General and Specific Benefits of Bi-Literate Bilingualism: A Russian-Hebrew Study of Beginning Literacy

Autor/inn/en	Leikin, Mark; Schwartz, Mila; Share, David L.
Titel	General and Specific Benefits of Bi-Literate Bilingualism: A Russian-Hebrew Study of Beginning Literacy
Quelle	In: Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 23 (2010) 3-4, S.269-292 (24 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0922-4777
DOI	10.1007/s11145-009-9210-x
Schlagwörter	Bilingualism; Russian; Semitic Languages; Emergent Literacy; Phonemic Awareness; Word Recognition; Grade 1; Longitudinal Studies; Decoding (Reading); Spelling; Monolingualism + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Bilingualismus; Russisch; Arabisch; Hebräisch; Frühleseunterricht; Worterkennung; School year 01; 1. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 01; Longitudinal study; Longitudinal method; Longitudinal methods; Längsschnittuntersuchung; Dekodierung; Schreibweise
Abstract	The present paper addresses the issue of cross-linguistic transfer of phonemic awareness and word identification skills across two linguistically distant languages (Russian and Hebrew). The role of early literacy learning was directly assessed by distinguishing two groups of Russian-Hebrew speaking bilinguals; bi-literate (n = 39) and mono-literate bilinguals (n = 41), as well as a group of Hebrew-speaking monolinguals (n = 41). In a longitudinal design, a variety of linguistic, meta-linguistic and cognitive tasks were administered at the commencement of first grade, with Hebrew reading and spelling assessed at the end of the year. We observed general and specific benefits of early acquisition of basic Russian (L1) literacy skills to first grade Hebrew (L2) decoding and spelling. General benefits were evident in the cross-linguistic transfer of phonemic awareness from Russian to Hebrew, while more specific benefits were evident in the enhanced ability of bi-literate bilinguals to spell vowels and consonant clusters in Hebrew. These findings are discussed in the context of two alternative hypotheses: "the central processing hypothesis" and "the script dependent hypothesis". (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10