Word recognition is a major component of fluent reading and involves an interaction of language structure, orthography, and metalinguistic skills. This study examined reading strategies in isiXhosa and the transfer of these strategies to an additional language, English. IsiXhosa was chosen because of its agglutinative structure and conjunctive orthography. Data was collected at two schools which differed with regards to their language of learning and teaching (LoLT) in the first three years of schooling: isiXhosa and English respectively. Participants completed a word- and pseudo-word reading aloud task in each of two languages which hypothetically impose different cognitive demands. Skills transfer occurs to a limited extent when the language of first literacy uses a transparent orthography, but is less predictable when the language of first literacy uses an opaque orthography. We show that although there is transfer of word recognition strategies from transparent to deep orthographies, felicitous transfer is limited to sublexical strategies; infelicitous transfer also occurs when lexical strategies are transferred in problematic ways. The results support the contention that reading strategies and cognitive skills are fine tuned to particular languages. This study emphasises that literacies in different languages present readers with different structural puzzles which require language-particular suites of cognitive reading skills.
Rapid and effortless word recognition is a major component of fluent reading (Aaron
IsiXhosa, like all Bantu languages, has a relatively simple syllable structure based around a (C)V(V) template (Hua
(1) a. CV: Dla.la [lʒala]
‘Play’
b. CV: Hla.ba [ɬaba]
‘Stab’
(2) a. CCV: try [trai], glue [glu:]
b. CCCV: straw [strɔ:], strew [stru:]
The nature of words is language specific (Guthrie
Linguistic structure is mediated through orthography. Because linguistic words may differ from orthographic words, learners are faced with language-specific processing challenges when attempting to recognise words in a particular language. These challenges, in turn, presuppose language-specific reading strategies. For example, Nguni languages are written conjunctively and the Tswana and Sotho language groups tend to be written disjunctively. In (3a), a conjunctive writing system yields only one orthographic word also corresponding to one morphological word. The orthographic word
(3) a. Ngi-ya-ba-thand-a
SM1.1sg-pres-OM2-like-fv
‘I like them’ (isiZulu)
b. ke a ba rat-a
SM1.1sg pres OM2 like-fv
‘I like them’ (Northern Sotho – Taljard & Bosch
This correspondence between orthographic and morphological words is a characteristic feature of conjunctive orthographies which distinguishes them from disjunctive scripts, such as Northern Sotho (3b) and English (Taljard & Bosch
The reason for the utilisation of different orthographies is based on both historical and phonological considerations. Historically, orthographies were developed by European missionaries. Although prescriptive and colonial suppositions may have influenced their decisions (Van Wyk
(4) a. Utata na umama → realised as:
b. inciniba na inja → realised as:
Louwrens and Poulos (
There are limited studies on agglutinating languages which could shed light on how reading occurs in isiXhosa. However, some research on Turkish has been done. The structure of Turkish, like that of isiXhosa is agglutinating and the orthography is conjunctive in character. Durgunoglu and Öney (
Written languages may differ with respect to orthographic depth and consistency. Orthographic depth refers to the degree to which there are one-to-one correspondences between graphemes and linguistic categories (such as phonemes or syllables) (Aro
Orthographic depth affects acquisition and development in reading (Pillunat & Adone
Within a cognitive approach to word recognition, one way of understanding the interaction of orthography and reading is through a dual route model (DRC) of word recognition (Levy
The model suggests the existence of two distinct processing routes for word recognition – a lexical (direct route) and a sublexical (indirect) route. With respect to the lexical route, the brain recognises a word in its entirety (perhaps as a type of picture or gestalt); the word is accessed directly from the lexicon. Consequently, for the processing of written language, the lexical route processes frequent and orthographically irregular words, such as
In contrast to this, the sublexical route subdivides words into smaller segments and maps those to linguistic constituents, together making up the word in a bottom-up fashion (Eskey & Grabe
Most typically, it is assumed that graphemes are mapped to phonemes, although Grain Size Theory (Ziegler & Goswami
Pseudo-words are ‘pronounceable combinations of letters which lack semantic meaning but which can be decoded and pronounced via phonological processing and alphabetic (letter-sound) knowledge’ (Fredrickson, Frith & Reason 1977 cited in Thomson, Crewther & Crewther
Transparent orthographies are often associated with faster initial learning trajectories. Wimmer and Goswami (
The tension between linguistic language structure and orthography results in different written languages presenting very different reading challenges to learners. Important cognitive skills such as phonological and morphological awareness are used in different ways for different language/orthography combinations and emerge in acquisitionally different ways (Bialystok
Literacy emerges out of the specific knowledge of the linguistic forms and orthographic principles of individual language and is unique to each of the learner’s languages. Factors such as orthographic depth, for example, determine what strategies learners will need to use when learning to read the language and the success they will achieve as they acquire these skills. (Bialystok
In equivalent texts, English will present readers with larger numbers of shorter words in an idiosyncratic and unpredictable orthography; isiXhosa presents readers with smaller numbers of longer, morphologically complex words in a highly regular syllabic pattern and a relatively transparent orthography. Clearly, then, because the nature of words differs between languages, the cognitive problem of word recognition must be particularised too. Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to fluent reading across languages. Automaticity occurs through at least two neurological pathways and these are conditioned by orthography and language structure. This raises the important question of how these skills are transferred to reading in an L2. Despite this, Bantu languages are notably absent from the literature on word recognition and cross-orthography comparisons. It is this gap that our research attempts to come to grips with; with these issues in mind, our study focuses on, (1) what groups of strategies are used in word recognition and (2) how differences in transparency between two completely different orthographies and language families affect word recognition in bilingual learners.
