Modelling aural language skills and reading ability: Preregistered study of bilingual children in Singapore

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Topic - Language, Communication

Abstract

In alphabetic languages such as English, two different skills are widely thought to contribute to reading acquisition: implicit auditory processing skills and explicit phonological awareness. Both skills are known to predict reading outcomes across ability levels, and to show worse performance in children with reading disability. However, there is less agreement on whether the relationship between auditory processing skills and reading is direct (e.g., Boets et al. , 2008), or mediated by phonological awareness (e.g., Mayo, Scobbie, Hewlett, & Waters, 2003; McBride-Chang, 1996; but see Hakvoort et al, 2016). This relationship is even less clear for bilingual children, whose L2 English reading shows indirect effects in some studies (e.g., Zhang & McBride-Chang, 2014), but no effects in others - in particular, where English is the societal language (e.g., Gottardo et al., 2006). Children’s auditory perception (i.e., the ability to detect and differentiate speech sounds) is shaped by early exposure to language (Kuhl, 2012). Hence, growing up with more than one language in the early home environment can impact early auditory perception in language-specific ways (Costa & Sebastián-Gallés, 2014). However, it remains unclear the extent to which multilingual development interacts with early reading for children growing up in bilingual environments, such as Singapore – a multilingual society with active bilingual education policies, where English is the main language of instruction in schools. The current study investigates the relationship between implicit auditory perception skills, explicit phonological awareness and early literacy in English, for simultaneous bilingual children in Singapore.
This pre-registered study (DOI:TBC_after_blind_Review ) recruited 5.5 to 7-year-old children in Kindergarten 2 and Primary 1 who are bilingual in English and Mandarin Chinese. Auditory perception was assessed using the Flower Crown Task (DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/36RTX). Children also completed a battery of 27 assessments, including language, literacy, reading, and multisensory perception tasks.
To date, we have tested 123 of the preregistered target (N=150). Data linkage and analysis will be conducted when the study concludes (preregistered timeout: 31 December 2020). Figure 1 shows Auditory perception scores of the interim sample (slope values derived from categorical VOT perception test). The wide range of scores makes it suitable for analysis using structural equation modeling.
We will test whether the relationship between implicit auditory perception and reading skills is mediated by explicit phonemic awareness, using Structural Equation Modelling in a competing models approach: The full mediation model will be compared with two reduced (direct) models, and the winning model established by relative goodness of fit using log-likelihood ratio tests. Direct and indirect paths within the full model will be estimated and tested for significance (α = .05).
This study will be the first to investigate detailed links between low level auditory perception and reading development in the local context. Understanding detailed relationships between implicit auditory skills and reading development may help to refine early screening/diagnostic tools in multilingual contexts. Furthermore, implicit auditory tasks like the Flower Crown task may be suitable for children at even earlier ages, providing a valuable supplementary screening tool.

Authors

• Beth Ann O''Brien
  Non-Presenting Author

• Han Ke, Nanyang Technological University
  Presenting Author

• SH Annabel Chen, Nanyang Technological University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sook Yi Nicole Sybil Lim, National Institute of Education
  Non-Presenting Author

• Suzy J Styles, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  Non-Presenting Author