This article examines the effect of phonological context (singleton vs. clustered consonants) on full phoneme segmentation in Hebrew first language (L1) and in English second language (L2) among typically reading adults (TR) and adults with reading disability (RD) (n = 30 per group), using quantitative analysis and a fine-grained analysis of errors. In line with earlier findings, overall mean scores revealed significant differences between the two groups. However, no qualitative differences were found. In both groups and languages, full phoneme segmentation overall scores for CVC stimuli were higher than CCVC stimuli. This finding does not align with previous findings, obtained from a phoneme isolation task, showing that isolation from a cohesive CV unit is the most difficult. A fine-grained analysis of errors was conducted to glean insight into this finding. The analysis revealed a preference for creating and preserving CV units in phoneme segmentation in both L1 and L2. This is argued to support the cohesion of the CV unit. The article argues that the effect of language-specific sub-syllabic representations on phonemic analysis may not be always observed in overall scores, yet it is reflected in specific patterns of phonological segmentation errors.
AdamsM (1990) Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
2.
ApthorpH (1995) Phonetic coding and reading in college students with and without learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities28: 342–52.
3.
BaayenRH (2008) Analyzing linguistic data: A practical introduction to statistics using R. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4.
BaayenRHDavidsonDJBatesDM (2008) Mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items. Journal of Memory and Language59: 390–412.
5.
Ben-DavidABat-ElO (2016) Paths and stages in the acquisition of Hebrew phonological word. In: BermanR (ed) Acquisition and development of Hebrew: From infancy to adolescence. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.
6.
Ben-DrorIFrostRBentinS (1995) Orthographic representation and phonemic segmentation in skilled readers: A cross-language comparison. Psychological Science6: 176–81.
7.
Branum-MartinLTaoSGarnaatSBuntaFFrancisDJ (2012) Meta-analysis of bilingual phonological awareness: Language, age, and psycholinguistic grain size. Journal of Educational Psychology104: 932–44.
8.
BruckM (1988) The word recognition and spelling of dyslexic children. Reading Research Quarterly23: 51–66.
9.
BruckM (1990) Word-recognition skills of adults with childhood diagnoses of dyslexia. Developmental Psychology26: 439–54.
BruckMTreimanR (1990) Phonological awareness and spelling in normal children and dyslexics The case of initial consonant clusters. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology50: 156–78.
12.
ByrneBFielding-BarnsleyR (1990) Acquiring the alphabetic principle: A case for teaching recognition of phoneme identity. Journal of Educational Psychology82: 805–12.
13.
CaravolasMBruckM (1993) The effect of oral and written language input on children’s phonological awareness: a cross-linguistic study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology55: 1–30.
14.
ChenAS (2011) Bodies and codas or core syllables plus appendices? Evidence for a developmental theory of subsyllabic division preference. Cognition121: 338–62.
15.
Cohen-GrossD (2015) The syllable structure in the Modern Hebrew noun and adjective system. Hebrew Studies56: 175–90.
16.
CrombieM (1997) The effects of specific learning difficulties (dyslexia) on the learning of a foreign language in school. Dyslexia3: 27–47.
17.
DanielsPT (1992) The syllabic origin of writing and the segmental origin of the alphabet. In: DowningPLimaSDNoonanM (eds) The linguistics of literacy. Amsterdam and Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins, pp. 83–110.
18.
DanielsPT (2000) Syllables, consonants, and vowels in West Semitic writing. Lingua Posnaniensis42: 43–55.
19.
De CaraBGoswamiU (2002) Similarity relations among spoken words: The special status of rimes in English. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers34: 416–23.
20.
EhriL (1987) Learning to read and spell words. Journal of Reading Behavior19: 5–31.
21.
EhriLCWilceLS (1980) The influence of orthography on readers’ conceptualization of the phonemic structure of words. Applied Psycholinguistics1: 371–85.
22.
FieldA (2009) Discovering statistics using SPSS. London: SAGE.
23.
FudgeE (1969) Syllables. Journal of Linguistics5: 253–86.
24.
FudgeE (1987) Branching structure within the syllable. Journal of Linguistics23: 359–77.
25.
GeneseeFGevaE (2006) Cross-linguistic relationships in working memory, phonological processes, and oral language. In: AugustDShanahanT (eds) Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report of the national literacy panel on language-minority children and youth. Mahwah: NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
26.
GeneseeFGevaEDresslerCKamilM (2006) Synthesis: Cross-linguistic relationships. In: AugustDShanahanT (eds) Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on language-minority children and youth. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 153–74.
27.
GeudensASandraD (2003) Beyond children’s implicit phonological knowledge: No support for an onset–rime structure in children’s explicit phonological awarenessJournal of Memory and Language49: 157–82.
