Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T20:16:06.003Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Phonological translation in bilingual and monolingual children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

D. Kimbrough Oller ,
Alan B. Cobo-Lewis  and
Rebecca E. Eilers
D. Kimbrough Oller*
Affiliation:
University of Maine
Alan B. Cobo-Lewis
Affiliation:
University of Maine
Rebecca E. Eilers
Affiliation:
University of Maine
*
University of Maine, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, L5 N. Stevens Hall, Orono, ME 04469
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bilingual children face a variety of challenges that their monolingual peers do not. For instance, switching between languages requires the phonological translation of proper names, a skill that requires mapping the phonemic units of one language onto the phonemic units of the other. Proficiency of phonological awareness has been linked to reading success, but little information is available about phonological awareness across multiple phonologies. Furthermore, the relationship between this kind of phonological awareness and reading has never been addressed. The current study investigated phonological translation using a task designed to measure children's ability to map one phonological system onto another. A total of 425 kindergarten and second grade monolingual and bilingual students were evaluated. The results suggest that monolinguals generally performed poorly. Bilinguals translated real names more accurately than fictitious names, in both directions. Correlations between phonological translation and measures of reading ability were moderate, but reliable. Phonological translation is proposed as a tool with which to evaluate phonological awareness through the perspective of children who live with two languages and two attendant phonemic systems.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , April 1998 , pp. 259 - 278
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Boswell, T. D., Curtis, J. R. (1983). The Cuban American experience: Culture, images andperspectives. Totowa, NJ: Rowman Allanheld.Google Scholar
Bradley, L., Bryant, P. (1983). Categorising sounds and learning to read: A causal connexion. Nature, 301, 419–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, L., Bryant, P. (1985). Rhyme and reason in reading and spelling. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruck, M., Genesee, F. (1995). Phonological awareness in young second language learners. Journal of Child Language, 22, 307–324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Byrne, B., Freebody, P., Gates, A. (1992). Longitudinal data on the relations of word-readingstrategies to comprehension, reading time, and phonemic awareness. Reading ResearchQuarterly, 27. 141–151.Google Scholar
Cohen, J., Cohen, P. (1983). Applied multiple regressioncorrelation analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Cobo-Lewis, A. B., Umbel, V. M. (1997). Language and literacy in bilingual children: Compari-sons among monolinguals and bilinguals in standardized assessments of English proficiency. Poster presented at the Society for Research in Child Development. Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Crowder, R. G., Wagner, R. K. (1991). The psychology of reading: An introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. (1985). Bilingualism and special education: Issues in assessment and pedagogy. SanDiego, CA: College-Hill Press.Google Scholar
Dunn, L., Dunn, L. (1981). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – Revised. Circle Pines, MN: Amer-ican Guidance Service.Google Scholar
Dunn, L, Padilla, E., Lugo, D., Dunn, L. (1986). Test de Vocabulario en Imgenes Peabody-Adaptacin Hispanoamericana [Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – Latin American adaptation]. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar
Ehri, L. C. (1989). The development of spelling knowledge and its role in reading acquisition andreading disability. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 22. 356–365.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eilers, R. E. (1997). Language and literacy in bilingual children: Deep description of languageusage in one-way and two-way schools. Poster symposium at the Society for Research in Child Development, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Ervin-Tripp, S. M. (1974). Is second language learning like the first? TESOL Quarterly, 8, 111–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flege, J., Hammond, R. (1982). Mimicry of nondistinctive phonetic differences between languagevarieties. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 5, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flege, J., Munro, M. (1994). The word unit in L2 speech production and perception. Studies inSecond Language Acquisition, 26, 381–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jorm, A., Share, D., MacLean, R., Matthews, R. (1984). Phonological similarity effects, memoryspan and developmental reading disorders. Applied Psycholinguistics, 5, 201–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Juel, C, Griffith, P., Gough, P. (1986). Acquisition of literacy: A longitudinal study of childrenin first and second grade. Journal of Educational Psychology, 78, 243–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroll, J. (1993). Accessing conceptual representation for words in a second language. In Schreuder, R.Weltens, B. (eds.), The bilingual lexicon (pp. 83–114). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Liberman, I. Y. (1983). A language-oriented view of reading and its disabilities. In Myklebust, H.(Ed.), Progress in learning disabilities (Vol. 5, pp. 81–101). New York: Grune Stratton.Google Scholar
Mittingly, I. G. (1980). Reading, linguistic awareness, and language acquisition. Haskins Labora-tories Status Report on Speech Research, SR-61, 135–150.Google Scholar
Nielsen, F., Fernandez, R. M. (1982). Achievement of Hispanic students in American highschools: Background characteristics and achievement. Washington, DC: U.S. GovernmentPrinting Office.Google Scholar
Prez, L. (1986). Cubans in the United States. Annals of the American Academy of Political andSocial Sciences. 487, 126–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubin, H., Turner, A. (1989). Linguistic awareness skills in grade one children in a Frenchimmersion setting. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 1, 73–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tunmer, W. E., Rohl, M. (1989). Phonological awareness and reading acquisition. In Sawyer, D.Fox, B. (eds.), Phonological awareness in reading: The evolution of current perspec-tives (pp. 1–30). New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Umbel, V. M., Cobo-Lewis, A. B. (1997). Language and literacy in bilingual children: Performance of bilingual children in standardized tests of English- and Spanish-language proficiency. Poster presented at the Society for Research in Child development, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Vellutino, F., Scanlon, D. M. (1987). Phonological coding, phonological awareness, and readingability: Evidence from longitudinal and experimental study. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 33,321–364.Google Scholar
Wagner, R. K., Torgesen, J. K. (1987). The nature of phonological processing and its causal rolein the acquisition of reading skills. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 192–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, R. K., Torgesen, J. K., Laughon, P., Simmons, K., Rashotte, C. A. (1993). Developmentof young readers phonological processing abilities. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85,83–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, R. K., Torgesen, J. K., Rashotte, C. A. (1994). Development of reading-related phono-logical processing abilities: New evidence of bidirectional causality from a latent variablelongitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 30, 73–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodcock, R. W. (1981a). Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery. Riverside, CA: DLM TeachingResources.Google Scholar
Woodcock, R. W. (1981b). Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery - Spanish Form. Riverside, CA: DLM Teach-ing Resources.Google Scholar
Woodcock, R. W. (1982). Bateria Woodcock Psico-educativa en Espafiol. Riverside, CA: DLM Teaching Resources.Google Scholar
Woodcock, R. W., Johnson, M. B. (1977). Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery. Riverside, CA: DLM Teaching Resources.Google Scholar
Zuengler, J. (1985). Identity markers in L2 pronunciation. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 10, 33–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar