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The role of language of instruction and vocabulary in the English phonological awareness of Spanish–English bilingual children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2006

ANDREA ROLLA SAN FRANCISCO ,
MARÍA CARLO ,
DIANE AUGUST  and
CATHERINE E. SNOW
ANDREA ROLLA SAN FRANCISCO
Affiliation:
Harvard University Graduate School of Education
MARÍA CARLO
Affiliation:
University of Miami
DIANE AUGUST
Affiliation:
Center for Applied Linguistics
CATHERINE E. SNOW
Affiliation:
Harvard University Graduate School of Education
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Abstract

This study explores influences on bilingual children's phonological awareness (PA) performance in English, examining the role of language of instruction and vocabulary. English monolingual and Spanish–English bilingual kindergartners and first graders receiving either English or Spanish literacy instruction were assessed in English PA and in English and Spanish vocabulary, as appropriate. Spanish-instructed bilinguals were more likely than English-instructed bilinguals or English monolinguals to treat diphthongs as two units, reflecting their analysis in Spanish phonology and orthography. Surprisingly, unbalanced bilinguals dominant in either English or Spanish scored better on English PA than children with approximately equal scores on the English and the Spanish vocabulary test. This finding suggests that familiarity with many lexical items within a language constitutes a source of analyzable phonological knowledge.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 229 - 246
Copyright
2006 Cambridge University Press

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