Lexical restructuring stimulates phonological awareness among emerging English-French bilingual children's literacy

This longitudinal study investigated how lexical restructuring can stimulate emerging bilingual children’s phonological awareness in their first (L1) and second (L2) languages. Sixty-two English (L1) - French (L2) bilingual children (Mage = 75.7 months, SD = 3.2) were taught new English and French word pairs differing minimally in phonological contrast. The results indicated that increasing lexical specificity in English mediated the relationship between English vocabulary and English phonological awareness both concurrently and longitudinally at the end of Grade 1. A longitudinal relationship was established among French vocabulary, French lexical specificity, and French phonological awareness at the end of Grade 1. Notably, cross-language transfer from English lexical specificity was a better predictor of development in French phonological awareness, especially for words that contained phonological contrasts that occurred in both languages. The results from this study highlight the phonological foundations of early literacy and extend the lexical restructuring hypothesis to emerging bilingual children

Phonological specificity relates to phonological awareness and reading ability in English-French bilingual children

Contains fulltext : 216039.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)The 1-year longitudinal study presented here examined the extent to which the ability to build phonologically specific lexical entries as a result of increasing vocabulary size predicts word reading via its impact on phonological awareness within and across languages in 62 emerging English (L1) and French (L2) Grade 1 children (Mn=n75.69 months, SDn=n3.18) enrolled in an early French immersion program in Canada. Lexical specificity was assessed with a computerized word learning game in which children were taught new English (e.g., 'foal' and 'sole') and French (e.g., bac 'bin' and bague 'ring') word pairs contrasted by minimal phonological differences. The results revealed that the specificity of English words at the beginning of Grade 1 predicted English word reading at the end of Grade 1 and that this relationship was mediated by English phonological awareness at the beginning of Grade 1. French lexical specificity at the beginning of Grade 1 did not predict French word reading at the end of Grade 1. Notably, English lexical specificity at the beginning of Grade 1 also predicted French word reading at the end of Grade 1 and this relationship was mediated by English phonological awareness at the beginning of Grade 1. It is concluded that exposure to word pairs involving minimal phonological contrasts fosters phonological awareness, which in turn facilitates word reading within the L1 that then transfers to the L2.25 p