Deconstructing and reconstructing cross-language transfer in bilingual reading development: An interactive framework

Morphological awareness and literacy in second language learners: a cross-language perspective

“…This study suggests that transfer patterns may be influenced by language learning environment as well as level of proficiency in the novel language. The patterns of data not only support previously examined factors that influence transfer of morphological awareness (Koda, 2007(Koda, , 2008Chung et al, 2018b), but also highlight a novel factor, learning environment, which may facilitate transfer or hinder it. Unfortunately, the study did not examine transfer from English to Korean.…”

“…In other words, these papers measured morphological awareness in the L1 and L2 and examined the relationships between morphological awareness in one language and literacy outcomes in the other. Generally speaking, these studies provide support to the interactive transfer framework (Chung et al, 2018b) by demonstrating transfer not only from the L1 to L2, but also from the L2 to L1 (e.g., Tong, et al). These papers not only address the factors examined by the previous studies, such as morphological structures of the L1 and L2, relative proficiency levels of the two languages, and overlap and distance between the morphological systems (Koda, 2007(Koda, , 2008Chung et al, 2018b), but they also add several new factors.…”

“…Generally speaking, these studies provide support to the interactive transfer framework (Chung et al, 2018b) by demonstrating transfer not only from the L1 to L2, but also from the L2 to L1 (e.g., Tong, et al). These papers not only address the factors examined by the previous studies, such as morphological structures of the L1 and L2, relative proficiency levels of the two languages, and overlap and distance between the morphological systems (Koda, 2007(Koda, , 2008Chung et al, 2018b), but they also add several new factors. For example, Lam and Chen investigated how the developmental trajectory of morphological awareness (i.e., inflection awareness developing before derivation awareness) interacts with transfer.…”

“…There is increasing evidence that morphological awareness contributes to literacy outcomes (word reading, vocabulary and reading comprehension) for monolingual and bilingual children. The evidence comes from many languages, including alphabetic languages such as English and French, Semitic languages such as Arabic and Hebrew, and logographic languages such as Chinese (Chung et al, 2018b;Schwartz, Taha, Assad, Khamaisi, & Eviatar, 2016). In this regard, morphological awareness functions similarly to cognitive skills such as phonological awareness, working memory and rapid automatized naming in that it is universally related to literacy outcomes.…”

“…However, recent studies have demonstrated cross-language transfer of metalinguistic skills from the L2 to L1, or in both directions in emerging bilinguals acquiring two languages simultaneously (e.g., Chen, Xu, Nguyen, Hong, & Wang, 2010;Chung, Chen, & Deacon, 2018a). To expand the scope of the transfer facilitation model, Chung, Chen, and Geva (2018b) proposes an interactive framework, which identifies key factors that influence transfer in both directions in bilingual learners of different levels of proficiency. While findings of this special issue are largely consistent with the prediction of the transfer facilitation model (transfer from the L1 to L2), several studies also support the interactive transfer framework by demonstrating transfer from the L2 to L1.…”