First language literacy skills enhance second language learning.
Early enhancement of reading skills in Spanish translates to improved English literacy, according to a study by Raul Gutiérrez Fresneda and colleagues at the Universities of Alicante and Málaga in Spain.
The participants in this study were 386 Spanish six- to seven year-olds, just starting formal school in the region of Valencia. Children in these schools have a standard curriculum for both Spanish and English from their first year.
Learners were divided into two groups; the first group of 195 were given three 50-minute sessions per week for 16 weeks designed to enhance literacy skills in Spanish. These sessions aimed to stimulate phonological and syntactical awareness, increase vocabulary and speed up word recognition.
Early sessions, for example, practiced distinguishing known phonemes by sound and rapid naming of everyday objects. The last sessions included tasks such as giving titles to short stories and expanding on sort sentences.
A second group of 191 learners followed the usual curriculum without the literacy intervention.
Both groups of students were tested before and after the intervention period and one year later. Tests included an assessment of phonemic awareness and an evaluation of reading skills in both Spanish and English. The core reading skills assessed were decoding, fluency and comprehension.
The results showed that gains in all skills in both Spanish and English were significantly greater in the intervention group and the differences were maintained at the one-year follow-up assessments. The effect sizes ranged from moderate (phonemic awareness) to large (reading fluency and comprehension)—impressive for a four-month intervention.
It appears that increasing reading skills in the first language (Spanish) improved literacy skills in the second language (English). Although these languages may seem relatively similar, Spanish is a much more transparent language—meaning words can be more easily decoded letter by letter—than English, with its infamous inconsistencies and exceptions.
This makes the transfer of literacy skills especially interesting and not something that could be assumed. The authors suggest that, in general, exposure to more than one language may expand literacy skills more generally.
Another implication from this study is that second language proficiency can be strongly influenced by the quality of education in the learners’ first language, independent of individual differences in otherwise innate abilities.
Setting up young children with strong foundations in their first language can have a long lasting impact on their success in other languages. Where such foundations have been lacking, perhaps further interventions for second language learners could close the gap.
REFERENCE
Gutiérrez-Fresneda, R., Rico, T. P., Tárraga, M. J. G. and Jiménez-Pérez, E. 2024. Effect of the development of precursor skills for literacy in Spanish on learning to read in English, The Journal of Educational Research https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2024.2387644.
