of sublexical strategies in this inconsistent orthography too. Therefore, we expected reduced deficits in Welsh-English bilingual readers with dyslexia compared to English monolingual readers with dyslexia on pseudoword reading and spelling as well as phonemic awareness.…”

“…With respect to reading processes, the recent 'Grain Size Accommodation' theory (Lallier & Carreiras, 2017) offers a framework that allows to predict how bilingualism may interact with reading processes in children and adults with or without dyslexia. The central aspect of the theory is that the processing of different languages in bilinguals is not encapsulated; instead, the theory postulates some degree of transfer to one language of processing abilities that are particularly beneficial to the other.…”

Stability of Visual Attention Span Performance and Its Relation With Reading Over Time

“…It also seems important to study this relation across orthographies. Although we showed that VAS is an important correlate of reading in a relatively transparent orthography, it has been found that VAS contributes more strongly to reading in deep rather than shallow orthographies (e.g., Lallier & Carreiras, 2017).…”

The effect of orthographic depth on letter string processing: the case of visual attention span and rapid automatized naming

“…According to this hypothesis, French-Basque bilingual children in the older group must have processed more letters in parallel when performing the task than their Spanish-Basque peers, thus capturing the letters that composed the Basque words as a whole. These results confirm that the effects of orthographic depth can be observed in tasks not directly involving reading (Lallier et al, 2016;Lallier & Carreiras, 2017). Furthermore, the results indicate that there is a degree of multi-letter processing in the RAN that can be enhanced under certain conditions (in this case the insertion of lexical units).…”