A Bilingual Perspective on the Possible Universality of Phonological Awareness Skills Across Two Languages

Abstract

Reading comprehension relies on the integration of phonological, semantic, syntactic and pragmatic language abilities. The current study investigated phonological awareness in six-year-old children’s mastery of reading in Maltese and English. The researchers recruited eighty-two bilingual participants attending bilingual schools in Malta and administered two parallel batteries comprising parallel word reading tests and phonological tasks in the two languages. Principal components analysis identified clear componential structures in both of the phonological batteries (Maltese and English). A statistical regression analysis identified similar phonological underpinnings across the two single word reading measures. Specific measures of phonological awareness constituted common phonological underpinnings of reading performance in both Maltese and English, if to different degrees. The results support the notion of similarity in the patterns of association of skills sustaining reading across Maltese and English in bilingual children. The view that the phonological skills underpinning reading development across alphabetic languages may not differ substantially between different orthographies is supported.