Cross Language Transfer

With the recent focus on the importance of early literacy, early childhood educators are seeking guidance in order both to respect the child’s home language and culture and to introduce Academic English. Research has shown that children can transfer language and literacy skills from one language to the other. In the case when the child’s home language has the same writing conventions as English, for example one reads from left to right and top to bottom, the child will most likely apply these principles to reading in the second language. The stronger the language and literacy skills in the home language, the more likely the child will transfer these skills successfully to his or her second language. The foundation provided by the first language for learning a second language is explained in the discussion of the Threshold Hypothesis.

For children in kindergarten and elementary grades, several basic cognitive abilities have been found to transfer across languages and facilitate the process of second language acquisition and literacy development. These cognitive abilities include the following:

1. use information from what is being discussed and connect this information to what they already know in order to make sense of any new concepts
2. use knowledge of letter-sound relationships to begin to decode print
3. access words and their meanings from memory
4. apply knowledge of word order as they start to read or write
5. understand the story or text read to them and ask questions when they get confused or things do not make sense
6. put thoughts into writing

Children can also transfer their knowledge of decoding skills and strategies for determining meaning when reading text in a second language. In the task of decoding, the basic linguistic knowledge and cognitive processes involved are letter recognition, phonological awareness, letter-sound relationships (phonics), blending the sounds to form words, and matching print to known words that are stored in long term memory.

Making a connection with the child’s first language, however, should not preclude introducing written text in English to English Learners. Many preschool English Learners recognize environmental print in English from signs, logos, labels, television, and billboards that they enjoy “reading” when seen in written materials at school. It is often the case that the teacher speaks only English or is bilingual but has children in her class who speak several different languages. In these instances, the teacher will want to draw on the language skills of paraprofessionals, family members, and community volunteers in order to support the continued concept development of children who are not yet fluent in English. In addition, the teacher can implement the many other practices presented in this guide to support children’s language and literacy development.