Difficulty bilingual children with dyslexia face

Abstract

The present proposal is a quantitative approach to study the type and extent of difficulty bilingual children with dyslexia may encounter when they are learning English as a second language. The aim of this proposal is to examine the effect alphabetic languages have when learning English, compared to non-alphabetic languages using word reading, orthographic and phonemic awareness tasks. The outcome of this study will contribute to the growing body of research within dyslexia and bilingualism, as well as discuss the instances where a misdiagnosis of dyslexia may occur

What is the type and extent of difficulty bilingual children with dyslexia have when they are learning English as a second language?

Children today all around the world are growing up in a demanding and accelerated society, where language is considered as an imperative (Høien & Lundberg, 2000). Walking into a classroom, one would encounter unique differences in every student, despite all of them being the same age (Høien & Lundberg, 2000). This includes both mental and physical differences, such as motor skills, interests, temperament, reading ability or mathematical ability (Høien & Lundberg, 2000). Children who may lack in reading or writing abilities can experience a sense of distress and elimination, as reading and writing are considered a schools’ main objectives (Høien & Lundberg, 2000). Children who are behind in these aspects are easily categorized as ‘dumb’, where difficulty in learning to read still remains a ‘hidden disability’ (Chung & Ho, 2010). This is formally defined as dyslexia.

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Dyslexia is a difficulty in learning to read and spell, which can adversely affect a child’s academic performance (Chung & Ho, 2010). Today, it is estimated that 43% of the worlds’ population is growing up bilingual, and this, consequently, stimulated a growing interest in investigating dyslexia in bilingual readers (Helland & Kaasa, 2005). Inevitably, it is a challenge for young bilingual children to be proficient in both L1 and L2 reading (Tong & McBribe, 2017) and typically, this difficulty can be misconstrued into a lack of proficiency, which can subsequently, lead to a misdiagnosis of dyslexia (Elbro, Daugaard & Gellert, 2012). English can differ from other worlds languages on many levels, which can be either orthographically or in phonological representation. For example, consonant clusters are common in English, but not in Germanic languages (Elbro et al., 2012). Hence, learning English as a second language for dyslexic children can impose difficulty in reading, particularly when the mappings are relatively unpredictable, and are characterised by inconsistency and irregularity (Raman & Weekes, 2005).

Consequently, this research proposal aims to address the type and extent of difficulty bilingual children with dyslexia have when they are learning English as a second language. I would hypothesise that children with an L1 of French or Spanish would perform better in English orthographic and phonemic tasks, compared to children with an L1 of Arabic or Chinese. This is due to the similarity in alphabet. In order to fill the gap in literature, this project will study both alphabetic languages (French and Spanish) and non- alphabetic languages (Chinese and Arabic). This project will specifically study the type of difficulty as well as the common misdiagnosis of dyslexia in bilingual children in order to explore a new line of research.

Literature Review

Dyslexia and bilingualism are a developing interest in the field of research. Much of previous research have focused on monolingual dyslexic children (Cassar et al., 2005; Annett et al., 1996; Masutto et al., 1994), with an aim to study the different types of dyslexia. Studies with bilingual children with dyslexia have been quite recent, with majority of them contrasting between languages of Europe. For example, a study by Elbro, Daugaard & Gellert (2012) investigated 88 native speakers of Danish, in which the common second languages were Polish and French. Another similar study by Hedman (2012), measured 20 Spanish- Swedish speakers, in which half of the participants were dyslexic. Both of these studies concluded that participants who had dyslexia performed much poorer than non- dyslexic participants in all reading tasks. Furthermore, a study by Lallier, Acha & Carreiras (2016) investigated 40 speakers of French and Spanish, in which 20 participants had developmental dyslexia. Their findings were also consistent with the previous studies, where participants with dyslexia performed mediocre, compared to non- dyslexic participants in reading and reading- related cognitive tasks.

Previous studies that have looked at English as a second language have compared it with Chinese children. This is because English and Chinese vary substantially both orthographically and phonologically (Chung & Ho, 2012; Ho & Fong, 2005). A study by Fong & Ho measured 50 Hong Kong Chinese primary school children, in which 25 of them had developmental dyslexia. In their quantitative design, they found that Chinese dyslexic children also encounter difficulties when learning English, but overall, dyslexic children are weak in phonological processing for both English and Chinese. A point of limitation in this study is that only English tests were included and consequently, Chinese assessments and their association with learning English was not incorporated. Similarly, Chung & Ho (2012) also examined 84 Cantonese- speaking Chinese primary students, in which 28 of those students had dyslexia. Through conducting 13 measures of standardized tests, their findings confirm that Chinese- English children have difficulty learning English as an L2 and are generally weak in both languages in terms of rapid- naming, visual- orthographic knowledge and phonological awareness. This study, however, only reported correlational data, which means that language and reading related tasks were administered simultaneously, indicating a point of limitation.

Significance and Innovation

This study will differ from previous research as it will not only study English as a second language in children with dyslexia, but also examine a wide range of native languages, including Chinese, French, Arabic and Spanish. The reason these languages are investigated because it is important to contrast the non- alphabetic (Chinese and Arabic) and alphabetic languages (French and Spanish) with English. This is something that previous researchers have not investigated, and hence, will fill the gap in literature. Taking these points into consideration, this research is significant, as it will contribute to the growing body of research into the reading impairment of children with dyslexia, and what impact bilingualism or multilingualism have in this specific learning impairment. Furthermore, the present study will also investigate the impact of orthography and phonology on second language acquisition.

