ABSTRACT
Over the past two decades, much progress has been made in delineating the predictors of early reading acquisition in alphabetic languages (e.g., Adams, 1990; Brady & Shankweiler, 1991; Gough, Ehri, & Treiman, 1992). This literature has highlighted some of the early skills that underlie the successful acquisition of word recognition skills, or, conversely, the early warning signs of risk factors involved in reading disabilities or dyslexia. Although the conclusions are based on a large number of different studies, most of the work and therefore most of the models of early reading acquisition are based on studies of native English-speaking children learning to read English. Although it is true that there are some studies of children learning different alphabetic languages (e.g., French, Italian, Danish, Swedish), there are few if any studies that directly compare the development of English children with children learning other alphabetic languages. Therefore, it is important to determine the degree to which current models generalize to children learning other alphabetic languages. The results of a study described in this chapter represent a first step in addressing this issue. The study directly compares the early reading acquisition of French- and English-speaking children.
