ABSTRACT
The studies reviewed in this chapter examine cross-linguistic relationships in first-and second-language working memory, phonological processes, and oral language, all domains of development thought to be related to literacy. More specifically, the research on phonological processes includes phonological awareness, phonological recoding, and phonological short-term memory, and the research on oral language includes phonological skills (including auditory discrimination, intraword segmentation, and speech production), vocabulary, grammar, and discourse-level skills. Each is defined in chapter 3. The following review is organized around each of these domains and subdomains. In principle, it would be desirable to review cross-linguistic studies systematically by age (grade) or stage of second-language development because one might expect more first-language influence in the early stages of second-language development and less later, when learners have acquired more competence in the target language. However, there were not enough studies per age group (elementary, middle, and high school), nor was there sufficient comparability in dependent measures within age/grade levels to discuss the studies by developmental level. Nevertheless, age is considered in the following review as a potential mediating factor.
