Though Mandarin Chinese dual language immersion (DLI) has been growing rapidly in the U.S., research on this population is still rare. This study explored cross-language transfer of expressive oral vocabulary knowledge and definition skills among students in a Chinese DLI program. We found significant within and cross-language relationships of…

The aim of this study is to examine which predictor variables are related to literacy attainment in Irish (Gaelic)-English bilinguals. The participants were in their second (n = 115) and third (n = 125) year of schooling in Ireland and were drawn from both native speaker and new speaker backgrounds. The constructs of phonemic awareness, verbal…

Orthographic knowledge is predicted to be central in the process of children's reading development. We examined both the temporal order between orthographic knowledge and each of word reading and word spelling--effectively, which predicts which by including autoregressive controls--and cross-linguistic transfer between English and French for our…

In Canada, approximately 12% of school-aged children are enrolled in French Immersion (FI), with some provinces estimating close to 30%. FI programs are intended to produce bilingual individuals who can functionally communicate in both of Canada's official languages. Yet, we are currently underinformed as to how to identify children with French…

Canadian students enrolled in either French-immersion or English-instruction programs were followed from Grades 2 to 3 (M[subscript age] = 7.8 years to 8.9 years; N = 244; 55% girls). In each grade, students completed two mathematical tasks that required oral language processing (i.e., word-problem solving and number transcoding from dictation)…

The purpose of the current study was to explore longitudinally the bidirectional cross-language effects between morphological awareness and vocabulary development across English and French over one year. Participants included 81 Grade 1 students and 75 Grade 2 students. All were non-native speakers of French, and demonstrated average English word…

This longitudinal study investigated the predictors of word reading in English and French for 69 children in early total French immersion from first through third grade. The influence of phonological awareness, orthographic processing, and vocabulary in English and French on the achievement and growth of word reading in the 2 languages were…

This study explored the predictive effects of within- and cross-language early literacy indicators with regard to second language (L2) reading achievement in a Grade 3 entry-point French immersion (FI) program. Kindergarten students (N = 83) in a regular English program were administered English early literacy measures. Three years later, once…

This study investigated the link between phoneme and onset-rime awareness and reading outcomes in children learning to read in a second language (L2). Closely matched phoneme and onset-rime awareness tasks were administered in English and French in the spring of kindergarten to English-dominant children in French immersion programmes (n=98).…

Ottawa's program of middle French immersion (MFI) instruction, beginning in fourth grade, was evaluated when the first cohort reached sixth grade. Results of the study were compared with those of other groups, particularly the early French immersion (EFI) program and late French immersion (LFI) program students. The evaluation also added data from…

A program for early identification of children who are a high risk for failure in a primary French immersion program was undertaken in Ontario, Canada. As the last year of a three-year project, the investigation was designed to identify a set of variables predictive of success or failure in the primary program. The predictive validity of measures…

A study compared the achievement of students in three Ottawa French programs: early French immersion (EFI), begun in kindergarten; middle French immersion (MFI), begun in fourth grade; and late French immersion (LFI), begun in sixth grade, with students in core French instruction since kindergarten. Extensive testing and data-collection…