It is important to note that if children with dyslexia are experiencing difficulties in their first language, they will inevitably encounter difficulties in their second language too (Cline & Frederickson, 1999). It is, therefore, wrong to assume that reading difficulties are solely due to a deficiency in knowledge in a child’s L2. In many cases, researchers have implied that second language learning can be a sense of overload for a child’s intellect, and thus, reading impairment is a result of second language acquisition (Cenoz, 2003; Bialystok, 2009). These assumptions lead us to infer that neuropsychological issues that cause dyslexia only affect those children who are monolingual (Cline & Frederickson, 1999). Subsequently, this research will redefine dyslexia, as well as discuss the correct diagnosis for bilingual children.

The present proposal and aims are novel and innovative, as majority of research in this area examine dyslexic children whose L1 and L2 are similar (alphabetic) or are completely different (non- alphabetic). Hence, the present study will be the first to study both alphabetic and non- alphabetic languages. Moreover, their relationship when learning English as a second language will be examined, something that previous studies have not investigated. A discussion on the identification for dyslexia in bilingual children will be included, in order to advance the knowledge base for the correct diagnosis.

Methods

Design

This study will be a quantitative design, in which measures will be taken in accord of their previous dyslexia diagnosis and their teachers rating in English learning. A comparison will be made with L1 reading and L2 reading and later analysed for which issues were consistent or most difficult.

Participants

Participants will be recruited from language centres or reading clinics, and then divided according to the alphabetic (Chinese and Arabic speakers) and non- alphabetic language (French and Spanish). There will be 40 participants aged between 8 and 9, where 10 children from each language background will be recruited. All participants must be enrolled in an Australian primary school and are currently learning English as their second language. A signed consent form will be obtained from all parents prior to any taking any measurements with an additional permission to obtain educational information from their teachers.

Measures

Both groups of participants will complete the same assessments, which will be in English respectively. The assessments include;

Word reading task: Participants will be presented with 50 words based off the most popular English reading books used in primary school level. The words were set in an ascending order of difficulty, ranging from short, frequent words (eg. bus) to longer words (eg. delicious). The participants will be required to read the words out loud, one by one. This task is influenced from the test by Chung & Ho (2012)

Phoneme awareness task: The idea of this test was taken from Muter & Snowling (1997). This task will consist of 14 items with, seven initial and seven final deletions. The participant will hear the word first and then asked how a word would sound without a certain phoneme. For example, how would the word ‘back’ sound without /b/.

Orthographic task: This task is based on the concept from Olson, Kliegl, Davidson & Foltz (1985). The participants will be presented with 20 real English words and 20 non- words that appear similar to the real world. For example, they would be presented with series of words such as ‘slow’, ‘slou’ and ‘dlou’. The participant will be asked to cross out all non- words.

The assessments mentioned above are specific and appropriate to the proposals aim, as they will allow to obtain results which describe a sense of association between their native language and English. It will allow to discern whether an alphabetic L1 would have a higher accuracy rate in phonemic and orthographic tasks, compared a non- alphabetic L1. The results from these assessments will be analysed and calculated from both groups, to obtain the mean, standard deviation and t values.

In terms of the feasibility, this project will be of minimum cost. For recruiting, a formal permission will be obtained, and each child will receive a small prize with $20 for their participation. The assessments are the typical tests used by speech pathologists and other therapists when examining dyslexic children, hence, the procedure will be clear and straightforward. All tests will be administered individually, by trained research assistants. This duration of this project will about 18 months, in which each phase may take up to 4- 5 months. This will include planning and design, data collection and analysis, monitoring and finally, dissemination.

National Benefit

The outcome of this study will demonstrate that regardless of the type of L1, dyslexic children will experience difficulty learning English as an L2. Dyslexia will impact a child’s learning, where they will have a lower accuracy rate compared to their typically developing peers. This proposal will further demonstrate that in terms of orthography or phonemic awareness, children with an L1 of French or Spanish will perform better than children with a non- alphabetic L1, such as Arabic or Chinese.

In Australia, the two most common languages spoken after English is Chinese and Arabic (Rubino, 2010). It can, therefore, be particularly challenging for dyslexic children with a non- alphabetic background to be fluent in both L1 and L2 reading. Taking these points into consideration, this proposed research will allow a clinical implication, where there can be an early detection and intervention for bilingual children who are at risk for both L1 and L2 reading. This will result in social and educational benefits, where academically, dyslexic children can be equivalent to their peers in the schooling environment.

Furthermore, this proposal will initiate the much needed argument for the correct diagnosis of dyslexia, where bilingual children will not be simply categorized as cognitively or socially deficient. Previous research has also shown that dyslexic children are particularly prone to mental health difficulties, such as depression and anxiety (Bond et al., 2010). Early detection will also allow to reduce the risk of such complications and improve psychological and emotional well- being

In conclusion, this research proposal will study the type and extent of difficulty bilingual children experience when they are learning English as a second language. Specifically, this study will examine the difference between non- alphabetic (Chinese and Arabic) and alphabetic (French and Spanish) and compare their effect with English. On the whole, this study will provide empirical evidence that dyslexic children will have difficulties in both L1 and L2 reading, as well as providing information for an early detection to prevent a misdiagnosis of dyslexia.

References

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