L1 and L2 Reading Comprehension and the Role of Script Differences, Dominance and Out-of-school L2 Reading Engagement in Transfer

Abstract

1. ABSTRACT The subject of the present study is the cross-linguistic relationship between the reading comprehension ability in the first (L1) and in the second language (L2) of bilingual pupils from Dutch primary education with low-medium socioeconomic status, aged between 9 and 14 years old. 20 children, with Arabic or Turkish as their L1 and Dutch as their L2, were examined in multiple choice reading comprehension tests in both their languages in an effort to detect any kind of association. Their L2 vocabulary level was also taken into consideration. The influence of factors such as differences in script and orthography, dominance and out-of-school L2 reading engagement of the children on the L1 and L2 reading comprehension has also been studied. Different groups were created based on those three variables and the cross-linguistic relationship was studied once more right after that. Only one significant correlation of the L1 and L2 reading scores was found, namely in the group of L1 dominant Arabic speaking children and it was negative. No other significant correlations emerged from the study and thus no conclusions over the existence of a cross-linguistic transfer and the predicting power of the three previously mentioned factors could be drawn.