Participants undertook isolated word- and pseudo-word reading tasks in both isiXhosa and English. An analysis of incorrect responses allowed a comparison of type of reading strategies (lexical and sublexical) used by learners was made across two schools which differed with regards to their language of learning and teaching (LoLT).
Data were collected from a sample of 47 Grade 4 isiXhosa home language learners from two different schools. The learners were tested individually at their school by the researcher and an assistant. The first school (which we will refer to as School X) is an isiXhosa-medium school in a coastal town in the Eastern Cape (
It is important to bear in mind that although the learners from both School X and School E have isiXhosa as their L1 and English as their L2, their exposure to the two orthographies is very different. The learners from School X are educated in isiXhosa for three years up until the end of Grade 3, where they make the ‘switch’ to English as the LoLT. However once this ‘switch’ has been made, these learners still speak isiXhosa in their homes and on the playground. The learners from School E however are educated in English, often from preschool age. They are only taught isiXhosa formally as an additional language from Grade 4 and English remains their LoLT. Most of these learners will speak isiXhosa at home, but at school they tend to interact with their friends in English. Thus the two Schools will often be discussed in contrast to one another.
Languages used at School X and School E.
Variable | School X ( |
School E ( |
---|---|---|
Language of first literacy (LoLT) | IsiXhosa | English |
L1 | IsiXhosa | IsiXhosa |
L2 | English | English |
The learners completed a set of reading tasks, including both word- and pseudo-word reading, in both English and isiXhosa. Each reading task consisted of a list of 10 words, with three practice words used to familiarise the learners with the task. The number of tokens obtained from each learner is thus 49 in each language. All pseudo-words were pronounceable, adhered to the orthographic conventions of the language being tested, and had been checked with L1 speakers of isiXhosa beforehand. Instructions were given orally by the assistant in both English and isiXhosa to ensure that learners understood what was required of them. To ensure that all children were given the same instructions, the same assistant was used at both schools, with all the children. The assistant received formal training leading up to data collection and was given explicit guidelines on how to phrase the instructions for the learners. Learners were presented with the words and pseudo-words one by one in the form of flashcards and they were then instructed to read the words out loud. Learners’ responses were recorded for more in-depth analysis. Words were randomised in order to secure the most accurate results. Half of the learners were tested in isiXhosa first and the other half were tested in English first so as to avoid any priming effects. The stimulus materials also controlled for word length (number of syllables) and syllable structure (simple vs. complex consonant clusters).
Examples of stimuli.
Language | CV SHORT ≤ 2 syllables | CV Pseudo-words SHORT ≤ 2 syllables | CV LONG ≥ 3 syllables | CV pseudo-words LONG ≥ 3 syllables |
---|---|---|---|---|
English | 1. do | 1. tu | 1. calamari | 1. molibe |
2. he | 2. ra | 2. telephone | 2. lebina | |
3. buy | 3. bi | 3. garage | 3. repaki | |
Xhosa | 1. vuka | 1. mavu | 1. sikelela | 1. zekuda |
2. molo | 2. quxe | 2. qabela | 2. sukibo | |
3. xola | 3. lubo | 3. sukuma | 3. fumeti |
The real word reading task investigated the different word recognition strategies which isiXhosa/English bilingual learners adopted when approaching the reading of real words in English and isiXhosa. According to the ODH, (Katz & Frost
When learners identify and read the real-word stimulus correctly, this shows that they are able to recall and transfer pronunciation already taught to them before the items were encountered. The learner also draws on their knowledge of the orthography to interpret the words correctly. However, it does not necessarily shed any light as to whether the words are being recognised through lexical or sublexical processes. However, when learners make a mistake, the nature of the error may provide an indication of the underlying processes. In contrast, because pseudo-words have not been previously encountered and can only be parsed using sublexical processes, correct reading of pseudo-words demonstrates an ability to decode words sublexically by matching the correct grapheme to a phoneme. Conversely, inability to complete the task shows inability to undertake this mapping.
