Reading comprehension and immersion schooling: evidence from component skills
Date
2017Author
Hansen, Laura Birke
Morales, Julia
Macizo, Pedro
Duñaabeitia, Jon Andoni
Saldaña, David
Carreiras, Manuel
Fuentes, Luis J.
Bajo, Maria Teresa
Metadata
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Hansen, L. B., Morales, J., Macizo, P., Duñabeitia, J. A., Saldaña, D., Carreiras, M., Fuentes, L. J. and Bajo, M. T. (2017), Reading comprehension and immersion schooling: evidence from component skills. Dev Sci, 20: n/a, e12454. doi:10.1111/desc.12454
Abstract
The present research aims to assess literacy acquisition in children becoming bilingual via second language immersion in school.
We adopt a cognitive components approach, assessing text-level reading comprehension, a complex literacy skill, as well as
underlying cognitive and linguistic components in 144 children aged 7 to 14 (72 immersion bilinguals, 72 controls). Using
principal component analysis, a nuanced pattern of results was observed: although emergent bilinguals lag behind their
monolingual counterparts on measures of linguistic processing, they showed enhanced performance on a memory and reasoning
component. For reading comprehension, no between-group differences were evident, suggesting that selective benefits
compensate costs at the level of underlying cognitive components. Overall, the results seem to indicate that literacy skills may be
modulated by emerging bilingualism even when no between-group differences are evident at the level of complex skill, and the
detection of such differences may depend on the focus and selectivity of the task battery used.