L1, quantity of exposure to L2 and reading disability as factors in L2 oral comprehension and production skills

Abstract

This study investigated second language comprehension and oral skills in a control group and a reading deficit group (RDG) of 3rd graders in both Urdu and English medium schools in Pakistan. The main goal was to test the extent to which learning difficulties (such as a reading deficit in L1) negatively affected L2 achievement, and whether language immersion was a protective factor in L2 attainment in the case of learning difficulty.We used The English 2 Dyslexia test (Kaasa, Sanne, & Helland, 2004) originally designed to assess L2 skills in English in 6 graders in Norway. The test was adapted both in terms of content and in method of administration in order to make it appropriate for a somewhat younger group (grade 3) studying in a completely different school system (Pakistan). Consistent with our hypotheses, the children with reading deficit from both types of Pakistani schools in the present sample performed significantly more poorly on all L2 tasks than their peers in the control groups. Furthermore, both controls and reading deficit groups in the English medium schools scored considerably higher than their counterparts in the Urdu medium schools. More surprisingly, even the reading deficit children in the English medium schools demonstrated superior L2 skills compared to controls in Urdu medium schools.These results are consistent with earlier evidence that the process of acquiring skills in a second language can be affected negatively by a reading deficit. This is, however, the first study to provide evidence that increased exposure to the target language can be a protective factor in L2 attainment for children with a learning deficit.