This study examined the unified model of phonological transfer in English reading comprehension and the mediating effects of bilingual decoding skills. Grade 4 Chinese Mandarin learners of English (N = 256) completed a series of tests including tone and stress sensitivity, Chinese and English segmental phonological awareness, Chinese and English…

This study examined (a) the identification of various reading groups across languages in Chinese (L1) adolescents learning English as a second language (ESL), in terms of their word-reading and reading comprehension skills, (b) overlap in reading group membership across languages, and (c) the performance of the various reading groups on…

Studies over the past two decades have provided relevant data on the relationship between music and reading abilities although they fundamentally refer to aspects of the first language reading process of young children. The foreign language reading acquisition process of adult learners has, in this sense, been less explored. Research in this area…

Executive functions (EF) have long been recognized as critical factors in accounting for individual differences in literacy development. However, their role in second language (L2) learning, particularly in non-alphabetic languages such as Chinese, has not been fully explored. This study endeavored to examine the role of EF in word reading among…

Purpose: Newcomer dyslexic children face a double disadvantage: They must catch up on the schooling delay caused by their late arrival in France, while the lack of early diagnostic tools for dyslexia delays their access to appropriate intervention. However, cognitive predictors of decoding skills in alphabetic scripts are well known. Clinicians…

Rapid automatized naming (RAN) robustly predicts early reading abilities across languages, but its underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study found that RAN associated significantly with processing speed but not with phonological awareness or orthographic knowledge in 89 Hong Kong Chinese second-graders. RAN overlaps more with processing…

The current study explored the home and school factors that are important for Singaporean pre-schoolers' (N = 1440) early English development from K1 to P1. Language input quantity and quality factors at home (e.g., number of English books,) and at school (e.g., instructional support in class) were used to predict children's English vocabulary and…

This study set out to compare patterns of relationships among phonological skills, orthographic skills, semantic knowledge, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension in English as a first language (EL1) and English language learners (ELL) students and to test the applicability of the lexical quality hypothesis framework. Participants…

This study investigated the stability of latent classes of students with learning disabilities among a heterogeneous sample of elementary-aged children whose first language is Spanish. To this end, children (N = 284) in Grades 1, 2, and 3 at Wave 1 (Year 1) were administered a battery of vocabulary, reading, math, and cognitive measures…

Acquisition of oral English verb morphology presents difficulties for bilinguals, learners of EFL and English-speaking monolingual children with specific language impairment. This study aimed to identify challenging English verb inflections among sixth grade speakers of Arabic (N = 85) and Hebrew (N = 86) using an elicited oral narrative task, and…

This study explored characteristics of reading comprehension difficulties among Chinese students learning English as a second language (ESL). Two hundred forty-six Grade 8 English-immersion students in China were administered a battery of reading-related and reading comprehension tests. Three groups of comprehenders matched on age, nonverbal…

This cohort-sequential study explored the components of working memory (WM) that underlie second language (L2) reading growth in 450 children at risk and not at risk for reading disabilities (RD) whose first language is Spanish. English language learners designated as balanced and nonbalanced bilinguals with and without risk for RD in Grades 1, 2,…

This study examined whether the phonological awareness (PA) deficit in Arabic speaking dyslexic children could be impacted by the presence vs. absence of verbal working memory (WM) as function of the sensory modality of administration (auditory vs. visual) of the phonological tests. Three phonological awareness (PA) tasks, i.e., phoneme…

Both for the first language (L1) and for all additional languages (L2 or L3), grammatical knowledge plays a vital role in understanding texts (e.g., Grabe, 2005). However, little is known about the development and interaction of grammar and reading comprehension in beginning foreign language learning, especially with respect to children with a…

It has been argued that children with dyslexia (DC) are poor at learning a foreign language (L2) and, in particular, reading foreign words. This assumption is so general that an Italian law (law 170, October, 2010) has established that DC may be completely exempted from foreign language learning and, in any case, should not be engaged in tuition…