Esther Geva

Evidence for Superior Orthographic Skills in Dyslexics

The purpose of this study was to assess the development of both phonological and orthographic skills in normally achieving and dyslexic readers The subjects were 257 dyslexic and 342 normally achieving readers, matched at eight reading levels They were administered the Woodcock (1987) Word Attack Subtest, a measure of phonological skills requiring the reading of pseudowords, and an orthographic awareness task designed to measure awareness of the properties of English words and the probable sequences and positions of letters within words The dyslexics had significantly higher scores than the normally achieving readers on the orthographic awareness task However, the normally achieving readers had significantly higher scores on the Word Attack Subtest Therefore, the difficulties with phonological processing and the increased orthographic awareness of the dyslexics may indicate a reading strategy that relies more on the visual than the phonological features of words

Understanding individual differences in word recognition skills of ESL children

This paper focuses on the extent to which the development of ESL (English as a Second Language) word recognition skills mimics similar trajectories in same-aged EL1 (English as a First Language) children, and the extent to which phonological processing skills and rapid naming can be used to predict word recognition performance in ESL children. Two cohorts of Grade 1 ESL and EL1 primary-level children were followed for two consecutive years. Results indicated that vocabulary knowledge, a measure of language proficiency, and nonverbal intelligence were not significant predictors of word recognition in either group. Yet, by considering individual differences in phonological awareness and rapid naming, it was possible to predict substantial amounts of variance on word recognition performance six months and one year later in both language groups. Commonality analyses indicated that phonological awareness and rapid naming contributed unique variance to word recognition performance. Moreover, the profiles of not at-risk children in the EL1 and ESL groups were similar on all but the oral language measure, where EL1 children had the advantage. In addition, EL1 and ESL profiles of children who had word-recognition difficulty were similar, with low performance on rapid naming and phonological awareness. Results indicate that these measures are reliable indicators of potential reading disability among ESL children.

Reading Efficiency in Native English-Speaking and English-as-a-Second-Language Children: The Role of Oral Proficiency and Underlying Cognitive-Linguistic Processes

The research examined the extent to which (a) Grade 2 English-as-a-second-language (ESL) and English-as-a-first-language (EL1) children resemble each other on word and text reading efficiency and (b) whether individual differences in word and text reading efficiency in the two language groups can be understood in terms of similar underlying component processes. Despite an oral language proficiency advantage in the EL1 group, no EL1 advantage existed on any of the cognitive and reading measures. Oral language proficiency, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and accurate word recognition were significant predictors of word and text efficiency in the ESL group. Only rapid automatized naming and word recognition were significant in the EL1 group. Overall, with the exception of English-language oral proficiency skills, EL1 and ESL profiles of three efficiency subgroups (poor decoders, low efficiency, and high efficiency) were highly similar.

Orthographic and Cognitive Factors in the Concurrent Development of Basic ReadingSkills in English and Persian

According to the “script dependent” hypothesis, accurate word recognition skills develop more slowly in languages with an irregular orthography, such as English, than in regular orthographies, such as Persian. According to the “central processing” hypothesis, basic reading skills in all languages are influenced primarily by underlying cognitive factors. These hypotheses were examined by studying the linguistic, cognitive, and basic reading skills of 70 children in Grades 1–5 learning to read concurrently in English (L1) and Persian (L2). Our findings supported both hypotheses. A consideration of these frameworks as complementary contributes to a crosslinguistic theory of reading skills development in bilingual children.

Accuracy of Teacher Assessments of Second-Language Students at Risk for Reading Disability

This study examined the accuracy of teacher assessments in screening for reading disabilities among students of English as a second language (ESL) and as a first language (L1). Academic and oral language tests were administered to 369 children (249 ESL, 120 L1) at the beginning of Grade 1 and at the end of Grade 2. Concurrently, 51 teachers nominated children at risk for reading failure and completed rating scales assessing academic and oral language skills. Scholastic records were reviewed for notation of concern or referral. The criterion measure was a standardized reading score based on phonological awareness, rapid naming, and word recognition. Results indicated that teacher rating scales and nominations had low sensitivity in identifying ESL and L1 students at risk for reading disability at the 1-year mark. Relative to other forms of screening, teacher-expressed concern had lower sensitivity. Finally, oral language proficiency contributed to misclassifications in the ESL group.

