Linguistic Interdependence Research Articles

Cognitive Skill Transfer in English Reading Acquisition: Alphabetic and Logographic Languages Compared

The purpose of this article is to review published studies regarding acquisition of English as a second or foreign language by students of different linguistic backgrounds, in light of the English language’s opaque alphabetic orthography. This review focuses on the contribution of first language cognitive skills (orthographic knowledge, phonological awareness, and morphological awareness) in native speakers of languages with alphabetic and logographic orthographies, to English second-language reading skills (word reading and reading comprehension), to better understand the contribution of cognitive reading skills in alphabetic and logographic languages to the acquisition of English reading skills as a second language. The author examines findings in the context of second-language learning theories, and two contradictory hypotheses in particular—the linguistic interdependence hypothesis and the script-dependent hypothesis. The author finds that no consensus can be indicated as to the contribution of most native-language skills in alphabetic vs. logographic languages to the acquisition of second-language or foreign-language English reading, or even whether or not they are language-specific (script-dependent). The exception is phonological awareness in alphabetical orthographies (but not logographic orthographies) which received a consensus among researchers supporting its transfer from the native language to English as a second or foreign language.

Students first language writing skills and their English language proficiency as predictors of their English language writing performance

This study endeavored to find out whether or not grade 11 students’ L1 (Amharic, in this case) writing and their L2 (English) proficiency could significantly predict their L2 writing. It also investigated whether or not the students’ L2 reading, grammar and vocabulary knowledge could significantly determine their L2 writing. To this end, students’ first semester final English examination, and teacher-made writing (both in L1 and L2), English reading, grammar and vocabulary tests were given. Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient and multiple regressions were used for analyses. The results indicated that all the predicting (independent) variables significantly correlated with the dependent variable (L2 writing); however, only students’ L1 writing, first semester overall English and reading test scores were significant predictors of their L2 writing. Finally, it was recommended that special attention be paid for the students’ grammar and vocabulary teaching approach so that they will be able to apply them in their L2 writing. Key words: Linguistic interdependence, threshold level, transfer, prediction

The impact of the First Language First model on vocabulary development among preschool bilingual children

The aim of this exploratory study was to examine the role of the First Language First model for preschool bilingual education in the development of vocabulary depth. The languages studied were Russian (L1) and Hebrew (L2) among bilingual children aged 4–5 years in Israel. According to this model, the children’s first language of educational instruction (up to age three) is the language to which they are exposed at home. Their second language—the dominant language of the country that is spoken by the majority of the population—is acquired sequentially, after relative maturity in the first language. Fifty-one Russian/Hebrew-speaking bilinguals (around age four) were selected from bilingual (Russian/Hebrew) preschools, which used the First Language First approach, and monolingual (Hebrew) preschools. The research was designed as a longitudinal study, as the children’s vocabulary was measured at two time-points—near the beginning and the end of the academic year. The children’s vocabulary was measured in both languages by examining its depth dimensions (paradigmatic semantic relations and syntagmatic semantic relations). The results demonstrated that the later immersion in L2 and continuing development of L1 within the First Language First model does not results in retardation in development of bilingual children in L2 in comparison to their bilingual peers from the monolingual (Hebrew) preschools. In addition, this model of early bilingual development enhances the linguistic interdependence of depth of vocabulary knowledge, and, therefore, supports balanced bilingual development.

Bilingual Vocabulary Knowledge and Arrival Age Among Japanese Heritage Language Students at Hoshuukoo

AbstractThis study examines bilingual vocabulary knowledge in relation to arrival age among first language (L1) Japanese students attending hoshuukoo (i.e., supplementary academic schools for Japanese‐speaking children) in the United States. It also examines the relationship between L1 Japanese and English as a second language (L2), as motivated by Cummins's (1979, 1991) notion of linguistic interdependence. One hundred and twenty‐two high school students ages 15–18 from eight hoshuukoo took Japanese and English vocabulary tests designed by Ono (1989). Students who came to the United States by age 9 or younger were three grades behind in L1 Japanese and were either ahead of or at their U.S. grade level in English. In contrast, those who arrived at age 10 or older were just one grade behind in Japanese and were two to five years behind in English. High vocabulary knowledge in one language was associated with low knowledge in the other, and the negative correlation between L1 and L2 became statistically nonsignificant when arrival age was controlled. Consequently, arrival age remains an important factor in accounting for hoshuukoo students' bilingual vocabulary learning, and the notion of linguistic interdependence must be reexamined in factors in addition to vocabulary knowledge.

Escuela e inmigración. Una revisión de estudios sobre el desarrollo de habilidades lingüísticas y procesos de interdependencia entre lenguas.

