Issues relating to the assessment of literacy in bilinguals

Siân Wynn Lloyd&

Dr Enlli Môn Thomas

Assessment, Management and Interventions for EAL Children with Speech, Language, and CommunicationDisorders, Newcastle, 25-6-09

Welsh Education

All children learn Welsh as a subject.

1 in 5 children (4- to 11-year-olds) are taught wholly, mainly, or partially through the medium of Welsh (Lewis, 2004).

Such classes include a mixture of L1 and L2 speakers of Welsh.

Transparent Systems

Children show deficits in:

(i) Verbal short term memory

(ii) Rapid naming

(iii) Visual-verbal paired associate learning tasks

(see e.g., Wimmer, Mayringer, & Landerl, 1998)

Also, speakers of Italian and German:

Slow and effortful reading

but

relatively few errors

(e.g., Wimmer, 1993; Barca, Burani, Filippo, & Zoccolotti, 2006)

Ysbyty

braichTorri

L1 Welsh-speaking 5-year-old non-dyslexic:

poble for pobl “people” = English influence?

Dyslexic L1 Welsh-speaking adult

target Translation

seisnag Saesneg “English”

howsach hawsach “easier”

darllan darllen “To read”

cufla cyfle “opportunity”

cumraeg Cymraeg “Welsh”

duddia dyddiau “days”

daud dweud “To say”

huny hynny “that”

defnuddio defnyddio “To use”

dudd dydd “day”

helpy helpu “To help”

hun hyn “This”

Closer look at non-transparent elements of Northern Welsh:

y - dyn “man” pys “peas”

[ɨ]u - pur “pure” mul “mule”

y - byr “short” cynt “earlier”

[ɪ]u - pump “five” dull “method”

Problems forspelling?

Closer look at non-transparent elements of Northern Welsh:

[ɪ] byr “short”hyll “ugly”

y [ɨ] dyn “man” bys “finger”

[ə] yn “in”byrrach “shorter”

e.g., bywyd [bəu ɨd] “life”- bywydau [bəuədaɨ] “lives”

Problems forreading?

Problem: Examples:

Geminates torri “to cut”, but not pori “to graze”

mynnu “to insist”, but not fyny “up”

Pluralisation Welsh system includes:

(i) Numerous different additional suffix – e.g., cân “song”

caneuon “songs”, pêl “ball” – peli “balls”

(ii) Internal vowel change – alarch “swan”, elyrch “swans”

(iii) Internal vowel/diphthong change & additional suffix – cadair “chair” – cadeiriau “chairs”; bwthyn “cottage”, bythynod “cottages”

(iv) Numerous singular marked forms – mochyn “pig”, moch “pigs”

Diphthongs – e.g., forming the plural:

(i) same grapheme, different phoneme: cae “field”, but caeau “fields”

(ii) same grapheme, same phoneme: coes “leg”, coesau “legs”

(ii) different grapheme, different phoneme: sylfaen “foundation”, but sylfeini “foundations”

Diphthongs:

South Wales:

tai “houses”

cau “to close” same

cae “field”

North Wales:

tai “houses”

cau “to close” different

cae “field”

Mutation: pêl “ball” - basic form

dy bêl “your ball” (SM)

fy mhêl “my ball” (NM)

ei phêl “her/its ball” (AM)

Long and short vowels pêl “ball”, but hen “old”

tŷ “house”, but du “black” or pry “fly”

Hypotheses:

Using a set of real and non-words that were chosen specifically to allow investigation of the more opaque aspects of the Welsh orthography

&

comparing known Welsh-speaking dyslexics (diagnosed in English) with age-matched non-dyslexics:

Pattern of errors will be different across the two groups

Dyslexic children will take longer to perform the task than non-dyslexics

Performance will be better on reading than on spelling

Participants

Age Number of L1 Welsh dyslexic children

Number of age-matched control L1 Welsh children

7;6 - 8;5 years 3 6

8;6 - 9;5 years 3 3

9;6 - 10;5 years 5 9

10;6 - 11;6 years 2 8

Method

Five original tasks were devised;

Writing task

Spelling Task

Reading Task

Non-word Spelling Task

Non-word Reading task

Writing Task

3 Age appropriate sentences were used

6;6 - 7;5 years old. 8 words/9 syllables‘Mae’r môr yn las. Mae’r haul yn felyn.’

(The sea is blue. The sun is yellow)

7;6 - 8;5 years old. 14 words/18 syllables‘Mae’r môr a’r awyr yn las. Mae’r tonnau yn ffyrnig a’r ewyn yn wyn.’