Spelling performance of Chinese children using English as a second language: Lexical and visual–orthographic processes

The present study compared lexical and visual–orthographic processing in the spelling performance of 30 Cantonese Chinese children who are English as a second language (ESL) learners to that of 33 native English-speaking (L1) children. Chinese ESL children showed poorer performance in spelling to dictation of pseudowords than L1 children. The difference between real word and pseudoword spelling performances for ESL children was significantly greater than that for L1 children. Moreover, Chinese ESL children outperformed their L1 counterparts in a confrontation spelling task of orthographically legitimate and illegitimate letter strings. In line with their advantage in spelling visually presented materials, the difference between spelling performance on legitimate and illegitimate letter strings for the Chinese children was significantly smaller than that for the L1 children. These findings are discussed in terms of early transfer of L1 literacy skills in second language literacy acquisition and support for a multiroute reading model.

The Development of Basic Reading Skills in Children: A Cross-Language Perspective.

This chapter reviews recent empirical evidence for universal and orthography- or language-specific processes in the development of basic reading skills in school age children, suggesting that universal and orthography- or language-specific processes should be considered in tandem. The review focuses on three different aspects of reading, phonological processing, rapid naming, and morphosyntactic complexity, targeted in recent research on development of word recognition skills. Studies on L1 school children and studies of children who learn to read concurrently in their L1 and/or in a second language (L2) are examined within the context of variations in orthographic transparency. When children learn to read, characteristics of the spoken language interact with characteristics of the orthography. The chapter concludes that (a) individual differences in phonological processing skills, verbal memory, and rapid naming predict the development of reading in L1 and L2 children in various alphabetic and nonalphabetic languages; and (b) individual differences on such prerequisite skills can indicate smooth or problematic acquisition of L2 reading skills in children, regardless of oral language proficiency. However, task demands associated with learning to read in different orthographies vary and yield steeper or more moderate learning slopes. Regardless of the language and orthography combinations under study, children can develop reading strategies that help them read.

Processing Novel Phonemic Contrasts in the Acquisition of L2 Word Reading

Thirty-four English-speaking Grade 2 children attending a bilingual English-Hebrew elementary school were administered a phonological task designed to tap sensitivity to a phonemic contrast (/ts/ vs. /s/) that occurs productively in Hebrew but is phonotactically constrained in English. The results showed that children experienced more difficulty discriminating the contrast in onsets than in rimes, which is consistent with predictions made from a language transfer hypothesis. Accuracy on this measure was related to word reading ability in both Hebrew and English. Errors made by choosing orthographic foils were more frequent than were errors made by choosing phonological foils. Evidence of linguistic interdependence was seen in the cross-linguistic relation of phonological tasks to word reading ability in both languages. There was no interaction of language transfer with reading ability. This pattern of results suggests that a general level of phonological ability is required for reading to develop but that phonological elements specific to the second-language present additional challenges to beginning readers.

Issues in the assessment of reading disabilities in L2 children—beliefs and research evidence†

In bilingual and multilingual settings one is constantly challenged by the difficulty of teasing apart phenomena associated with normal second language (L2) reading acquisition from authentic warning signs of reading failure. The bulk of this paper focuses on a critical discussion of a cluster of beliefs that pertain to the issues concerning the diagnosis of reading disability in multilingual and bilingual settings among school children. Findings from available research on reading acquisition among bilingual children and research focusing specifically on the assessment of English-as-a-second language (ESL) children who might be at risk for reading disability are used to evaluate the validity of these beliefs. While some beliefs are supported by research, others are not. In particular, the research suggests that reliable diagnosis of dyslexia among ESL children can be achieved by examining within-language differences on various indices of basic reading skills such as phonological processing, and by noting a significant gap between oral and reading comprehension.

The development of vocabulary in English as a second language children and its role in predicting word recognition ability

Do older English as a second language (ESL) children have the same knowledge of word meanings as English as a first language (EL1) children? How important is vocabularys role in predicting word recognition in these groups? This study sought to answer these questions by examining the profiles of ESL and EL1 upper elementary aged children, for a 2-year period starting in Grade 5. Multivariate analyses revealed that (a) EL1 and ESL groups did not differ on underlying processing components (e.g., phonological awareness [PA], rapid automatized naming [RAN], and working memory [WM]) or on word recognition, but ESL children continued to lag behind their EL1 peers on knowledge of word meanings that correspond approximately to their grade level; and (b) vocabulary knowledge (root words and receptive vocabulary), explained a small proportion of additional variance on word recognition concurrently and longitudinally after accounting for the contributions of PA, RAN, and WM.