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...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of dyslexia 2000-01, Vol.50 (1), p.123-154
Main Authors: Geva, Esther, Yaghoub-Zadeh, Zhoreh, Schuster, Barbara
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child
Children
Children & youth
Dyslexia
English as a second language
Female
Humans
Individuality
Language
Language Proficiency
Learning disabilities
Male
Memory
Multilingualism
Nonnative languages
Ontario - ethnology
PART IV: Reading and Foreign Language Learning
Phonological Awareness
Phonology
Reading
Reading Achievement
Reading Skills
Recognition (Psychology)
Second language learning
Speech discrimination
Vocabulary
Words
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary: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.
ISSN:0736-9387
1934-7243
DOI:10.1007/s11881-000-0020-8