The bilingual mind...simultaneous and sequential processing and spelling ability in monolingual English and bilingual Afrikaans-English children
Date
2007-02-14T11:03:42Z
Authors
De Sousa, Diana Soares
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Abstract
In South Africa, the majority of children are bilingual and little research exists on the
cognitive processes bilingual children use to spell. This has far-reaching and
challenging implications for cognitive models of spelling. Specifically, bilingualism
exhibits a pervasive influence on children’s literacy development (Bialystok, 2002).
The majority of research on children’s spelling has been conducted internationally
with monolingual English children. From international literature, cognitive
processing (simultaneous processing and sequential processing) has been identified as
an important area for consideration in the spelling acquisition process of English
children (Kaufman & Kaufman, 1983b). Simultaneous processing is important for
whole word spelling, whilst sequential processing is important for decoding letter
sound correspondences. Cross-linguistic research demonstrates a bias towards one or
the other spelling strategy may be tied to the depth of a language’s orthography,
possibly due to the different demands the language orthography places on how
children learn to spell (Frost et al., 1987; Wimmer & Hummer, 1990, 1994; Goswami
et al., 1998). The present study examined the relationship between simultaneous and
sequential processing and spelling in Grade 3 monolingual English-speaking children
and bilingual Afrikaans-English speaking children at one point in time. Thirty
bilingual Afrikaans-English children (Afrikaans first language, English second
language) and were learning to spell in Afrikaans and in English simultaneously, and thirty monolingual (English first language) learning to spell in English. Simultaneous
and sequential processing subtests of the Kaufman Assessment Battery (K-ABC) were
administered to the monolingual and to the bilingual children. Monolingual Englishspeaking
children received the English word and non-word spelling tests, while the
bilingual Afrikaans-English children were asked to spell English and Afrikaans words
and non-words (Klein, 1993). The results suggest that lexical (logographic or
simultaneous) and non-lexical (alphabetic or sequential) routes are available in
English and Afrikaans, but orthography did exert an influence on cognitive processing
strategies. Sequential processing demonstrates a higher relationship than
simultaneous processing with spelling in English and Afrikaans, although sequential
processing contributes more to spelling in a shallow orthography, because the reliable
relationship between spelling supports easier and faster computation than in an
opaque orthography. Additionally, the results demonstrate that in the bilingual
Afrikaans-English children spelling in a second language (L2) rely on spelling skills
in a first language (L1), even when the same teaching strategies are used for spelling
instruction. Orthography as a tool of academic literacy instruction, influences
whether the transfer of spelling skills has a positive or negative influence on spelling
in English as a second language in bilingual Afrikaans-English children with a
transparent L1. A dual-route model that incorporates the influence of orthographic
depth is supported (Seymour, Bunce & Evans, 1992). The present research study
concludes that (1) simultaneous processing and sequential processing influence and
predict the production of spelling in L1 and L2 in both English and Afrikaans
alphabetic orthographies that differ in orthographic transparency, (2) orthographic
demands of learning to spell in different orthographies varies and influences cognitive
processing resources and decoding skills, which may provide an indication of a
cumulative or challenging development of L2 spelling skills particularly when the L1
is transparent. The present research has implications for assessment, traditional
spelling models and teaching bilingual children learning to spell in a second language,
which is orthographically opaque relative to their transparent mother tongue.
Description
Student Number : 0006815V -
MA research report -
School of Human and Community Development -
Faculty of Humanities
Keywords
bilingualism, cross-linguistic orthographic studies, K-ABC simultaneous, spelling development, orthographic depth