Title: School and immigration. A presentation of studies about linguistic development and linguistic interdependence processes. Abstract: The present work offers some data gathered from the few stud- ies carried out in Spain on the relationship between immigration, language and school. Bearing in mind the demographic relevance of immigration in the country, we present results from different research projects, with spe- cial emphasis on the Catalan case. The studies reported here focus on: i) the development of linguistic abilities in the language of instruction in schools, and ii) the analysis of lin- guistic interdependence processes. Finally, we put forward some sugges- tions with the aim of making some contribution to an in-depth debate on the issue. These proposals seek to improve and reconceptualise educational practice in multilingual classrooms.

Narrative development among language-minority children: the role of bilingual versus monolingual preschool education

The development of script schema, as a source of narrative knowledge, is an essential stage in this knowledge construction. This study focused on the role of bilingual versus monolingual preschool education in the development of script schema knowledge in Russian (L1) and Hebrew (L2) among Russian/Hebrew-speaking children in Israel. The preschool bilingual education was based on the ‘first language first approach’ with L2 immersion around age three. The study design was longitudinal and comparative. The children's script schema knowledge was measured at three time points during one academic year. Thirty-two Russian/Hebrew-speaking bilinguals (around age three) were selected from bilingual (Russian/Hebrew) and monolingual (Hebrew) preschools. In addition, 19 Hebrew-speaking monolinguals acted as the control group. The results demonstrated that relatively late immersion in L2 and continuous development of L1 within a bilingual educational context does not impede the acquisition of script schema knowledge in L2. At the same time, in the case of the monolingual preschools, the lack of input in children's L1 within the educational curriculum seems to hinder their script schema development in this language. Finally, the research provides evidence of linguistic interdependence near to onset of script schema acquisition.

Cross-Language Transfer of Reading Ability

How proficiency in reading the first language (L1) influences proficiency in reading in the second language (L2) was explored in this study. Reading scores in Mandarin Chinese (L1) and in English (L2) for 30,000 Taiwanese ninth-grade students were randomly selected from all who took the national Basic Competency Test during a 6-year period in Taiwan. Results of regression analyses showed that proficiency in L1 reading predicts with statistical significance the L2 reading proficiency of those whose scores were analyzed. In addition, participants’ gender and school district also played small but statistically significant roles affecting the cross-language transfer of reading ability. The results are discussed in light of Cummins’s linguistic interdependence hypothesis.

The Interdependence Continuum: A Perspective on the Nature of Spanish–English Bilingual Reading Comprehension

The purpose of the current study is to elaborate on the statistical nature of the linguistic interdependence hypothesis (Cummins, 1979). It is argued that reading skills across the languages of bilingual learners are differentially robust to interdependence, falling along a continuum mediated by the commonalities between Spanish and English. Reading data were collected from a sample of 91 Spanish–English bilingual fourth-grade students, and structural equation modeling was used to test a path model of the interdependence continuum. The model assumed that Spanish–English interdependence would be strong for alphabetic knowledge, moderate for reading comprehension, and mild for the link between Spanish oral language and English reading comprehension. The model fit the data well, providing some initial evidence for an interdependence continuum that varies as a function of language typology.

On the relation between the signing and reading skills of deaf bilinguals

In this paper, we will describe the theoretical underpinning of many bilingual education programs for deaf children: Cummins' Linguistic Interdependence theory. Then, we will review some of the studies that have been conducted on the relation between reading and signing skills, and discuss how difficult it is to interpret their findings within Cummins' framework. We will present new data on the relation between deaf children's vocabulary knowledge and morpho-syntactic skills in Sign Language of the Netherlands and spoken Dutch that imply that Cummins' theory may be too narrow as an educational model of bilingual programs for deaf children.

So, What's Behind Adult English Second Language Reading?

This study investigated the relationship of first language (L1) grammatical knowledge to English second language reading (ESLR), with the objective of understanding this relationship in the context of the transfer of L1 skills to second language (L2) academic processes. Fifty-five adult, native Spanish-speaking Englishlanguage learners were given 4 assessments. Spanish reading accounted for 10% of the variance of ESLR, supporting the Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis, and English grammar accounted for 8% of the variance, supporting the Linguistic Threshold Hypothesis. The results imply that transfer from the L1 might operate differently in adult ESLR than it does with children. An ESLR adult model is proposed, which predicts that some ESLR students will require a curriculum that provides a highly intensive focus on L2 language, grammar, and reading skills.

Second Language Listening: Listening Ability or Language Proficiency?

