Cognitive and liguistic predictors of literacy in Namibian Herero-English bilingual school children

Abstract

Abstract by author:

A second study provided a longitudinal perspective on the gains in literacy made by a subset of the cohort over a one year period. Again, the results were consistent with faster gains in Herero literacy development and there was evidence for similar underlying cognitive/linguistic predictors of literacy skills achieved in both Herero and English. In particular, phonological skills influenced literacy development in both languages. Generally, the findings of this study confirmed the conclusions derived from the first study. A final stage of the research focused on individual children who showed signs of literacy difficulties. The results suggested that deficits seemed as likely in the more transparent script as in the less transparent one. The different types of difficulties presented by these single cases were consistent with those that might be predicted from the literature on specific literacy difficulties. Overall, the data reported were consistent with both theoretical positions, indicating the need for a combined framework with which to understand biliteracy development. Conclusions lead to a consideration of issues for further research and practical implementation