Two Languages in One Mind: Biliteracy, Speech Connectedness and Reading in 5th Grade Bilingual Children

Abstract

This study examined the effects of bilingual education and simultaneous biliteracy on children’s levels of speech connectedness and reading in Portuguese and English. Thirty-two 5th graders completed oral production tasks and took reading fluency and comprehension tests in L1 and L2. Our results show that, in general, children show connectedness and reading scores which are correlated in the two languages, that is, the languages follow different, but related paths in the time point they were assessed. We conclude that simultaneous biliteracy, in the case of the participants of this research, is not detrimental to the outcomes of either language. On the contrary, it promotes the concomitant use of languages, which, in turn, seems to guarantee support for both languages, L1 and L2, in a bidirectional fashion.