Melody S. Berens|Ioulia Kovelman|Laura?Ann Petitto
Should Bilingual Children Learn Reading in Two Languages at the Same Time or in Sequence?
United States Department of Defense
best learn reading two languages simultaneously sequentially observed 2nd 3rd grade children twoway duallanguage learning contexts 5050 simultaneous duallanguage two languages within developmental period ii 9010 sequential duallanguage one language followed gradually compared matched monolingual englishonly children singlelanguage english schools bilinguals home language spanish englishonly spanish english duallanguage schools tested languages monolingual children tested english using standardized reading language tasks bilinguals 5050 programs performed better bilinguals 9010 programs english irregular words passage comprehension tasks suggesting language reading facilitation underlying grammatical class linguistic structure analyses contrast bilinguals 9010 programs performed better bilinguals 5050 programs english phonological awareness reading decoding tasks suggesting language reading facilitation surface phonological regularity analysis notably children englishonly homes duallanguage learning contexts performed equally well better children monolingual englishonly homes singlelanguage learning contexts overall findings provide tantalizing evidence duallanguage learning developmental period may provide bilingual reading advantages