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What makes the illiterate language genius?
Jeanne Kurvers & Ineke van de CraatsTilburg University Radboud University Nijmegen [email protected] [email protected]
What makes the illiterate language genius?
Is it a good working memory?or (also) something else?
The Study
Relationship betweenWorking memory and L2 vocabularyWorking memory and L2 basic reading
skills
Comparison betweenAdult and child L2 learners Average and above average adult L2
learners
Participants
Participants: 173
Adult L2 learners 57 no previous schooling
age 18-61 Primary school L2 children: 116
grade 1 –7
Language backgroundL1 different languagesL2 Dutch
Instruments
Digit span task (WISC-R, forward) Non-word repetition task (Gerrits)
same task scored in two ways- phonemic score (how many
phonemes) - span score (how many words)
Vocabulary task (TAK) Word reading task (Decoding fluency)
Correlations WM measures
Pearson (2-tailed) correlations for L2 children
N Digit span NRTPhoneme
score
NRT Phoneme score 116 .579 **
NRT span score 116 .438 ** .619 **
Correlations WM measures
Pearson (2-tailed) correlations for L2 adults
N Digit span NRT
Phoneme score
NRT Phoneme score
57 .527 **
NRT span score 57 .490 ** .728 **
Correlations WM measures
The two WM tests correlate significantly for both groups.
The two measures of the NRT show higher correlations for adults.
The pattern of correlations is the same for both age groups.
cf. Cheung (1996); Juffs (LESLLA Proceedings, 2006)
Group scores WM and Vocabulary
Age group N Mean SD t
Digit span ChildrenAdults
11658
4,293,66
1,51,3
2.71**
NRT phoneme score
ChildrenAdults
11657
85,0783,35
13,19,4
0.88
NRT span ChildrenAdults
11657
11,9010,95
5,04.8
1.18
Vocabulary size
ChildrenAdults
11657
5691.482394,11
3552,281149,27
6.83**
Scores for children and adults
WM - vocabulary size
Pearson (2-tailed) correlations for vocabulary size
(children and adults)
N Children N Adults
Digit span 116 .570** 57 .085
NRT phoneme score
116 .349** 57 .041
NRT span score 116 .363** 57 .195
** = significant at p < . 01
WM - vocabulary size
WM measures correlate significantly with vocabulary size for children, not for adults.
(32 % explained variance for the digit span for children)
Are there better predictiors of the success in vocabulary learning for adult illiterate learners?
Literacy and CEFR levels
Literacy A
Literacy B
Literacy C
CEF
A2CEF
A1
functional literate
basic level
CEF R= Common European Framework of Reference of Languages
Group scores WM (adults)
Task Level N Mean SD
Digit span Literacy level ALiteracy level BLiteracy level C/ A1Level A2
25
13
11
9
3.36
3.23
4.27
4.33
1.11
1.30
1.79
1.22
NRTphoneme score
Literacy level ALiteracy level BLiteracy level C/ A1Level A2
25
13
11
9
79.25
83.76
86.03
90.91
1.85
2.97
2.03
1.88
NRT spanscore
Literacy level ALiteracy level BLiteracy level C/ A1Level A2
25
13
11
9
8.24
10.67
13.09
16.22
.760
1.01
1.49
1.21
Difference between the 4 level groups is significant (F=2.21, p<.03)
Comparable groups: Matching pairs
Individuals from the group of low/average literacy learners (level A and B) were matched with individuals of the above average learners (C/A1 and A2) on the basis of:
months of L2 instruction, age, years of residence in the Netherlands, having children and native language.(in this order)
No one had any education in the home country
12 pairs could be formed.
Group scores (background, vocabulary and reading)
group N mean sd T
Months of L2 lessons
AverageAbove aver.
1212
3.083.25
1.161,05
-.367
Age AverageAbove aver.
1212
36.0833.75
12.0510.57
.505
Vocabulary AverageAbove aver.
1212
30.5847.33
14.6916.47
-2.628**
Reading AverageAbove aver.
