Transfer effects in spelling from transparent Greek to opaque English in seven-to-ten-year-old children

Niolaki, G.Z and Masterson, J (2012) 'Transfer effects in spelling from transparent Greek to opaque English in seven-to-ten-year-old children.' Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15 (4). pp. 757-770. ISSN 1366-7289

Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728911000721

Abstract

The study investigated single-word spelling performance of 33 English- and 38 Greek-speaking monolingual children, and 46 English- and Greek-speaking bilingual children (age range from 6;7 to 10;1 years). The bilingual children were divided into two groups on the basis of their single-word reading and spelling performance in Greek. In line with predictions, we found that scores on an assessment of phonological awareness were a significant predictor of spelling in English for the bilingual children with stronger Greek literacy skill. Phonological awareness scores were also a strong predictor of spelling in Greek in the monolingual Greek-speaking children. For the bilingual children with weaker Greek literacy ability, spelling in English was predicted by performance in a test of visual memory. This was more in line with results for the monolingual English-speaking children, for whom spelling performance was predicted by visual memory and phonological awareness scores. Qualitative analysis of misspellings revealed that phonologically appropriate errors were significantly greater in the strong Greek literacy ability bilingual group than the weaker Greek literacy ability bilingual group. Stimulus analyses using regression techniques are also reported. The results are interpreted to suggest that in biliterates literacy processes are transferred from one language to the other (Mumtaz & Humphreys, 2002).

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Greek spelling, English spelling, intra- and cross-linguistic factors
Divisions:	School of Education
Research Centres and Groups:	Centre for Research in Equity, Inclusion and Community (CREIC) Research Centre on Policy, Pedagogy and Practice in Education (PPP)
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728911000721
Date Deposited:	09 Apr 2021 14:47
Last Modified:	09 Jun 2023 17:48
URI / Page ID:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/13935

	Request a change to this item or report an issue
	Update item (repository staff only)

Tools