What makes the illiterate language genius?

1
What makes the illiterate language genius?

• Jeanne Kurvers Ineke van de Craats
• Tilburg University
  Radboud University Nijmegen j.j.kurvers_at_uvt.nl
  i.v.d.craats_at_let.ru.nl

2
What makes the illiterate language genius?

• Is it a good working memory?
• or (also) something else?

3
The Study

• Relationship between
• Working memory and L2 vocabulary
• Working memory and L2 basic reading skills
• Comparison between
• Adult and child L2 learners
• Average and above average adult L2 learners

4
Participants

• Participants 173
• Adult L2 learners 57
• no previous schooling
• age 18-61
• Primary school L2 children 116
• grade 1 7
• Language background
• L1 different languages
• L2 Dutch

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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)

6
Correlations WM measures

• Pearson (2-tailed) correlations for L2
  children

N Digit span NRT Phoneme score
NRT Phoneme score 116 .579
NRT span score 116 .438 .619

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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

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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)

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Group scores WM and Vocabulary

Scores for children and adults
Age group N Mean SD t
Digit span Children Adults 116 58 4,29 3,66 1,5 1,3 2.71
NRT phoneme score Children Adults 116 57 85,07 83,35 13,1 9,4 0.88
NRT span Children Adults 116 57 11,90 10,95 5,0 4.8 1.18
Vocabulary size Children Adults 116 57 5691.48 2394,11 3552,28 1149,27 6.83
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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 lt . 01
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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?

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Literacy and CEFR levels
CEF A2
functional literate
Literacy C
CEF A1
basic level
Literacy B
Literacy A
CEF R Common European Framework of Reference of
Languages
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Group scores WM (adults)
Task Level N Mean SD
Digit span Literacy level A Literacy level B Literacy level C/ A1 Level A2 25 13 11 9 3.36 3.23 4.27 4.33 1.11 1.30 1.79 1.22
NRT phoneme score Literacy level A Literacy level B Literacy level C/ A1 Level A2 25 13 11 9 79.25 83.76 86.03 90.91 1.85 2.97 2.03 1.88
NRT span score Literacy level A Literacy level B Literacy level C/ A1 Level 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 (F2.21, plt.03)
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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.

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Group scores (background, vocabulary and reading)

Scores for matched pairs
group N mean sd T
Months of L2 lessons Average Above aver. 12 12 3.08 3.25 1.16 1,05 -.367
Age Average Above aver. 12 12 36.08 33.75 12.05 10.57 .505
Vocabulary Average Above aver. 12 12 30.58 47.33 14.69 16.47 -2.628
Reading Average Above aver. 12 12 17.80 32.92 12.09 12.48 -2.86
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Correlations WM measures

• Pearson (2-tailed) correlations for matched
  pairs

N Digit span NRT Phoneme score
NRT Phoneme score 24 .369
NRT span score 24 .262 .618

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Group scores (matched pairs N12 for each
group)
Group Mean SD T D
Digit span Average Above 4,08 4,67 1,17 1,72 -.97 0.40
NRT phon. score Average Above 86,06 89,53 3,94 6,74 -1.54 0.63
NRT span Average Above 11,00 14,83 5,0 5.49 -2.06 0.73
Vocabulary DMT reading L2 level Average Above Average Above Average Above 30.58 47.33 17.80 32.92 1.50 3.42 14.69 16.48 12.09 12.49 .52 .52 -2.63 -2.89 -9.05 1.07 1.23

p lt .05 p lt .01
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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
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WM word reading

Pearson (2-tailed) correlations for word reading
(matched pairs)
N Word reading
Digit span 22 .115
NRT phoneme score 22 .427
NRT span score 22 .478
p lt .05
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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 lt .05
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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 lt.05)
• - non-word span and reading (p lt.05)
• - length of L2-lessons and vocabulary (p lt.05)

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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.

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The three best learners
Ordered with respect to vocabulary score
Code Vocabulary score Reading score Digit span NRTphoneme score NRT span Proficiency level
59 77 43 5 95 21 A2
56 71 40 4 89 16 A2
60 68 32 2 77 8 A1
Ordered with respect to reading score
51 55 53 7 94 19 A2
53 49 47 4 89 16 A2
55 35 46 3 95 19 A2
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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

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Who are they?

• No. 1 best score for vocabulary
• Moroccan 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. 2
• Afghanistan 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 year
• of L2 lessons Dutch partner speaks Dutch at
  home SES favorable

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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. 2
• Moroccan 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

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The least successful learners
Ordered with respect to vocabulary score
Code Vocabulary score Reading score Digit span NRTphoneme score NRT span 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
Ordered with respect to reading score
31 12 0 5 90 13 Lit. A
36 59 7 2 79 6 Lit. A
17 57 9 2 82 10 Lit. B
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Who are they?

• No. 1 lowest score for vocabulary
• Turkish 49 years old fem. residence 10
  years 2nd year of L2 lessons children
• No. 2
• Turkish 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 reading
• Turkish 49 years old fem. residence 10
  years 2nd year of L2 lessons children
• No. 2
• Somali - 34 years old fem. - residence 7
  years 2-5 years of L2 lessons children (but
  high score for vocabulary 59)
• No. 3
• Moroccan Berber - 49 years old fem. -
  residence 25 years 2-5 years of L2 lessons
  children (but high score for vocabulary 57)

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What seems to count?

• Age?
• Years of residence
• Language use?
• Months of L2 lessons?

• Not convincing
• Not convincing
• Yes, but counter evidence
• Yes, but

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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.

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Thanks to

• Eefje Cadee
• Noortje Grijsbach
• Jeske Paalvast
• Noortje Schilders
• from Tilburg / Nijmegen University
• who administered the tests and
• wrote their master theses on this subject