Decoding the bilingual puzzle with accommodation-assimilation hypothesis perspective: Salvaging English literacy in Chinese children with dyslexia through letter-sound-correspondence processing skills

Abstract

<p>Dyslexic children often face challenges with reading, which can negatively impact their academic performance. In some countries, the need for biliteracy in both Chinese and English adds further complexity to their learning process. Although research on English literacy development in Chinese children with dyslexia is limited, existing studies suggest that these children experience difficulties in reading both L1 Chinese and L2 English. Due to the distinct cognitive processes involved in reading Chinese and English, minimal transfer should occur between the two writing systems. It is hypothesized that dyslexic children in Chinese assimilate L2 English word-decoding processes using their L1, decoding English words logographically like in the Chinese writing system, which they struggle with. This paper aims to investigate the role of phonics skills in facilitating the accommodation of the alphabetic decoding system, thereby improving L2 English word reading in children with dyslexia in L1 Chinese.</p><p><u>Methods & Results: </u></p><p>Two studies were conducted to explore this topic. Study 1 examined the predictability of phonics skills on English reading performance in elementary school children with dyslexia who primarily spoke Chinese. The study assessed literacy and related cognitive skills in both languages. Results showed that phonics knowledge was the most influential predictor of English word reading, fluency, and spelling: Chinese children with dyslexia who had knowledge of phonics skills demonstrated comparable performance in English word recognition to typically developing children, regardless of their phonological awareness skills. Study 2 investigated the effectiveness of various reading instructions, emphasizing phonological skills, to facilitate English learning in Chinese children with dyslexia. Findings revealed that children who received phonics intervention showed significant improvement in English literacy skills, as well as enhanced Chinese and English phonological awareness, when compared with training phonological awareness alone.</p><p><u>Implications:</u></p><p>The results underscore the importance of phonics skills in the English literacy development of Chinese children with dyslexia. This paper adopts the accommodation-assimilation hypothesis to explain results from previous studies that found cross-language transfer of reading difficulties in Chinese-English bilinguals, and emphasizes the need for phonics-based interventions in teaching methods.<br></p>