(The sea and the sky are blue. The waves are fierce and the foam is white)

8;6 - 10;5 years old. 21 words/27 syllables‘Mae’r môr a’r awyr yn las. Mae’r tonnau yn ffyrnig, yr ewyn yn wyn a’r haul yn

machlud ar y gorwel.’(The sea and the sky are blue. The waves are fierce, the foam is white and the

sun is setting on the horizon’

Spelling/Reading Tasks

Example of Word Tested Possible Error(s)

dilyn (to follow) i/u/y

ffyn (sticks) i/u/y f/ff

byw (live) i/u/y b/p

fyny (up) i/u/y f/ff

yfory (tomorrow) i/u/y

canlyniad (result) i/u/y loss of sound

caiff (to get) diphthongs ff/th

cadeiriau (chairs) diphthongs plurals

cymysgu (to mix) i/u/y add sound

rhedeg (to run) rh/r

cae (field) diphthongs

collodd (to lose) d/dd/f l/ll

bysedd (fingers) d/dd/f

Non word Spelling Task

pai llydd byfrio

tunnai clug cnai crif

prewyg sollodd darnod

Non word Reading Task(Practice Example)

Bore di, meddai’r bliw. Fy enw i ydy Braig.

Possible pronounciations;di (like lli /ɬɪ/ɪ/ )

bliw (like lliw /ɬɪw/ɪw/ )braig (like draig /drɑɨɨg/)

Results 1- Number of errorsF(1, 37)=16.55, p<.0005

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Writing Spelling Reading Spellnon Readnon

Test

Nu

mb

er o

f m

ista

kes

Dys

Not Dys

Results 2. SpeedF(1, 37) =7.48, p =.01

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Writime Spelltime Readtime Spentime Reantime

Test

Tim

e (

Se

co

nd

s)

Dys

Not Dys

Results 3.Type of Error Type of error F(16, 22) =18.32, p<.0005 Dyslexic vs.control F(1, 37) =26.78, p<.0005Type of error X dyslexic vs. control F(1, 37) =172.08, p<.0005

02468

1012141618

Sort of Mistake

Nu

mb

er o

f M

ista

kes

Not Dys

Dys

Spelling Errors Dyslexic vs. NonDyslexic

Error Examples

Word Tested Possible Error(s) Non Dyslexic Dyslexic

dilyn (follow) i/u/y dilin dillin

ffyn (sticks) i/u/y f/ff ffun fen

byw (live) i/u/y b/p buw bew

fyny (up) i/u/y f/ff fynu fyni

yfory (tomorrow) i/u/y yforu yffaryu

canlyniad (results) i/u/y loss of sound canluniad cøluniad

caiff (get) diphthongs ff/th caeff caeph/caith

cadeiriau (chairs) diphthongs plurals cadeuriau cadyrie

cymysgu (mix) i/u/y add sound cymysgu cynymysgu

rhedeg (run) rh/r redeg rhedoedd

cae (field) diphthongs cau cauy

collodd (lost) d/dd/f l/ll collod collof

bysedd (fingers) d/dd/f bysed besef/byseth

Hypothesis:

Using a set of real and non-words that were chosen specifically to allow investigation of the more opaque aspects of the Welsh orthography

&

Comparing known Welsh-speaking dyslexics (diagnosed in English) with age-matched non-dyslexics:

Pattern of errors will be different across the two groups

Dyslexic children will take longer to perform the task than non-dyslexics

Performance will be better on reading than on spelling

Future Implications

1. Future assessment - Look at equivalent norms for Welsh children.

2. Need to look at elements of the Welsh Language that may be problematic.

3. So far - results have indicated problems in Welsh more to do with Spelling than Reading.

Slide 25

References

Allman, B. (2005). Vocabulary size and acuracy of monolingual and bilingual preschool children. In J. Cohen, K.T. McAlister, K. Rolstad, & J. McSwan (ed.) Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism. Cascadilla Press.

Barca, L., Burani, C., Di Filippo, G. & Zoccolotti, P. (2006). Italian developmental dyslexic and proficient readers: Where are the differences? Brain and Language, 98, 347-351.

Cline, T . (2000). Multilingualism and Dyslexia: Challenges for Research and Practice. Dyslexia, 6, 3-12.

Cline, T. & Frederickson, N. (1999). Identification and Assessment of Dyslexia in Bi/Multilingual Children. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2, 81-93.

Cotton, S.M., Crewther, D.P. & Crewther, S.G. (2005). Measurement Error: Implications for Diagnosis and Discrepancy in Models of Developmental Dyslexia. Dyslexia, 11, 186-202.

Ellis, N.C. & Hooper, A.M. (2001). Why learning to read is easier in Welsh than in English: Orthographic transparency effects evinced with frequency-matched tests. Applied Psycholinguistics, 22, 571-599.

Miles, E. (2000). Dyslexia May Show a Different Face in Different Languages. Dyslexia, 6, 193-201.

Spencer, Ll.H. & Hanley, J.R. (2003). Effects of Orthographic transparency on Reading and phoneme awareness in children learning to read in Wales. British Journal of Psychology, 94, 1-28.