Text processing in English-Persian bilingual children: A bilingual view on the Simple Model of Reading

Abstract

The aim of the work reported in this paper was to investigate whether a simple view of reading framework could be used as a basis of determining predictors of literacy levels amongst children learning to read and write in Persian as well as English. The data presented in this paper focussed on the relative contribution of language-based skills in predicting reading comprehension performance of English-Persian speaking children. Concentration on the influence of language skills is critical given the potential for greater difficulty to be experienced by second language learners in linguistic rather than decoding components underlying reading comprehension. A sample of English-Persian bilingual school-children attending mainstream English-language schools in New Zealand and Australia were given measures of text reading comprehension in the two languages (English and Persian). The children were also given measures of listening comprehension and vocabulary, as well as measures of decoding in both languages. The results indicated cross-language effects (specifically in listening comprehension) in addition to language specific effects (i.e. in vocabulary) over-and-above the influence of word decoding. These findings are considered in light of their implications for supporting reading comprehension development in English-Persian language learners, as well as theories of literacy acquisition across orthographies. Conclusions should inform procedures for the identification (for example, by educational psychologists and/or special teachers) of children with literacy learning difficulties across such different language contexts.