The influence of orthographic depth of mother tongue languages on reading performance in English

Abstract

Orthographic depth is a linguistic feature that is concerned with grapheme to phoneme conversion of a written language. It plays an important role in reading performance. The orthographic depth hypothesis postulates that orthographic depth is negatively correlated with ease of reading acquisition. Cognitive-linguistic, language background, and socioeconomic factors are also seen to influence reading performance. Consequently, this study aims to understand the difference in reading performance amongst Chinese-English and Tamil-English bilinguals. 132 of these bilinguals underwent behavioural tests and a language background questionnaire, where the testing components were indicators of factors of interest. Statistical analyses reveal that orthographic depth does not significantly influence reading performance in adult bilinguals. Certain cognitive-linguistic features such as Phonological Awareness, Phonological Memory and Receptive Vocabulary played a significant role in influencing reading accuracy. Amongst the socioeconomic and language background factors, only Socioeconomic Status played a significant role in reading accuracy. Exploratory research showed a significant interaction between reader conditions and word types in predicting reading reaction time. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the confluence of multidisciplinary factors in influencing reading performance in a bilingual context, as well as exploring the role of the linguistic feature in atypical reader conditions such as adults with dyslexia.

Keywords: Orthographic Depth, Reading Performance, Bilingualism, Cognitive-linguistic