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The influence of learning a second language in primary school on developing first language literacy skills

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2014

VICTORIA A. MURPHY ,
ERNESTO MACARO ,
SONIA ALBA  and
CLAUDIA CIPOLLA
VICTORIA A. MURPHY*
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
ERNESTO MACARO
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
SONIA ALBA
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
CLAUDIA CIPOLLA
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Victoria A. Murphy, Department of Education, University of Oxford, 15 Norham Gardens, Oxford OX2 6PY, United Kingdom. E-mail: victoria.murphy@education.ox.ac.uk
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Abstract

This study investigated whether learning a second language (L2) has a facilitative effect on first language (L1) literacy and whether there is an advantage to learning an L2 with transparent grapheme–phoneme correspondences. One hundred fifty Year 3 children were randomly assigned into one of three groups: L2 Italian, L2 French, and control. Children were pretested on measures of English (L1) spelling, reading and phonological processing. The L2 groups then received 15 weeks of L2 instruction in Italian or French, respectively. The L2 groups outperformed the control group on posttest measures of English reading accuracy and different aspects of phonological processing. In addition, there was an advantage for the L2 Italian group as their scores were higher than the L2 French group on English reading accuracy and phonological processing.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 36 , Issue 5 , September 2015 , pp. 1133 - 1153
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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