The Overlap of Poor Reading Comprehension in English and French

Nadia D’Angelo,Klaudia Krenca,Xi Chen

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00120

Nadia D’Angelo, Klaudia Krenca + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00120

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Abstract

This study examined overlap and correlates of poor reading comprehension in English and French for children in early French immersion. Poor comprehenders were identified in grade 3 in English and French using a regression method to predict reading comprehension scores from age, non-verbal reasoning, word reading accuracy, and word reading fluency. Three groups of poor comprehenders were identified: 10 poor comprehenders in English and French, 11 poor comprehenders in English, and 10 poor comprehenders in French, and compared to 10 controls with good reading comprehension in both English and French. There was a moderate degree of overlap in comprehension difficulties in English and French among poor comprehenders with equivalent amounts of exposure to French, with a prevalence rate of 41.7% in our sample. Children who were poor comprehenders in both English and French consistently scored the lowest on English vocabulary in grade 1 and grade 3 and in French vocabulary in grade 3 suggesting that poor comprehenders’ vocabulary weaknesses in English as a primary language may contribute to comprehension difficulties in English and French.

Highlights

There is considerable evidence to suggest that children who are at risk for reading difficulties in a second language (L2) can be identified through early assessment of word reading and cognitive skills in their first language (L1), before their oral language proficiency is fully developed in L2 (Geva and Clifton, 1994; Da Fontoura and Siegel, 1995; MacCoubrey et al, 2004)
We found that there is a moderate degree of overlap in comprehension difficulties in English and French among poor comprehenders with equivalent amounts of exposure to French, with a prevalence rate of 41.7% in our sample
We found that English and French vocabulary was a strong and persistent indicator of reading comprehension difficulties in the same language for poor comprehenders of English, French, and both English and French

Summary

Introduction

There is considerable evidence to suggest that children who are at risk for reading difficulties in a second language (L2) can be identified through early assessment of word reading and cognitive skills in their first language (L1), before their oral language proficiency is fully developed in L2 (Geva and Clifton, 1994; Da Fontoura and Siegel, 1995; MacCoubrey et al, 2004). Much of this previous research is based on the premise that certain cognitive and linguistic skills, such as phonological processing, transfer across languages (e.g., Comeau et al, 1999; August and Shanahan, 2006). The present study aims to investigate overlap and early contributors of poor reading comprehension for children in early French immersion programs in Canada who receive school instruction in French, an additional language, while being exposed to English, their primary language of the community.

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