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CROSS-LINGUISTIC STUDY of SPELLING in ENGLISH AS a FOREIGN LANGUAGE: the ROLE of FIRST LANGUAGE ORTHOGRAPHY in EFL SPELLING a Di

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CROSS-LINGUISTIC STUDY of SPELLING in ENGLISH AS a FOREIGN LANGUAGE: the ROLE of FIRST LANGUAGE ORTHOGRAPHY in EFL SPELLING a Di CROSS-LINGUISTIC STUDY OF SPELLING IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: THE ROLE OF FIRST LANGUAGE ORTHOGRAPHY IN EFL SPELLING A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Nadezda Lvovna Dich August 2011 © 2011 Nadezda Lvovna Dich CROSS-LINGUISTIC STUDY OF SPELLING IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: THE ROLE OF FIRST LANGUAGE ORTHOGRAPHY IN EFL SPELLING Nadezda Lvovna Dich, Ph. D. Cornell University 2011 The study investigated the effects of learning literacy in different first languages (L1s) on the acquisition of spelling in English as a foreign language (EFL). The hypothesis of the study was that given the same amount of practice, English learners from different first language backgrounds would differ on their English spelling proficiency because different orthographies “train” spelling skills differently and therefore the opportunities for positive cross-linguistic transfer that benefits English spelling would differ across L1s. The study also predicted that cross-linguistic differences in English spelling would not be the same across different components of spelling proficiency because cross-linguistic transfer would affect some skills involved in spelling competence, but not others. The study tested native speakers of Danish, Italian, and Russian with intermediate to advanced EFL proficiency. The three languages were chosen for this study based on the differences in native language spelling skills required to learn the three orthographies. One hundred Danish, 98 Italian, and 104 Russian university students, as well as a control group of 95 American students were recruited to participate in the web-based study, which was composed of four tasks testing four skills previously identified as components of English spelling proficiency: irregular word spelling, sensitivity to morphological spelling cues, sensitivity to context-driven probabilistic orthographic patterns, and phonological awareness. The study confirmed the existence of cross-linguistic differences in English spelling and found that the differences were not the same across different spelling skills tested in the study. The evidence from the study suggests that the characteristics of L1 orthography have an impact on the cognitive procedures involved in second language spelling explained by the transfer of cognitive spelling strategies from L1 to L2. The study contributes to the relatively new area of research investigating spelling in a second language by exploring languages that have not been previously studied in the context of EFL spelling and by considering multiple aspects of spelling proficiency. The implications of the findings for theoretical cognitive-linguistic research and educational practices are discussed. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Nadezda Dich graduated from the Department of General Linguistics of Saint-Petersburg State University, Russia, in June 2003 with a diploma cum laude. In August 2006, she started a PhD program at the Department of Human Development at Cornell University. Nadezda's research interests include first and second language acquisition, literacy in first and second language and reading and writing disorders. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my Committee: professors Barbara Lust, Abby Cohn, and Jim Booth for their help and guidance in my research; Bo Pedersen for his help with programming; all the participants of the study for their time and enthusiasm; my family and friends, especially Jessica and Calvin, for their moral support, and Erik for making me tea. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH………………………………………………………...……...……iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………………………………………...……..…………….iv CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2. BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Spelling Acquisition in Different Writing Systems ........................................................... 5 2.2. Cross-Linguistic Transfer in Acquisition of Spelling in a Second Language ................ 19 2.3. Summary and Literature Critique ................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER 3. RATIONALE AND DESIGN ................................................................................ 32 3.1. Research Questions ........................................................................................................ 32 3.2. Hypotheses of the Study ................................................................................................. 33 3.3. Design ............................................................................................................................. 35 CHAPTER 4. METHOD .............................................................................................................. 43 4.1. Tasks and Materials ........................................................................................................ 43 4.2. Procedure ........................................................................................................................ 49 4.3. Participants ..................................................................................................................... 52 CHAPTER 5. RESULTS .............................................................................................................. 59 5.1. Survey Results ................................................................................................................ 59 5.2. Task 1: Memory for Word-Specific Spellings ................................................................ 70 5.3. Task 2: Morphological Awareness .................................................................................. 77 5.4. Task 3: Context Sensitivity ............................................................................................. 90 5.5. Task 4: Phonological Skills ............................................................................................ 98 5.6. Between-Task Comparisons ......................................................................................... 107 CHAPTER 6. DISCUSSION .......................................................................................................114 6.1. Summary of Study Goals and Approach .......................................................................114 6.2. Confirmation of the Hypotheses....................................................................................115 6.3. Results Inconsistent with Predictions ............................................................................119 6.4. Additional Findings: Factors Affecting English Spelling Proficiency ......................... 128 6.5. Implications of the Findings ......................................................................................... 133 6.6. Strengths and Limitations of the Study ........................................................................ 136 6.7. Conclusions and Future Directions .............................................................................. 140 APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................. 145 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 152 v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION To many people, especially in large industrialized countries, the idea that there are more polyglots in the world than there are monolinguals comes as a counterintuitive revelation. And yet, the data indicate that individuals who can only speak one single language represent a minority within the global population (e.g., Tucker, 1999). What may seem even more counterintuitive to a person who grew up in a monolingual family and spoke the same language at school and at home, is the fact that only a minority of children throughout the world are educated exclusively in their mother tongue. Indeed, for a significant number of students, both in developing countries and in the West, the language of school instruction is not their first (Dutcher, 1994; World Bank, 1995). The prevalence of instruction in a second or a later-acquired language explains the growing attention on the part of researchers to multilingual literacy – the ability to read and write in more than one language – since reading and writing skills serve a foundation to any formal education. Developmental psychologists, applied linguists and education experts combine their efforts trying to understand the cognitive and linguistic prerequisites of successful learning to read and write in a second language and to uncover the principles of successful L2 literacy instruction. Literacy in English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) has been of a particular interest to researchers due to the fact that English is increasingly becoming the world‟s lingua franca and that its role in formal education is constantly growing (e.g., Figueredo, 2006). However, despite considerable recent interest in ESL literacy among researchers, many important questions remain unanswered. Some of these questions are related to the role of first language skills in mastering reading and writing in ESL. Researchers of multilingualism have 1 discovered that when we learn a new language, just like when we master any other new cognitive skill, our existing knowledge
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