Acquiring reading and vocabulary in Dutch and English: the effect of concurrent instruction

To investigate the effect of concurrent instruction in Dutch and English on reading acquisition in both languages, 23 pupils were selected from a school with bilingual education, and 23 from a school with education in Dutch only. The pupils had a Dutch majority language background and were comparable with regard to social-economic status (SES). Reading and vocabulary were measured twice within an interval of 1 year in Grade 2 and 3. The bilingual group performed better on most English and some of the Dutch tests. Controlling for general variables and related skills, instruction in English contributed significantly to the prediction of L2 vocabulary and orthographic awareness at the second measurement. As expected, word reading fluency was easier to acquire in Dutch with its relatively transparent orthography in comparison to English with its deep orthography, but the skills intercorrelated highly. With regard to cross-linguistic transfer, orthographic knowledge and reading comprehension in Dutch were positively influenced by bilingual instruction, but there was no indication of generalization to orthographic awareness or knowledge of a language in which no instruction had been given (German). The results of the present study support the assumption that concurrent instruction in Dutch and English has positive effects on the acquisition of L2 English and L1 Dutch

Reading in two orthographies: a cross-linguistic study of Dutch average and poor readers who learn English as a second language

The present study investigated the reading of secondary school students in their first and second language (L1, L2). Twenty-six average and twenty-six poor readers matched on age, gender, listening and reading comprehension participated. They were native Dutch speakers who started learning English at secondary school (grade 7). We examined whether differences in L2 between the two groups reflect differences in L1 with regard to reading and relevant subskills. In addition, the relationship between reading and its predictors within and across the two languages was investigated. Between group differences were similar in L1 and L2 when task conditions involved high levels of phonological and orthographic complexity or demanded speeded processing. Furthermore, serial rapid naming predicted speeded word reading in both languages and L2 text reading accuracy, while L2 phoneme awareness and orthographic knowledge explained unique variance in L2 text reading accuracy. Cross-linguistic prediction revealed that speeded word reading predicted its counterpart from L1 to L2 and vice versa. Serial rapid naming explained additional variance in the prediction of L2 from L1. After exclusion of the reading predictor from the model, serial rapid naming was the most consistent cross-linguistic predictor, while L2 orthographic knowledge explained a small amount of unique variance in L1 speeded word reading