Fluency in Reading Irish as L1 or L2: Promoting High-frequency Word Recognition in Emergent Readers

Abstract

A body of research has identified fluency and efficient word recognition as critical components of reading both in L1 and L2, showing a significant positive correlation between reading fluency and comprehension. This points to the need to strive for fluency from the child's earliest experiences with print through developing effective decoding skills and fast, accurate, word recognition. In this examination of fluency Ehri's theory of word recognition development is considered in relation to some of the miscues of young L2 readers of Irish. A brief outline of Irish orthography presents some of the difficulties children encounter when learning Irish reading. The presentation of the most frequent Irish words in a special corpus of books aimed at early readers of Irish allows a consideration of ways of promoting deeper analysis of these words. This is what facilitates automatic and accurate word recognition and underpins the decoding skills that make independent reading in the L2 less laborious and more effective.