Reading Research and Practice: Indian Perspective

Joshi, R. Malatesha; Nakamura, Pooja; Singh, Nandini Chatterjee

doi:10.1002/cad.20222

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…In addition, Ethiopic and Indic scripts differ in orthographic complexity. Thus, the current review served as a preliminary attempt to unveil the complexities within the abugidic writing system, extending beyond previous reviews (e.g., Joshi et al, 2017;Moore et al, 2023;Nag, 2022).…”

Section: General Discussion and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reading akshara differs from reading words, as a word could be formed with multiple aksharas to represent multiple syllables. Typical literacy instruction in societies using Indic scripts (e.g., India) focused on whole‐akshara instruction, relying on rote memorization, copywriting, and chorusing aksharas and rhymes (Joshi et al., 2017; Nag et al., 2016).…”

Section: Literacy Acquisition In Abugidic Writing Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Understanding literacy acquisition in Abugida orthographies can deepen our understanding of the universals and specifics of literacy development. Recent reviews (Joshi et al, 2017;Joshi & McBride, 2019a;Moore et al, 2023;Nag, 2022) mainly focused on Indic scripts (e.g., Tamil, Kannada). Other orthographies that use the abugidic writing system (e.g., Thai, Tibetan, Ge'ez) have not yet been considered despite an emerging research interest.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Bigger Picture of Early Literacy and Biliteracy Acquisition in Abugidas: Perspectives from Asian and African Languages

Lai,

Quinonez‐Beltran,

Joshi

2024

Reading Research Quarterly

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With the overwhelming “Anglocentric” or “alphabetocentric” science of reading, the current review aimed to add to the science of reading acquisition from the perspective of abugidic writing system, distinct from the well‐research alphabetic writing system in multiple dimensions of orthographic complexity, as proposed by Daniels and Share (2018), such as linguistic distance, spatial arrangement and non‐linearity, and omission of phonological elements. Abugidic writing system is featured with scripts where each base consonant symbol denotes a consonant with an inherent vowel (/a/) and has billions of users in south Asia (e.g., India, Nepal, Sri Lanka), southeast Asia (e.g., Thailand, Laos, Cambodia), east Asia (parts of China) and Africa (Ethiopia and Eritrea). The current review describes the orthographic feature of Indic (Brahmi‐derived) and Ethiopic (Ge‘ez) scripts within the abugidic writing system and synthesizes existing findings on the literacy acquisition patterns specific to each script. Further, we elaborate on the multilingual and biscriptal language and literacy environment featured with the abugida‐writing societies and discuss the theoretical implication for considering multilingualism and biscriptality as an inseparable sociolinguistic factor when understanding the literacy acquisition of the abugidic writing system in particular and literacy in general.

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Section: General Discussion and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literacy Acquisition In Abugidic Writing Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Bigger Picture of Early Literacy and Biliteracy Acquisition in Abugidas: Perspectives from Asian and African Languages

Lai,

Quinonez‐Beltran,

Joshi

2024

Reading Research Quarterly

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“…India is home to over 300 million individuals who speak two or more of the approximately 462 languages (Simons & Fennig, 2018). The educational policy for language instruction reflects the prevalence of multilingualism, requiring children to learn to read in three languages upon the completion of secondary school, of which two are typically Hindi and English (Joshi et al, 2017). However, there is great variation across the nation in the languages taught, their order, and the time at which they are introduced in school (see Menganathan, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Seen as a language of opportunity, schools are increasingly offering English as a medium of instruction starting in Grade 1. Children in these schools are not only expected to learn to read in the instructional medium (e.g., English) but they are often simultaneously taught one of the Indic languages (e.g., Hindi), requiring the mastery of two distinct writing systems upon school entry (Joshi et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the role of cross-language transfer of phonological awareness in emergent Hindi–English biliteracy acquisition

Patel

Singh²,

Torppa

2022

Read Writ

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This study examined within and cross-language relations, and specifically, the role of phonological awareness (PA) skills in reading among young Hindi-speaking children (L1) who were learning to read English (L2) in Delhi, India. Data was collected from 143 children in Grades 1 and 2 using measures validated for this population. The analyses examined the associations between L1 and L2 PA and decoding, both within and across the two languages. The results showed that PA skills within each language significantly predicted decoding in that language. Furthermore, there was evidence of cross-language transfer with Hindi PA significantly predicting English word reading even after controlling for English PA. English PA also significantly predicted Hindi decoding, however, these effects decreased once Hindi PA was added to the model. These findings emphasize the important role that both L1 and L2 PA plays in reading among emergent Hindi–English bilinguals. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings on literacy instruction in India are discussed.

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Effects of Mother Tongue Education and Multilingualism on Reading Skills in the Regional Language and English in India

Vogelzang,

Tsimpli,

Balasubramanian

et al. 2024

TESOL Quarterly

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In a highly multilingual country like India, challenges and opportunities arise in education and language policy. Although multilingualism is often associated with developmental advantages, Indian primary school children generally show low learning outcomes, specifically on literacy. Here we examine the influence of mother tongue education and multilingualism on the reading skills and reading comprehension of 1272 Indian primary school children from low SES homes. The children performed the ASER literacy task in both the regional, majority language and in English, which was followed by newly developed reading comprehension questions. The results show that minority language speakers from monolingual households—who do not receive mother tongue education—underperform compared to majority language speakers when reading in the majority language. When reading in English, growing up in a multilingual household improves children's performance. Finally, in sites which have a larger proportion of mother tongue‐educated children, children perform better in literacy in the regional language and worse in English. Overall, these results provide insight into the influence of mother tongue education and multilingualism on reading abilities and show that more support is needed for minority language speakers to develop literacy in the majority language, and for all children to develop literacy in English.

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Reading Research and Practice: Indian Perspective

Abstract: The authors outline the basic structure of akshara, the basic unit of writing in Indic writing systems used widely in South and Southeast Asia; present preliminary studies relating to reading, assessment, and instruction of akshara; and outline recommendations for future studies.

Cited by 6 publications

References 25 publications

A Bigger Picture of Early Literacy and Biliteracy Acquisition in Abugidas: Perspectives from Asian and African Languages

A Bigger Picture of Early Literacy and Biliteracy Acquisition in Abugidas: Perspectives from Asian and African Languages

Understanding the role of cross-language transfer of phonological awareness in emergent Hindi–English biliteracy acquisition

Effects of Mother Tongue Education and Multilingualism on Reading Skills in the Regional Language and English in India

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