Italian Children with Dyslexia are also Poor in Reading English Words, but Accurate in Reading English Pseudowords

Abstract

It has been argued that children with dyslexia (DC) are poor at learning a foreign language (L2) and, in particular, reading foreign words. This assumption is so general that an Italian law (law 170, October, 2010) has established that DC may be completely exempted from foreign language learning and, in any case, should not be engaged in tuition via written material. However, evidence of L2 difficulties of DC is scarce and, in particular, absent for Italian children learning English. This absence of data is problematic, as it precludes information on the pattern of weaknesses and strengths, which could be found in DC. The present paper assessed these issues by administering an English word and pseudoword reading test to 23 DC and to 23 control children, matched for age, gender, schooling and IQ. The patterns of difficulties were examined individually for accuracy and speed, and the role of measures of native (L1) competence in L2 difficulties was also taken into account. Results confirmed that Italian DC are also poor in reading English words. However, they are accurate in reading pseudowords, suggesting that they have assimilated English pronunciation rules. Difficulties in L2 were, to some extent, but not completely, explained by difficulties in reading in L1.

L2 Spelling Errors in Italian Children with Dyslexia

“…without stressing the need for phonological analysis), may be useful; consistent with the observation of Palladino et al . () that Italian CD appear to feel comfortable if they can rely on general, stable principles. However, these educational suggestions remain tentative, because they need to be supported by additional, specific research.…”

“…In general, the results of the present study are in line with findings from previous research (Chung & Ho, ; Lindgren & Laine, ; Palladino et al ., ), indicating that CD also have difficulties in learning L2. In this instance, they make a substantial number of errors in writing dictated L2 words, even when words are highly familiar.…”

“…English). However, these policies were not grounded in empirical evidence, and the first study on such difficulties in Italian children was only published 3 years later (Palladino, Bellagamba, Ferrari, & Cornoldi, ). The results indicated that Italian CD encountered difficulties in reading English words, but these difficulties depended on the nature of the material.…”

English as a Foreign Language in Bilingual Language‐minority Children, Children with Dyslexia and Monolingual Typical Readers

“…Therefore, the pattern of difficulties found by Chung and Ho () in dyslexic children should be clarified by comparing English with a different language, for example, a highly transparent language, such as Italian. Palladino, Bellagamba, Ferrari, and Cornoldi () and Palladino et al () conducted the only two previous studies that directly assessed the performance of Italian children (12 to 14 years) with dyslexia in English (L2) reading and spelling tasks. The group with dyslexia was found to be significantly poorer than controls in reading English words, considering both speed and accuracy parameters.…”

The analysis of free writing, vocabulary, and dyslexia in English as a native and foreign language (English vs. Polish students)

“…This is a contradictory result to reports of EFL reading accuracy (Helland & Kaasa, 2005;Lindgren & Laine, 2011;Morfidi, & Leij, A. v. d., Jong, P. F. d., Scheltinga, F., & Bekebrede, J., 2007;Palladino et al, 2013) and fluency (Morfidi, & Leij, A. v. d., Jong, P. F. d., Scheltinga, F., & Bekebrede, J., 2007;Palladino et al, 2013) deficits in dyslexia, also for Polish as NL (Łockiewicz & Jaskulska, 2016). This is a contradictory result to reports of EFL reading accuracy (Helland & Kaasa, 2005;Lindgren & Laine, 2011;Morfidi, & Leij, A. v. d., Jong, P. F. d., Scheltinga, F., & Bekebrede, J., 2007;Palladino et al, 2013) and fluency (Morfidi, & Leij, A. v. d., Jong, P. F. d., Scheltinga, F., & Bekebrede, J., 2007;Palladino et al, 2013) deficits in dyslexia, also for Polish as NL (Łockiewicz & Jaskulska, 2016).…”