28.
GeudensASandraDMartensenH (2005) Rhyming words and onset–rime constituents: An inquiry into structural breaking points and emergent boundaries in the syllable. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology92: 366–87.
29.
GeudensASandraDvan den BroeckW (2004) Segmenting two-phoneme syllables: Developmental differences in relation with early reading skills. Brain and Language90: 338–52.
30.
GevaEYaghoub-ZadehZ (2006) Reading efficiency in native English-speaking and English-as-a-Second-Language children: The role of oral proficiency and underlying cognitive-linguistic processes. Scientific Studies of Reading10: 31–57.
31.
GevaEYaghoub-ZadehZSchusterB (2000) Understanding individual differences in word recognition skills of ESL children. Annals of Dyslexia50: 123–54.
32.
GoldsmithJ (1990) Autosegmental and metrical phonology. Oxford: Blackwell.
33.
GombertJE (1992) Metalinguistic development. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
34.
GoswamiU (1986) Children’s use of analogy in learning to read: A developmental study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology42: 73–83.
35.
GoswamiU (1991) Learning about spelling sequences: The role of onsets and rimes in analogies in reading. Child Development62: 1110–23.
36.
GoswamiU (2000) Phonological representations, reading development and dyslexia: Towards a cross-linguistic theoretical framework. Dyslexia6: 133–51.
37.
GoswamiUBryantPE (1990) Phonological skills and learning to read. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
38.
HeckRHThomasSLTabataLN (2010) Multilevel and longitudinal modeling with IBM SPSS. New York: Routledge.
39.
KesslerBTreimanR (1997) Syllable structure and the distribution of phonemes in English syllables. Journal of Memory and Language37: 295–311.
40.
KesslerBTreimanR (2001) Relationships between sounds and letters in English monosyllables. Journal of Memory and Language44: 592–617.
41.
KodaK (2008) Impacts of prior literacy learning experience on second language learning to read. In: KodaKZehlerAM (eds) Learning to read across languages: Cross-linguistic relationships in first- and second-language literacy development. New York: Routledge, pp. 68–96.
42.
LanderlKFrithUWimmerH (1996) Intrusion of orthographic knowledge on phoneme awareness strong in normal readers week in dyslexic readers. Applied Psycholinguistics17: 1–14.
43.
LópezLM (2012) Assessing the phonological skills of bilingual children from preschool through kindergarten: Developmental progression and cross language transfer. Journal of Research in Childhood Education26: 371–91.
44.
LucePAPisoniDB (1998) Recognizing spoken words: The neighborhood activation model. Ear and Hearing19: 1–36.
45.
LyonGRShaywitzSShaywitzB (2003) Defining dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia53: 1–14.
46.
MartinKI (2015) L1 impacts on L2 component reading skills, word skills, and overall reading achievement. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
47.
MathieuL (2016) The influence of foreign scripts on the acquisition of a second language phonological contrast. Second Language Research32: 145–70.
48.
McBrideC (2016) Children’s literacy development: A cross-cultural perspective on learning to read and write. London: Routledge.
49.
McBride-ChangC (1995) What is phonological awareness?Journal of Educational Psychology87: 179–92.
50.
MoraisJCaryLAlegriaJBertelsonP (1979) Does awareness of speech as a sequence of phones arise spontaneously?Cognition7: 323–31.
51.
National Reading Panel (2000) Report of the National Reading Panel teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
52.
RaudenbushSWBrykASCongdonR (2013) HLM 7 for Windows (Computer software). Skokie, IL: Scientific Software International.
53.
ReadCYun-FeiZHong-YinNBao-QingD (1986) The ability to manipulate speech sounds depends on knowing alphabetic writing. Cognition24: 31–44.
54.
RussakS (2007) A cross-linguistic study of reading disability in native Hebrew-speaking adults learning English as a foreign language. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
55.
RussakSSaiegh-HaddadE (2011) Phonological awareness in Hebrew (L1) and English (L2) in normal and disabled readers. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal24: 427–42.
56.
Saiegh-HaddadE (2003) Linguistic distance and initial reading Acquisition: The case of Arabic diglossia. Applied Psycholinguistics24: 431–51.
57.
Saiegh-HaddadE (2004) The impact of phonemic and lexical distance on the phonological analysis of words and pseudowords in a diglossic context. Applied Psycholinguistics25: 495–512.
58.
Saiegh-HaddadE (2007a) Linguistic constraints on children’s ability to isolate phonemes in Arabic. Applied Psycholinguistics28: 605–25.
59.
