Many second language (L2) students in Sweden struggle with reading in Swedish. There needs to be more research on how L2 students with weak word decoding skills in Swedish could be individually supported. Therefore, the current study examined the impact of a systematic and intensive word decoding intervention in Swedish among individual L2…

Purpose: Most studies about reading development in second-language learners have been carried out on children exposed to the second language from kindergarten. They have shown that decoding skills develop in a similar way to those of monolingual children. We wondered whether this holds for primary school newcomer non-native-speaking children. This…

In many countries, children need to become proficient in both their home language (L1) and an international language, such as English (L2). Governments face tradeoffs in how to prioritize these two objectives. We provide empirical evidence on cross-linguistic transfer between L1 and L2, using the results of two randomized evaluations of Structured…

In this article we investigate the transparency of language in learning place value in either a Southern African indigenous language (isiXhosa, Setswana, Oshiwambo or Emakhuwa) or a European-based language (Afrikaans, English, German or Portuguese). Since language is a key mediator in developing place value understanding, it is important to…

This study aims to explore the specific contributions of derivational, inflectional, and compounding morphological awareness to reading comprehension through decoding and syntactic awareness. A total of 181 Grade 3 and 4 Chinese primary school children learning English as a second language in Hong Kong participated in this study. The results of…

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…

This study examined whether the assessment of executive function (EF) added a unique contribution to second language (L2) reading comprehension in children in French immersion. Participants were 8- to 9-year old children who completed a collection of measures assessing French reading (i.e., word reading, decoding, and reading comprehension ) and…

While there is some evidence of a gap in English writing achievement between children with English as an additional language (EAL) compared to their monolingual English-speaking (EL1) peers, the source of this gap remains unclear. This study examines whether writing presents a specific challenge for children with EAL beyond their oral language and…

This study investigated the unique role of nonverbal reasoning in early English word decoding for native Chinese-speaking children across three studies. In Study 1, 80 Grade 1 and 2 participants completed assessments including nonverbal reasoning tests, English pseudoword reading, Chinese character reading, Chinese phonological awareness (CPA),…

This study aims to advance our understanding of the role of word knowledge in second language (L2) reading comprehension by exploring whether morphological awareness and vocabulary assessed one year ago contribute to decoding and listening comprehension which in turn contribute to reading comprehension in Chinese children learning English as an…

Background: South African township learners are known to perform poorly in international tests, including reading and science. Language is a complicating variable as English, the learners' second language (L2), is generally the language of learning and teaching, including for reading science texts. Aim: The study's objectives were to determine the…

Pedagogical strategies intended for monolingual classes may not adequately address the educational needs and aspirations of culturally and linguistically diverse learners, as multilingual and bilingual learners differ from monolinguals. This article sought to understand multilingual teachers' pedagogical approaches to helping non-speakers of the…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of Spanish literacy precursor skills on reading learning to read in the mother tongue and their degree of transfer to English. A quasi-experimental design was used, which allowed for a repeated measures comparison between two groups of students, who underwent a follow-up assessment one year…

Multicomponent perspectives on second language reading proficiency offer a contemporary understanding of reading and its development (e.g., Yamashita, 2022). In this web-based experiment, we investigated the relationship among L2 reading proficiency measures--reading comprehension, listening comprehension, reading fluency--and component reading…

The present study examined the mediating role of text reading fluency in reading comprehension in English and Kiswahili utilizing longitudinal data from 628 first- and second-grade children from multilingual contexts in Kenya. We employed path analysis to explore the mediating role of text reading fluency on decoding and reading comprehension in…