This article reports on a study exploring the respective contributions of first language (L1) listening comprehension ability and second language (L2) proficiency to L2 listening comprehension ability. The participants were 75 Grade 8 English-speaking students learning French. The students completed tests in French and in English that required them to listen to authentic dialogues and to complete a number of multiple choice comprehension questions. Multiple regression analysis indicated that both L1 listening comprehension ability and L2 proficiency contributed significantly to L2 listening comprehension ability, with L2 proficiency having about twice as much common variance. A further analysis by question type indicated that, although the relative contribution of L2 proficiency to the combined variance continued to be higher for both question types, the relative contribution of L1 listening comprehension ability to answering literal questions was greater than for answering inferencing questions. The results are discussed in light of the linguistic threshold and the linguistic interdependence hypotheses and similar research on this same question for L2 reading. This article initiates an exploration of the ability/proficiency debate as it relates to L2 listening comprehension ability, discusses implications for L2 pedagogy, and suggests important avenues for further research.

Reading Strategies in L1 and L2

Abstract This study compared LI (Japanese) and L2 (English) reading strategies reported by four groups of readers with different reading ability backgrounds. Information on the strategies was extracted by a think aloud method. The following points emerged. (1) Generally speaking, readers tend to transfer their LI reading strategies to their L2 reading. (2) Language independent strategies are more likely to be transferred from LI to L2 than language dependent strategies. (3) High LI reading ability compensates for weak L2 reading ability, but there is a limit to this compensation. These results suggested a stronger relationship between LI and L2 reading processes than is predicted by the linguistic threshold hypothesis. The possibility that we can explain the results by combining the linguistic threshold hypothesis and the linguistic interdependence hypothesis, which have often been treated as conflicting, was discussed.

Processing Novel Phonemic Contrasts in the Acquisition of L2 Word Reading

Thirty-four English-speaking Grade 2 children attending a bilingual English-Hebrew elementary school were administered a phonological task designed to tap sensitivity to a phonemic contrast (/ts/ vs. /s/) that occurs productively in Hebrew but is phonotactically constrained in English. The results showed that children experienced more difficulty discriminating the contrast in onsets than in rimes, which is consistent with predictions made from a language transfer hypothesis. Accuracy on this measure was related to word reading ability in both Hebrew and English. Errors made by choosing orthographic foils were more frequent than were errors made by choosing phonological foils. Evidence of linguistic interdependence was seen in the cross-linguistic relation of phonological tasks to word reading ability in both languages. There was no interaction of language transfer with reading ability. This pattern of results suggests that a general level of phonological ability is required for reading to develop but that phonological elements specific to the second-language present additional challenges to beginning readers.

The shared conceptual system and language processing in bilingual children: findings from literacy assessment in Spanish Nahuatl

Findings are reported from a series of literacy assessments in which four classes of bilingual 3rd and 5th grade students from an indigenous community in Central Mexico participated. Subjects who completed the battery of tests of reading and writing in Spanish and Nahuatl range from balanced bilinguals to Spanish-dominant speakers with at least receptive language proficiency in Nahuatl, the principal indigenous language of the region (Tlaxcala and Puebla states). Typically, in bilingual schools in Mexico, instruction is predominantly or exclusively in Spanish. In the case of the present study, virtually all literacy teaching is carried out in Spanish, thus presenting investigators with the unique opportunity to examine the application of literacy skills learned through one language to literacy tasks in another language that children understand, but in which they have not had the opportunity to practice reading and writing. Findings offer a different vantage point from which to conceptualize the models of linguistic interdependence, common underlying proficiency, and transfer, developed and elaborated upon by researchers in the field of bilingual education. In the study of bilingualism and second language learning it is necessary to specify more precisely which aspects of language competence and language use are interdependent and which aspects are separate; what precisely does interdependence refer to? What are the conditions under which knowledge and skills stored in a common underlying proficiency can be accessed, in particular under special circumstances of language contact (for example, those that involve indigenous languages)? And is transfer a useful concept for describing the various aspects of bilingual proficiency?

Minority language education in unbalanced bilingual situations: a case for the linguistic interdependence hypothesis.

This paper is placed in the linguistic and sociocultural context of Eastern Aragon, a region of Spain where two contact languages (Spanish and Catalan) coexist in an unbalanced situation favoring Spanish. The research was prompted by the regulation for the teaching of Catalan in that area, by means of the Cooperation Agreement signed by the Spanish Educational Ministry (MEC) and the local autonomous Cultural and Educational Department of the Diputación General de Aragon in November 1986. A comparative analysis is made between Eastern Aragon students' linguistic competence in Catalan and Spanish; a further comparison is established between these students and others living in bilingual Catalonia and in monolingual Aragon. We conclude by pointing out that the Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis accounts for the results obtained in the study.

