Literacy development in second-language learners : the co-development of Chinese and English biliteracy in native and non-native Cantonese speaking children in Hong Kong

Abstract

Despite the increasing number of non-native Cantonese speaking (NCS) children in Hong Kong, few studies were dedicated to the Chinese-English biliteracy acquisition in this group. Thus, this study tested 39 NCS and 39 native Cantonese speaking (CS) third-to-fourth graders on oral, prosodic and literacy measures in Chinese and English, aiming to profile the Chinese-English reading and writing abilities, investigate the roles of word-level literacy and prosodic skills in Chinese and English reading comprehension and writing composition, and identify the cross-language transfer in the literacy skills in these two groups. Results indicated a clear advantage in Chinese and English measures in the CS and the NCS group respectively. Our regression analyses showed different significant predictors for the Chinese literacy skills in the two groups. Moreover, cross-language transfer was only evident in writing skills in the CS group. The unique relationships between word-level literacy skills of dictation and reading, and abilities to read and write at text level in the NCS group were discussed. Possible factors for the cross-language transfer in literacy skills were also discussed. These findings shed light on the Chinese-English biliteracy education for nonnative Cantonese students in Hong Kong.