The effects of attentional control and educational experience on reading ability in bilingual children

Introduction and objective

There is a substantial body of research focused on the educational experiences of bilingual children, but additional research is needed to determine the specific factors that influence bilingual reading. In this study, we examined the influence of attentional control (the ability to maintain a goal in the face of distraction) and educational experience (amount of time practice reading) on the reading abilities of bilingual children (English – Spanish).

Methodology

The sample included 72 developing bilingual children from an immersion school in the United States. Participants responded to a Flanker task (a measure of attentional control) and a Lexical Decision task (a measure of reading ability).

Results

Attentional control significantly predicted reading ability in bilingual children. In addition, children more efficient at avoiding distraction from English pseudohomophones were also more efficient at avoiding distraction from Spanish pseudohomophones.

Conclusions

These findings point to a close connection between attentional control and reading ability in bilingual children. Furthermore, the results support the linguistic interdependence hypothesis, as literacy skills are transferred across the two languages of bilingual children.