The learners’ responses in the reading tasks were coded on a 6-point nominal scale (
Nominal scale used for coding data.
Nominal Code | Description of response | Example |
---|---|---|
Inaudible or unclear responses | ||
Unrelated phonologically or semantically. | ||
Similar to stimulus but phonologically or semantically ill formed. | ||
Largely correct – Addition of a phoneme (sound) | ||
Largely correct – Deletion/omission of a phoneme (sound) | ||
Interaction effects (Pronounced as English/isiXhosa) | Use of clicks in English words e.g. [ǀalamaſi] for [kalamaɹi] |
IsiXhosa-speaking learners in School E, with English as an LoLT, made nine mistakes when reading English real words, the language with which they were most familiar. A breakdown of the error types (
School E English real word reading (
These data demonstrate, that known English words are recognised using a combination of whole-word recognition (55%) and sublexical strategies (45%) (contrary to Pillunat and Adone
The different distributions of the different reading strategies for English real- and pseudo-word reading in School E are showed in
School E English pseudo-word reading (
At School X, where the LoLT is isiXhosa, 26 errors were made when reading isiXhosa real words. As in
School X isiXhosa real-word reading (
School X isiXhosa pseudo-word reading (
Having ascertained the strategies used in reading in the language in which literacy was first acquired (i.e. the LoLT), we now turn to the question of whether these reading skills can be transferred to reading another language introduced at a later stage (the language of second literacy). To do this, we investigated the strategies used by School X learners in reading English and School E learners in reading isiXhosa.
IsiXhosa-speaking learners at School X, when reading English words made 64 errors with a variety of strategies being used: lexical primed errors (33%) and decoding errors (41%: segment substitution 17%, segment deletion 24%). These data are also consistent with the reading of English pseudo-words where lexical priming accounts for 28%, and decoding 59% (ellipsis 45% and substitution 14%). This shows that a combination of lexical and sublexical strategies is used to read both real- and pseudo-words in English.
Evidence for the use of whole or sight word recognition was seen when the learners replaced an unfamiliar word which was presented to them with a related word which they knew. They were thus using the shape of the word in their word recognition strategy, referred to as the theory of bouma shape in word recognition studies (Larsen
In some instances, there was direct transfer of orthographic conventions. Evidence for this transfer can be seen where clicks were substituted when learners read certain English real words (for example, square [sǃɦare], macaroni [maǀaroni], and calamari [ǀalamari]). The English grapheme is perceived as an isiXhosa phoneme and is therefore read using isiXhosa conventions. When this occurs, the learners are making use of phonological processing when attempting to decode the English words. Similarly, some putative instances of segment deletion are actually reanalysis of an orthographic segment in a way consistent with the structure of the language. Thus, it was found that in certain instances the learners were actually transferring orthographic conventions across orthographies and not deleting. This is seen in words such as, ‘pʰone’ for phone and ‘tʰink’ for think, where the learner is placing an isiXhosa value on an English grapheme. They read the ‘ph’ as an aspirated ‘pʰ’. These errors were recoded as instances of transfer when the errors sounded typical of an L2 speaker. School X is thus making use of phonological decoding.
School X English real words (
School X English Pseudo-words (
When reading real isiXhosa words, learners at School E used sublexical decoding (100%: substitution 73% and segment insertion 27%). This is consistent with the way they approached English pseudo-words (
The use of both grapheme to phoneme correspondences (sublexical) as well as whole-word recognition (lexical) strategies in word recognition could be explained as individual differences in the learners’ reading styles. The learners who are decoding grapheme to phoneme are making use of what is called bottom-up processing whereas those learners who are reading the words through direct recognition are making use of top-down processing in their interpretation of the words. According to Holm and Dodd (
When the learners approach a pseudo-word in the language in which they are familiar they are able to distinguish between the word being a real word or a nonsense word and thus resort to alphabetic decoding (grapheme to phoneme correspondences) in their word recognition strategy in order to break down the word to make meaningful sense of it. However in the instance of learners from School E it was found that when faced with the interpretation of a word which they are unfamiliar with they are unable to separate the real words from the pseudo-words and thus rely on a ‘guessing’ strategy (otherwise known as phonetic cue or visual cue reading) resulting in sight word reading of the words. According to Holm and Dodd (
The pie-graphs below present a summary of the error types made by the learners from School E for isiXhosa real- and pseudo-word reading.
