Background

Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) are reported to have word spelling difficulties. These findings concern monolingual children with DLD; little is known about bilingual children with DLD. We examined word spelling abilities of bilingual children with DLD to determine if bilingualism is an additional risk factor for spelling problems.

Methods

We compared word spelling outcomes of monolingual (n = 87) and bilingual children with DLD (n = 51), who attended upper elementary years (Grade 5 or 6) of special education for children with DLD. Spelling measures obtained were a standardised curriculum-based word spelling task, an experimental dictation task and word spelling in short written texts.

Results

Outcomes on the curriculum-based spelling test established that both the monolingual and bilingual groups of children with DLD on average showed a spelling delay. Results on this test, as well as those of the experimental dictation task and the writing task, did not indicate differences between the monolingual and bilingual groups with DLD, even when lower oral language outcomes of bilingual children in the school language were controlled for.

Conclusions

The results indicate that DLD is a risk factor for word spelling difficulties while bilingualism is not.

Background

Vocabulary knowledge (VK) and morphological awareness (MA) are crucial linguistic variables for reading comprehension. However, the extent to which MA subskills are intertwined with different facets of VK in their contributions to reading comprehensions, and how MA influences the reading abilities of English as a foreign language (EFL) readers, remains largely underspecified. The main purpose of the current study was to examine the relative significance of VK and MA in foreign language reading ability and to identify the direct and indirect pathways from various facets of MA to EFL reading comprehension.

Methods

A total of 396 EFL learners took a standardised reading test (TOEIC), along with a battery of three MA tests and two VK tests, which assessed both the breadth and depth of VK.

Results

(1) Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that both VK and MA had significant effects on EFL reading comprehension, with VK contributing more to reading comprehension than MA. (2) Path analysis showed that MA had both direct and indirect effects on EFL reading comprehension via the breadth and depth of VK.

Conclusions

Our results established that VK was a stronger predictor of reading comprehension than MA and elucidated the direct and indirect pathways within the morphological pathways framework through which MA contributes to reading comprehension. Relevant implications were discussed based on the results.

No abstract is available for this article.

Background

Second language (L2) reading is a complex process in which two languages constantly interact. L1 reading and L2 proficiency are two well-acknowledged factors contributing to L2 reading comprehension. Other factors, such as strategy use and anxiety, might also predict L2 reading comprehension, but their roles have not been examined in the presence of L1 reading and L2 proficiency.

Method

Participants were 147 high school Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners (mean age = 17.8, SD = 0.48). They were assessed on their L2 reading comprehension, L1 reading comprehension, L2 proficiency (L2 vocabulary and L2 syntactic knowledge), strategy use and reading anxiety.

Results

Hierarchical regression model analyses showed that L1 reading significantly contributed to L2 reading comprehension in the presence of L2 proficiency. Strategy use and anxiety were significant predictors of L2 reading comprehension in the presence of L1 reading and L2 proficiency. Together, they accounted for 53% of the variance in L2 reading comprehension. L2 proficiency moderated the relations between L1 and L2 reading comprehension and strategy use and L2 reading comprehension but not the relation between anxiety and L2 reading comprehension.

Conclusions

Besides the well-acknowledged L1 reading and L2 proficiency, strategy use and anxiety were also significant predictors of L2 reading comprehension, stressing the importance of these cognitive and affective factors in L2 reading. By revealing the moderating role of L2 proficiency, these findings deepen our understanding of the nature of the relations between L1 and L2 reading comprehension, strategy use and L2 reading comprehension.

Background

Prominent theories of reading make the prediction that individual differences in children's word learning capacity determine the pace of their acquisition of reading skill. Despite the developmental nature of some of these theories, most empirical research to date has explored the relation between word learning capacity and reading at a single time point. The present study extends this research base by investigating whether earlier learning of the spelling and meaning of words is associated with later core aspects of reading: orthographic representations, word reading and reading comprehension.

Methods

Participants were 120 English-speaking children followed longitudinally from Grade 3 to Grade 4 (i.e., from 8 to 9 years of age on average). At Grade 3, children read stories containing new words and answered questions about the spelling and meaning of these new words, evaluating orthographic and semantic learning, respectively. Children also completed outcome measures of orthographic representations (with a choice task targeting the spelling of existing words), word reading and reading comprehension (with standardised tasks) at Grades 3 and 4. We conducted regression analyses controlling for age, nonverbal reasoning, working memory, vocabulary and phonological awareness.

Results

We found that each of orthographic and semantic learning predicted gains in orthographic representations from Grade 3 to Grade 4. Furthermore, orthographic learning at Grade 3 predicted word reading at Grade 4, while semantic learning at Grade 3 predicted reading comprehension at Grade 4.

Conclusions

These longitudinal associations between orthographic and semantic learning and core aspects of reading strengthen the evidence in support of the hypothesis that children's word learning capacity plays a key role in reading development.

Background

The associations between the characteristics of the home literacy environment (HLE) and children's language and literacy skills have been established in first languages. This study investigated the longitudinal interplay between the father–child and mother–child HLE and children's English language skills as L2.

Methods

In this study, 176 second-year kindergarten children (Mean = 55.06 months, SD = 4.30; 96 boys, 54.5%) were followed into their third year and were assessed on their English vocabulary and word reading. The child's father and mother completed a questionnaire on their independent HLE with their child.

Results

The cross-lagged panel analysis showed that previous father–child formal HLE predicted subsequent activity levels of mother–child and father–child informal HLE. The mother–child formal HLE positively predicted the development of English word reading. A child's prior English vocabulary was positively associated with subsequent father–child informal HLE.

Conclusions

The crossover effects between the father–child and mother–child HLE emphasize that the behaviours of one parent's HLE could influence one another. Family-based interventions could consider promoting both fathers' and mothers' roles in fostering children's language learning and reading development in a positive home learning environment. The implications for the effectiveness of the HLE in supporting children's English language learning as L2 are discussed.

Background

A common approach to assessing students' integrated understanding of multiple documents is to analyse their post-reading written reports. This study investigated to what extent writing self-efficacy directly and indirectly (via integrative processing) contributed to multiple-document comprehension as assessed with an integrative writing task.

Methods

A sample of Norwegian university students (n = 67) read four documents on a controversial socio-scientific issue and afterwards wrote reports on the issue without access to the documents. Multiple-document comprehension was assessed in terms of how well the reports reflected an elaborated and integrated understanding of the four documents' content. A mediation analysis was conducted with students' working memory as a covariate, their confidence in their ability to write a text that integrated content from multiple source documents as a predictor, self-reports of their integrative processing during reading as a mediator and multiple-document comprehension as an outcome variable.

Results

There was an indirect relationship between multiple-document-based writing self-efficacy and multiple-document comprehension via integrative processing. However, no direct relationship between writing self-efficacy and multiple-document comprehension was found. The covariate of working memory uniquely adjusted students' multiple-document comprehension.

Conclusions

In the context of written assessment of multiple-document comprehension, multiple-document-based writing self-efficacy and multiple-document comprehension were indirectly related via integrative processing during reading. The results indicate that not only reading-related but also writing-related individual differences may come into play when multiple-document comprehension is assessed with an integrative writing task.