Literacy Studies

Perspectives from Cognitive Neurosciences, Linguistics, Psychology and Education

Volume 17

Series Editor: R. Malatesha Joshi, Texas A&M University, College Station, USA

Editorial Board: Rui Alves, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal Linnea Ehri, CUNY Graduate School, New York, USA Usha Goswami, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK Catherine McBride Chang, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China Jane Oakhill, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK Rebecca Treiman, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA While language defines humanity, literacy defines civilization. Understandably, illiteracy or difficulties in acquiring literacy skills have become a major concern of our technological society. A conservative estimate of the prevalence of literacy problems would put the figure at more than a billion people in the world. Because of the seriousness of the problem, research in literacy acquisition and its breakdown is pursued with enormous vigor and persistence by experts from diverse backgrounds such as cognitive psychology, neuroscience, linguistics and education. This, of course, has resulted in a plethora of data, and consequently it has become difficult to integrate this abundance of information into a coherent body because of the artificial barriers that exist among different professional specialties. The purpose of this series is to bring together the available research studies into a coherent body of knowledge. Publications in this series are of interest to educators, clinicians and research scientists in the above-mentioned specialties. Some of the titles suitable for the Series are: fMRI, brain imaging techniques and reading skills, orthography and literacy; and research based techniques for improving decoding, vocabulary, spelling, and comprehension skills.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/7206 R. Malatesha Joshi • Catherine McBride Editors

Handbook of Literacy in Akshara Orthography Editors R. Malatesha Joshi Catherine McBride Department of Teaching, Learning, Department of Psychology and Culture, College of Education and The Chinese University of Hong Kong Human Development Hong Kong, China Texas A&M University College Station, TX, USA

ISSN 2214-000X ISSN 2214-0018 (electronic) Literacy Studies ISBN 978-3-030-05976-7 ISBN 978-3-030-05977-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05977-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019935530

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Contents

Part I Introduction Introduction: Handbook of Literacy in Akshara Orthography �� 3 R. Malatesha Joshi and Catherine McBride Indic Scripts: History, Typology, Study �� 11 Peter T. Daniels What Is an Akshara? �� 43 Keerthi Ramanujan and Brendan S. Weekes

Part II Akshara Orthographies: A Brief Description Orthographic Knowledge, Reading and Spelling Development in Tamil: The First Three Years �� 55 Sonali Nag and Balambigai Narayanan Literacy Acquisition in the Malayalam Orthography: Cognitive/Linguistic Influences within a Multilingual Context �� 85 Mimisha Nesan, Amir Sadeghi, and John Everatt Biliteracy Spelling Acquisition in Akshara and English �� 103 Pooja Nakamura, R. Malatesha Joshi, and Xuejun Ryan Ji Akshara Processing in Telugu Depends on Syllabic and Phonemic Sensitivity: Preliminary Evidence from Normal Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Children �� 119 Vasanta Duggirala Multiliteracy in Akshara and Alphabetic Orthographies: The Case of Punjabi, Hindi and English Learners in Primary Schools in Punjab �� 139 Seema Gautam, John Everatt, Amir Sadeghi, and Brigid McNeill

v vi Contents

Spelling and Reading Words in Bengali: The Role of Distributed Phonology �� 161 Shruti Sircar and Sonali Nag Assamese Orthography: An Introduction and Some Applications for Literacy Development �� 181 Hemanga Dutta Reading and Writing Sinhala �� 195 Marasinghe A. D. K. Wijaythilake and Rauno Parrila Learning to Read and Write in Thai �� 217 Heather Winskel and Theeraporn Ratitamkul

Part III Assessment The Assessment of Emergent and Early Literacy Skills in the Akshara Languages �� 235 Shaher Banu Vagh and Sonali Nag The Role of Phonological Processing and Oral Language in the Acquisition of Reading Skills in Devanagari �� 261 Nandini Chatterjee Singh and Sumathi T. A

Part IV Instruction Language-Focused Instruction for Literacy Acquisition in Akshara-based Languages: Pedagogical Considerations and Challenges �� 279 Chandrika Mathur and Sonali Nag Challenges in Learning Akshara orthographies for Second language Learners �� 311 Adeetee Bhide and Charles Perfetti

Part V Research Implications Learning to Read in Their Heritage Language: Hindi-English Speaking Children Reading Two Different Orthographies �� 329 Amna Mirza and Alexandra Gottardo Cross-Modal Processing of Orthography-Phonology Interface in Hindi-English Bilinguals �� 353 Ramesh Kumar Mishra Language and Literacy Practices that Influence Bilingual and Bi-Literate Acquisition in L1 Kannada and L2 English in Bangalore, India �� 373 Sunaina Shenoy and Richard K. Wagner Contributors

Adeetee Bhide Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Learning Research and Development Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Peter T. Daniels Independent Scholar, Jersey City, NJ, USA Vasanta Duggirala Department of Linguistics, Osmania University, Hyderabad, Telangana, India Hemanga Dutta Department of Linguistics and Contemporary English, School of Language Sciences, The English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad, Telangana, India John Everatt School of Teacher Education, College of Education, Health and Human Development, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Seema Gautam School of Teacher Education, College of Education, Health and Human Development, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Alexandra Gottardo Psychology Department, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada Xuejun Ryan Ji Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education, Faculty of Education, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada R. Malatesha Joshi Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA Chandrika Mathur Rishi Valley Institute of Teacher Education, Rishi Valley Education Centre, Krishnamurti Foundation India (KFI), Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India

vii viii Contributors

Catherine McBride Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China Brigid McNeill School of Teacher Education, College of Education, Health and Human Development, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Amna Mirza Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada Ramesh Kumar Mishra Center for Neural and Cognitive Sciences, School of Medical Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Telangana, India Sonali Nag Department of Education, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK The Promise Foundation, Bangalore, India Pooja Nakamura American Institute for Research, Washington, DC, USA Balambigai Narayanan Department of Speech, Hearing & Communication, National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities (Divangjan) (NIEPMD), Chennai, India Mimisha Nesan School of Teacher Education, College of Education, Health and Human Development, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Rauno Parrila Department of Educational Studies, Macquarie University, NSW, Sydney, Australia Charles Perfetti Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Learning Research and Development Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Keerthi Ramanujan Laboratory for Communication Science, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China Theeraporn Ratitamkul Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand Amir Sadeghi Department of English Language Teaching, Islamic Azad University, Damavand, Iran Sunaina Shenoy Department of Psychology and Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA Department of Special Education, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA Nandini Chatterjee Singh Language, Literacy and Music Laboratory, National Brain Research Centre, Gurgaon, Haryana, India Shruti Sircar Department of Linguistics & Contemporary English, School of Language Sciences, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, Telangana, India Contributors ix

Sumathi T. A. R & D Engineer(Project), Language, Literacy and Music Laboratory, National Brain Research Centre, Gurgaon, Haryana, India Shaher Banu Vagh ASER Centre, New Delhi, India Pratham, New Delhi, India Richard K. Wagner Department of Psychology and Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA Brendan S. Weekes Laboratory for Communication Science, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China Marasinghe A. D. K. Wijaythilake Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada Heather Winskel Psychology, School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia