ABSTRACT

Reading comprehension relies on the integration of phonological, semantic, syntactic and pragmatic language abilities and early reading success is attributed to several interrelated factors. The current study investigated one of these skills, phonological awareness and its relation to six-year-old children’s mastery in reading Maltese and English. The researchers recruited eighty-two bilingual participants attending bilingual schools in Malta and administered two parallel batteries comprising a word reading test and phonological tests/tasks in the two respective languages. Descriptive statistics indicated suitability for further analysis. The Bartlett’s test of sphericity and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy showed that the data were suitable for multivariate exploration. Principal components analysis identified clear componential structures in both language batteries. A statistical regression analysis identified similar phonological underpinnings across the two single word reading measures. The results showed that specific measures of phonological awareness constituted common phonological underpinnings of reading performance in both Maltese and English, although to different degrees. The results support the notion of similarity in the patterns of association of skills sustaining reading across Maltese and English in bilingual children. The view that the phonological skills driving reading development across alphabetic languages may not differ substantially between different orthographies is supported.

摘要

阅读理解依赖于语音、语义、句法和语用语言能力的整合，早期阅读的成功归因于几个相互关联的因素。目前的研究调查了其中一项技能、语音意识及其与六岁儿童掌握阅读马耳他语和英语的关系。研究人员招募了 82 名在马耳他双语学校就读的双语参与者，并进行了两个平行的测试，包括两种语言的单词阅读测试和语音测试/任务。描述性统计表明适合进一步分析。Bartlett 的球形度检验和 Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin 抽样充分性测量表明数据适合多变量探索。主成分分析确定了两种语言电池中清晰的成分结构。统计回归分析在两个单字阅读测量中确定了相似的语音基础。结果表明，语音意识的具体测量构成了马耳他语和英语阅读表现的共同语音基础，尽管程度不同。结果支持双语儿童维持马耳他语和英语阅读技能关联模式的相似性概念。支持跨字母语言的语音技能推动阅读发展的观点在不同的拼字法之间可能没有显着差异。统计回归分析在两个单字阅读测量中确定了相似的语音基础。结果表明，语音意识的具体测量构成了马耳他语和英语阅读表现的共同语音基础，尽管程度不同。结果支持双语儿童维持马耳他语和英语阅读技能关联模式的相似性概念。支持跨字母语言的语音技能推动阅读发展的观点在不同的拼字法之间可能没有显着差异。统计回归分析在两个单字阅读测量中确定了相似的语音基础。结果表明，语音意识的具体测量构成了马耳他语和英语阅读表现的共同语音基础，尽管程度不同。结果支持双语儿童维持马耳他语和英语阅读技能关联模式的相似性概念。支持跨字母语言的语音技能推动阅读发展的观点在不同的拼字法之间可能没有显着差异。结果表明，语音意识的具体测量构成了马耳他语和英语阅读表现的共同语音基础，尽管程度不同。结果支持双语儿童维持马耳他语和英语阅读技能关联模式的相似性概念。支持跨字母语言的语音技能推动阅读发展的观点在不同的拼字法之间可能没有显着差异。结果表明，语音意识的具体测量构成了马耳他语和英语阅读表现的共同语音基础，尽管程度不同。结果支持双语儿童维持马耳他语和英语阅读技能关联模式的相似性概念。支持跨字母语言的语音技能推动阅读发展的观点在不同的拼字法之间可能没有显着差异。