Cognitive and linguistic precursors of early first and second language reading development

Contains fulltext : 204424.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)The present large-scaled longitudinal prediction study examined cognitive and linguistic precursors of early word decoding and reading comprehension from kindergarten to Grade 3 in 613 first language (L1) and 109 second language (L2) learners of Dutch. L1 learners outperformed L2 learners on reading comprehension, and on kindergarten vocabulary, rapid naming (RAN), and phoneme segmentation. No differences were found on word decoding across the grades, kindergarten grapheme knowledge, phoneme isolation, or short term memory (STM). Despite L2 learners' delay in reading comprehension and language-related precursors, the developmental paths and structural relations of L2 learners were highly similar to those of L1 learners. For both groups, RAN, grapheme knowledge and STM predicted word decoding development. Word decoding, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, and STM predicted reading comprehension. There were strong autoregressive effects of both word decoding and reading comprehension. In kindergarten, L2 learners showed delays in RAN, phonological awareness, and vocabulary. These measures were all indicative of future reading.14 p