Saiegh-HaddadE (2007b) Epilinguistic and metalinguistic phonological awareness may be subject to different constraints: Evidence from Hebrew. First Language27: 385–405.
60.
Saiegh-HaddadEKoganNWaltersJ (2010) Universal and language-specific constraints on phonemic awareness: Evidence from Russian–Hebrew bilingual children. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal23: 359–84.
61.
SeymourPHKAroMErskineJM (2003) Foundation literacy acquisition in European orthographies. British Journal of Psychology94: 143–74.
62.
ShankweilerDCrainSBradySMacarusoP (1992) Identifying the causes of reading disability. In: GoughPBEhriLCTreimanR (eds) Reading acquisition. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 275–305.
63.
ShareD (1996) Word recognition and spelling processes in specific reading disabled and garden-variety poor readers. Dyslexia2: 167–74.
64.
ShareDBlumP (2005) Syllable splitting in literate and preliterate Hebrew speakers: Onsets and rimes or bodies and codas?Journal of Experimental Child Psychology92: 182–202.
65.
ShimronJ (1993) The role of vowels in reading: A review of studies of English and Hebrew. Psychological Bulletin114: 52–67.
66.
ShimronJSivanT (1994) Reading proficiency and orthography: Evidence from Hebrew and English. Language Learning44: 5–27.
67.
SimonCS (2000) Dyslexia and learning a foreign language: A personal experience. Annals of Dyslexia50: 155–87.
68.
SnowlingM (2000) Dyslexia. Oxford: Blackwell.
69.
SparksRGanschowL (1993) Searching for the cognitive locus of foreign language learning difficulties: Linking first and second language learning. The Modern Language Journal77: 289–302.
70.
SparksRGanschowLPohlmanJ (1989) Linguistic coding deficits in foreign language learners. Annals of Dyslexia39: 179–95.
71.
StahlSAMurrayBA (1994) Defining phonological awareness and its relationship to early reading. Journal of Educational Psychology86: 221–34.
72.
StanovichK (1988) Explaining the differences between the dyslexic and the garden-variety poor reader: the phonological core variable-difference model. Journal of Learning Disabilities21: 590–612.
73.
StanovichK (1998) Refining the phonological core deficit model. Child Psychology and Psychiatry Review3: 17–21.
SwanDGoswamiU (1997) Phonological awareness deficits in developmental dyslexia and the phonological representations hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology66: 18–41.
76.
TreimanR (1983) The structure of spoken syllables: evidence from novel word games. Cognition15: 49–74.
77.
TreimanR (1985) Onsets and rimes as units of spoken syllables: Evidence from children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology39: 161–81.
78.
TreimanRCassarM (1997) Can children and adults focus on sound as opposed to spelling in a phoneme counting task?Developmental Psychology33: 771–80.
79.
TreimanRDanisC (1988) Short-term memory errors for spoken syllables are affected by the linguistic structure of the syllables. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, memory, and Cognition14: 145–52.
80.
TreimanRKesslerB (1995) In defense of an onset–rime syllable structure for English. Language and Speech38: 127–42.
81.
TreimanRWeathersonS (1992) Effects of linguistic structure on children’s ability to isolate initial consonants. Journal of Educational Psychology84: 174–201.
82.
TreimanRZukowskiA (1991) Levels of phonological awareness. In: BradySShankweilerD (eds) Phonological processes in literacy. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 67–83.
83.
TreimanRMullennixJBijeljac-BabicRRichmond-WeltyED (1995) The special role of rimes in the description, use, and acquisition of English orthography. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General124: 107–36.
84.
TwiskJWR (2006) Applied multilevel analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
85.
Wade-WoolleyLGevaE (2000) Processing novel phonemic contrasts in the acquisition of L2 word reading. Scientific Studies of Reading4: 295–312.
86.
WangMGevaE (2003) Spelling performance of Chinese ESL children: Lexical and visual-orthographic processes. Applied Psycholinguistics24: 1–25.
87.
WilsonAMLesauxNK (2001) Persistence of phonological processing deficits in college students with dyslexia who have age-appropriate reading skills. Journal of Learning Disabilities34: 394–401.
88.
ZaretskyE (2002) Effects of oral language on sound segmentation skills. In: WindsorFKellyMLHewlettN (eds) Investigations in clinical phonetics and linguistics. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 201–12.
89.
ZiegleJCBertrandDTóthDCsépeVReisAFaíscaLBlomertL (2010) Orthographic depth and its impact on universal predictors of reading: A cross-language investigation. Psychological Science21: 551–59.
90.
ZieglerJCGoswamiU (2005) Reading acquisition, developmental dyslexia, and skilled reading across languages: A psycholinguistic grain size theory. Psychological Bulletin131: 3–29.