1212
17.8032.92
12.0912.48
-2.86**
Scores for matched pairs
Correlations WM measures
Pearson (2-tailed) correlations for matched pairs
N Digit span NRTPhoneme
score
NRT Phoneme score
24 .369
NRT span score 24 .262 .618 **
Group scores (matched pairs N=12 for each group)
Group Mean SD T D
Digit span AverageAbove
4,084,67
1,171,72
-.97 0.40
NRT phon. score
AverageAbove
86,0689,53
3,946,74
-1.54 0.63
NRT span AverageAbove
11,0014,83
5,05.49
-2.06* 0.73
Vocabulary
DMT reading
L2 level
AverageAboveAverageAboveAverageAbove
30.5847.3317.8032.92
1.503.42
14.6916.4812.0912.49
.52
.52
-2.63*
-2.89**
-9.05**
1.07
1.23
* = p < .05 ** = p < .01
WM - vocabulary size
Pearson (2-tailed) correlations for vocabulary size (matched pairs)
N Vocabulary size
Digit span 24 -.097
NRT phoneme score 24 - .073
NRT span score 24 .155
WM – word reading
N Word reading
Digit span 22 .115
NRT phoneme score 22 .427*
NRT span score 22 .478*
* = p < .05
Pearson (2-tailed) correlations for word reading (matched pairs)
Background variables
Pearson (2-tailed) correlations for 3 background variables (matched pairs)
Vocabulary Reading
Months of L2 lessons .436* .150
Age .070 -.295
Length of residence .268 -.069
* = p < .05
Conclusions
The matched groups of above average /very good DL2/literacy learners and average learners differ significantly on :
- NRT span score, - vocabulary size, - reading,- general L2 level (starting point).
There are no significant differences on - the digit span and phoneme scores.
Correlations are found between:- phoneme score and reading (p <.05)- non-word span and reading (p <.05)- length of L2-lessons and vocabulary (p
<.05)
Discussion
The direction of causality is not clear:
what was first: the larger non-word span before learning to read
or is the larger span a result of learning to read?
Let us focus on the characteristics of the three best learners.
The three best learners
Code Vocabulary score
Readingscore
Digitspan
NRTphoneme score
NRTspan
Proficiency level
#59 77 43 5 95 21 A2
#56 71 40 4 89 16 A2
#60 68 32 2 77 8 A1
#51 55 53 7 94 19 A2
#53 49 47 4 89 16 A2
#55 35 46 3 95 19 A2
Ordered with respect to vocabulary score
Ordered with respect to reading score
Who are they?
One might think that the best learners: are young have much language contact are motivated have home support have intensive courses are in favorable circumstances (SES)but ……
Who are they?
No. 1: best score for vocabularyMoroccan – 44 years old – fem. – residence: 20 years – 5th year of L2 lessons – divorced, children - speaking Dutch at home – much L2 contact – no support – high motivation – SES unfavorable
No. 2Afghanistan – 29 years old – fem. – residence: 8 years – 4th year of L2 lessons – Afgh. Partner – less L2 contact –home support– SES favorable
No.3 Vietnamese – 60 years old –fem. – residence: 23 years – 1st yearof L2 lessons – Dutch partner – speaks Dutch at home – SES favorable
Who are they?
No. 1: best score for reading Somali – 23 years old – fem. – residence: 5 years –3rd year of L2 lessons – Somali partner – much L2 contact – highly motivated – much support – SES favorable
No. 2Moroccan – 28 years old – fem. – residence: 8 years – 4th year of L2 lessons – divorced, children – Dutch at home with children – much L2 contact – highly motivated – no support – SES unfavorable
No.3 Afghanistan – 28 years old – male – residence: 6 years – 2nd year of L2 lessons – no partner – no Dutch at home – much language contact – very motivated – no support – SES very favorable
The least successful learners
Code Vocabulary score
Readingscore
Digitspan
NRTphoneme score
NRTspan
Proficiency level
#31 12 0 5 90 13 Lit. A
#04 13 - 5 87 12 Lit. A
#39 21 20 4 84 10 Lit. A
#31 12 0 5 90 13 Lit. A
#36 59 7 2 79 6 Lit. A
#17 57 9 2 82 10 Lit. B
Ordered with respect to vocabulary score
Ordered with respect to reading score
Who are they? No. 1 lowest score for vocabulary
Turkish – 49 years old – fem. – residence: 10 years – 2nd year of L2 lessons – children
No. 2Turkish – 56 years old – fem. – residence: 25 years – 1st year of L2 lessons – children
No.3 Moroccan Berber – 52 years old –fem. – residence: 15 years – 1st year of L2 lessons – children
No. 1: lowest score for readingTurkish – 49 years old – fem. – residence: 10 years – 2nd year of L2 lessons – children
No. 2Somali - 34 years old – fem. - residence: 7 years – 2-5 years of L2 lessons – children (but high score for vocabulary: 59)
No. 3Moroccan Berber - 49 years old – fem. - residence: 25 years – 2-5 years of L2 lessons – children (but high score for vocabulary: 57)
What seems to count?
Age? Years of residence Language use?
Months of L2 lessons?
Not convincing Not convincing Yes, but counter
evidence Yes, but
Conclusions
The best results for reading are found for learners between 20-30 years old.
The three best readers do not necessarily have a large vocabulary.
Those who have acquired a large vocabulary show a larger age difference.
The learners with the lowest scores are most older learners.
The best learners have higher NRT span scores.
Thanks to
Eefje CadeeNoortje GrijsbachJeske Paalvast
Noortje Schilders
from Tilburg / Nijmegen Universitywho administered the tests and
wrote their master theses on this subject