Response to Mayer and Wells: The Answer Should Be Affirmative

Mayer and Wells (1996) formulated and responded to the following question: Can the linguistic interdepen dence theory support a bilingual-bicultural model of literacy education for Deaf students? The authors ap parently based their response to the question on their understanding, reflection, and interpretation of Vygot sky's version of the notion and Cum mins's linguistic interdependence and common under lying proficiency hypotheses (Mayer & Wells, 1996). Their main contention is that a first language (LI) and a second language (L2) do not become linguistically in terdependent unless they share common characteris tics. Examples of such characteristics include: (1) both have spoken and written forms that represent the same linguistic code and an external speech that provides a bridge between inner and written speech; (2) the LI user should already have some mastery of the written mode in LI before learning the written mode of L2; (3) the LI speaker should have sufficient opportunities to interact with fluent L2 speakers to learn the new lan guage; and (4) the LI user should be able to use her or his written mode in a broad range of functions. Consid ering the above assumptions, the authors contended that the linguistic interdependence theory applicable to heard-and-spoken LI and L2 pairings (e.g., spoken English and French) is not applicable to heard-and

The Question Remains: A Rejoinder to Mason

If we interpret his commentary correctly, David Mason seems to have misunderstood our argument. We are not suggesting that ASL and written English cannot function in effective complementarity in mediating the construction of and use of educational knowledge by those who do not have access to spoken English by virtue of their hearing loss. Rather, our argument concerns their initial mastery of written English, and for this purpose we contend ASL does not provide an adequate base. In Cummins's terms, does not meet the conditions of applicability of the theory of linguistic interdependence. Mason rightly points out that ASL functions successfully in a variety of literate settings from university lectures to political meetings, from courts of law to religious institutions, and that can be used to discuss concepts in science and mathematics, and even to discuss aspects of English text and text structure. But what he fails to make clear is that ASL performs this role only for those who can already read the English written texts in which these concepts are encountered. Mason is also correct when he writes that it is reasonable to infer that educational knowledge cannot be deemed bound to language specifically since the knowledge is much deeper and broader than any particular language can possibly represent. We make a related point by arguing that one language is as good as any other for developing inner speech, for devel-

Can the Linguistic Interdependence Theory Support A Bilingual-Bicultural Model of Literacy Education for Deaf Students?

Drawing on Cummins' (1989) linguistic interdependence model, proponents of bilingual-bicultural models of literacy education for deaf students claim that, if ASL is well established as the L1, then literacy in English (L2) can be achieved by means of reading and writing without exposure to English through either speech or English-based sign. In our opinion, this claim is based on a false analogy: the situation of the deaf learner of English literacy does not match the conditions assumed by the linguistic interdependence model. We draw on the work of Vygotsky and Halliday to develop a conceptualization of the processes involved in becoming literate, examining the particular and unique challenges that deaf students face as they strive to become members of the linguistic community of users of written English. We argue that becoming literate involves mastering three modes of lanuage use: 'social speech,' 'inner speech,' and written text. In some respects the educational context for deaf students is analogous to that of other bilingual learners; in some crucial aspects, it is very different.

Interpreting Relationships between L1 and L2 Reading: Consolidating the Linguistic Threshold and the Linguistic Interdependence Hypotheses

This paper reinterprets the question of whether second language reading is a language problem (linguistic threshold) or a reading problem (linguistic interdependence) A variety of previously published data sources relevant to these questions are examined and new data are presented from 186 adult native English speakers reading in English and Spanish Results indicated that neither hypothesis is wholly reflective of the second language reading process There is considerable consistency (in all studies reviewed) in the amount of variance accounted for by first language literacy (upwards of 20 per cent) However, linguistic knowledge is consistently a more powerful predictor (upwards of 30 per cent) The paper concludes with a restatement of the second language reading problematic How L1 literate does a second language reader have to be to make the second language knowledge work ? How much second language knowledge does a second language reader have to have in order to make the L1 literacy knowledge work ?

Transfer in Bilingual Development: The Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis Revisited

This study aimed to find empirical evidence for the linguistic interdependence hypothesis, which states that in bilingual development, language and literacy skills can be transferred from one language to another. Ninety‐eight 6‐year‐old Turkish children, living in the Netherlands since infancy, were selected prior to their entrance into the first grade of primary school. A longitudinal design monitored the development of lexical, morphosyntactic, pragmatic, phonological, and literacy abilities in the children's first and second languages. To minimize test‐bias, I developed linguistic tasks, which required minimal instruction, analyzing interdependence relationships in bilingual development with LISREL techniques. The results clearly show that at the level of lexicon and syntax, language transfer was quite limited. At the level of pragmatic skills, phonological skills, and literacy skills, however, positive evidence appeared for the interdependence in bilingual development.