Predicting writing development in dual language instructional contexts: exploring cross-linguistic relationships

Area of Science:

• * Educational Psychology
• * Developmental Psychology
• * Linguistics

Background:

• * The Simple View of Reading framework posits that reading comprehension relies on decoding and linguistic comprehension.
• * Bilingual education presents unique challenges and opportunities for developing literacy skills across languages.
• * Understanding the relationship between early reading abilities and later writing performance is crucial for effective pedagogy.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To investigate the predictive power of first-grade decoding and linguistic comprehension on sixth-grade writing performance in bilingual children.
• * To examine these relationships within a single language (English to English, French to French) and across languages (English to French).
• * To identify specific linguistic skills that strongly predict writing accuracy and persuasive writing.

Main Methods:

• * Longitudinal study involving 76 English-speaking children educated bilingually in English (L1) and French (L2).
• * Assessment of decoding and linguistic comprehension abilities in grade 1.
• * Evaluation of writing performance (accuracy and persuasive writing) in grade 6.

Main Results:

• * Both decoding and linguistic comprehension scores significantly predicted writing accuracy in grade 6.
• * These reading-related skills rarely predicted persuasive writing ability.
• * Formulating Sentences, a measure of linguistic comprehension, was a strong predictor of writing accuracy both within and across languages.

Conclusions:

• * Early identification of writing difficulties can be achieved through screening sentence formulation skills in either L1 or L2.
• * Interventions targeting sentence formulation in primary grades can enhance writing accuracy.
• * Reading and writing abilities are interconnected within and across languages in bilingual learners, supporting cross-linguistic transfer theories.