School E isiXhosa real-word reading (
School E isiXhosa pseudo-word reading (
The findings of the previous section are schematically represented as generalisations in the following graphic (
Summary of the different word recognition strategies employed.
Language | School X | Language | School E | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Words | Pseudo-words | Words | Pseudo-words | ||
Sublexical:96% | Sublexical:97% | Mixed:sublexical 50% | Sublexical:90% | ||
- | - | ||||
Transfer of sublexical skills | Transfer of sublexical skills | Transfer of sublexical skills | Infelicitous transfer of whole-word recognition | ||
Mixed: Sublexical: 60% | Mostly: sublexical: 75% | Sublexical: 100% | Mostly lexical: 70% |
Firstly, the data show that reading in LoLT is not identical but is determined by the parameters of the language being read. Thus, isiXhosa LoLT learners use decoding strategies for both real- and pseudo-words. This is consistent with the ODH which claims that transparent orthographies promote the use of decoding strategies. In contrast, English LoLT learners use a combination of lexical and sublexical strategies for real-word reading but use mainly sublexical strategies to decode pseudo-words. This also appears to be consistent with the ODH, given that written English is relatively opaque.
Secondly, although our findings support the claim that there is transfer of word recognition skills from transparent orthographies to deep orthographies (Pillunat & Adone
Infelicitous transfers tended to occur, for example, when English LoLT learners infelicitously transfer whole-word recognition to isiXhosa pseudo-words. One is led to ask why they do not decode isiXhosa pseudo-words 100% of the time. When learners who are literate in an opaque orthography realise that a word is potentially ‘real’ they decode it. But when confronted with a pseudo-word and are able to identify it as such, they use whole-word recognition. In contrast, isiXhosa LoLT learners are able to draw on decoding strategies in approaching pseudo-words. This suggests that an isiXhosa LoLT in the foundation phase might better prepare learners for transferring (a subset of) skills to reading English.
It appears that learners literate in a transparent orthography are indeed able to transfer decoding skills more easily than learners literate in an opaque orthography. The data also confirms that learners literate in an opaque orthography can transfer skills to another language, but that transfer can have problematic effects; transfer of lexical strategies can set them up for failure and they do not always transfer sublexical decoding strategies to novel contexts.
The implications of this are important. If different languages imply different combinations of reading strategies then it is presumably important that these be reflected in pedagogy. Thus, reading in languages like isiXhosa needs to be taught differently to reading in English. To our knowledge, there is no formal training provided to teachers in this regard, especially in context where isiXhosa CAPS documents are translations of English ones.
This also means that care must be taken when introducing reading in an L2. Traditionally, this occurs in Grade 4 when learners who have been taught in isiXhosa are suddenly thrust into a context where English takes over as LoLT, and where it is assumed as matter of course that literacy skills transfer. Our data suggest that isiXhosa decoding skills can transfer under these circumstances but that isiXhosa-speaking learners do not necessarily have mastery of the whole-word recognition skills necessary for becoming fluent English readers.
Although non-transfers can be remedied, more serious are infelicitous transfers which imply that a skill has to be unlearned. Our findings also suggest that introducing additional languages of literacy during the foundation phase (i.e. before the skills for literacy in any single language have been consolidated) may be problematic. It is well known that learners struggle with the change in LoLT in Grade 4 and in an attempt to deal with this, since 2015, up to three languages are being taught in Foundation phase classrooms. The noble intention behind this suggests that earlier exposure to English literacy will help learners cope with the switch in Grade 4.
Our data suggest that such interventions should be managed with care. The literacy skills necessary in isiXhosa-reading classrooms are not the same suite of literacy skills necessary in English reading classes. Care must therefore be taken to, (1) use language-specific teaching methods, (2) reduce the possibility of learner confusion, (3) to be understanding of the types of non-transfer and infelicitous transfer that may take place and (4) to provide learners with adequate practice in all languages of literacy so that they are able to consolidate their reading skills. There is a real danger that in many current teaching contexts, none of these steps will be taken. At the very least, educators must remain open to the need for further research.
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
T.P. and M.d.V. contributed equally to the writing of this article.
It is important to realise that this does
This data also suggests that LoLT is more significant than L1. Both groups are learners are matched for L1 (isiXhosa) but their reading strategies owe more to the properties of the LoLT. This is good news for classrooms where learners come from multilingual backgrounds as it suggests that contradictory influences of L1 may be able to be reduced.