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Poster P1

Thursday stream 4-6 Session 11.35 - 12.50 Length 25 minutes

Indicators of bilingualism and their relationship to indicators of dyslexia

John Everatt and Dina Ocampo

(1) University of Surrey (2) University of the Philippines and University of Surrey j.everatt@surrey.ac.uk

Abstract

Research on the relationship between bilingualism and dyslexia do not yet provide conclusive evidence on the nature of the interaction of these two learning conditions. However, there are studies that show that when difficulties arise in the development of the literacy skills, these are most apparent in the language with the more difficult orthography. However, there are studies that show that when difficulties arise in the development of the literacy skills, these are most apparent in the language with the more difficult orthography. This research assesses bilingual measures and specific learning difficulties (dyslexia) using a series of tasks in a shallow orthography (Filipino) and a deep orthography (English).Measure include phonological segmentation, syllabification, spelling, word reading, non-word reading, listening comprehension, syntax measures, rapid naming of pictures. Children from first to sixth grade performed the measures in both languages. The results will be reviewed in terms of the patterns of difficulties that some children demonstrate, and the possible relationships between dyslexia and bilingualism will be discussed.