Diese Dissertation untersucht den Einfluss des Erwerbsalters und des Kenntnisstandes auf die Verarbeitung semantischer und syntaktischer Strukturen des Deutschen als Zweitsprache. Gegenstand sind drei EKP Studien, die die Verarbeitung von semantischen Anomalien, Doppel-Nominativ Verletzungen und nicht-lizenzierten negativ polaren Elementen untersuchen. Neben den Fragen, welchen Einfluss das Erwerbsalter und der Kenntnisstand auf die Verarbeitung der Zweitsprache nehmen und welche daraus resultierenden Unterschiede sich bezüglich der Dissoziation zwischen der Verarbeitung semantischer und syntaktischer Strukturen ergeben, widmet sich diese Arbeit zentral der Frage, ob die Einflüsse von Erwerbsalter und Kenntnisstand unabhängig oder interaktiv auftreten und ob sie eher auf einen kontinuierlichen Verlauf oder sichtbare Grenzen hinweisen. / This dissertation presents research on how the age of acquisition (AoA) and the proficiency level influence the processing of a second language. Three ERP studies (event related potentials) were conducted investigating on the processing of semantic incongruity, the processing of double nominative violation, and the processing of negative polarity item (NPI) licensing in German as a second language. Three central questions were in focus: (i) whether second language learners, like native speakers also show the dissociation between semantic and syntactic processing; (ii) whether and how AoA and / or proficiency influence second language processing, independently or interactively; and (iii) whether this influence appears gradual or discontinuous. According to (i) results largely confirm previous research on this topic suggesting that second language processing is sensitive to the semantic-syntactic dissociation. Regarding (ii) outcomes suggest interactive influences between the AoA and proficiency on second language processing especially when syntactic and semantic-syntactic demands are enhanced as to the language processing system. This contributes to recent suggestions and augments the argument that relative to the activation and retrieval of neural resources associated with syntactic processing mechanisms proficiency may compensate for the impact of age of acquisition. With respect to (iii) the present outcomes strongly support a continuity approach indicating that changes in the activation and retrieval of processing mechanisms appear gradual.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T18:11:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 20 / Nenhuma / Esta dissertação de mestrado investiga testagens de proficiência lingüística em língua de sinais que são aplicadas a pessoas ouvintes, intérpretes de língua de sinais, no início de sua vida profissional. Devido à diversidade de instrumentos, procedimentos e concepções do que deve ser avaliado em intérpretes de língua de sinais ILS, faz-se necessária uma investigação sobre a testagem de proficiência lingüística e a distinção entre proficiência tradutória e certificação profissional, bem como qual o momento adequado de suas aplicações nas diferentes etapas da formação e do exercício profissional dos ILS. O embasamento teórico consta da distinção entre proficiência e fluência lingüísticas; a evolução do conceito de proficiência lingüística; testagem lingüística; e de um panorama geral sobre tradução e interpretação de língua de sinais. A testagem lingüística de língua de sinais abordada neste estudo inclui aquelas explicitamente denominadas ‘de proficiência’ e as provas de habilitação ou de seleção que contenham / This is a dissertation on language proficiency testing as applied to hearing people, sign language interpreters, in the beginning of their professional lives. Due to the diversity of instruments, proceedings and conceptions of what has to be assessed in sign language interpreters SLI, an investigation on language proficiency testing and the distinction between translation proficiency and professional certification is needed, as well as when is the most adequate moment to apply different kind of testing in different phases of interpreters´ training and professional practice. The theoretical basis of this work includes the distinction between language proficiency and fluency, the evolution of the proficiency concept, language testing, and a general view about sign language translation and interpreting. The sign language testing that is approached in this study comprises those explicitly named as ´proficiency tests´ and professional or selection tests that comprise sign language proficiency features, even if the

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:34:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Monica Raimunda de Jesus.pdf: 507492 bytes, checksum: 9c150c9a752f39cd1e6b938cae5936aa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-03-31 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study aims to examine the relationship between proficiency in English and previous school experiences, as well as personal characteristics, family ambience and social experiences in English Language, of students who attended the last year of High School in 2008. The research was conducted in two public schools of the state of São Paulo. As basic procedure for data collection, questionnaires and a test of proficiency in English language were applied to High School students of the schools surveyed. Data analysis was based on the theories of Bourdieu (1971, 1982, 1989, 1998, 2007) about cultural and social capital, as we propose to understand the practices in English in the social educational experience of research participants, which has determined or not a satisfactory or unsatisfactory assimilation of the English Language. Besides, we analyse the activities involving the English language based on the contributions of the same author on the social construction of taste. We have found, using data collected, that some social and educational practices of last year High School students of the same social class are determinants for some of these students who obtain better performance in English than the majority of students. In the test of English proficiency, from the 99 surveyed students, 6 had a better result than average, 16 obtained an average performance and 77 underperformed. These data show that although the students attended at least seven years of English classes, the skill level of the majority is very low, which, on one side, reinforces the poor quality of Brazilian schools in general, and it indicates that Foreign Language education is also a factor in this lack of quality: so much so that, when comparing the results of students from two schools and their rates of assessment (SARESP) that differ from each other, the levels of proficiency in English were similar, which made us leave the initial goal of mutual comparison between the results of students in each school. As regards the relationship between family ambience, educational and social experiences and levels of proficiency, we found the following results: the existence of a family member who knows English seems to be insignificant in increasing proficiency; social experiences (use of the internet, habits of reading in English and watching dubbed movies) show that even if one does not know whether the habit leads to the best proficiency or the best proficiency leads to the habits, the fact is that students who had higher proficiency in English read and watched more subtitled films, which seems to reinforce the view that education does nothing more than reinforce the culture obtained outside school. With regard to school experience, the most significant finding concerns the high number of students with low proficiency and that were failed in High School, which seems to confirm that this group of students is destined to failure in all activities and school subjects / Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar a relação entre proficiência em Língua Inglesa e as experiências escolares pregressas, características pessoais e ambiência familiar e as experiências sociais envolvendo o uso dessa língua , de alunos que cursaram o último ano do Ensino Médio em 2008. Para esta investigação, foram selecionadas duas escolas públicas da rede estadual de São Paulo e foi adotado, como procedimento básico, a coleta de dados a partir de questionários e de um teste de proficiência em Língua Inglesa, aplicados aos alunos. A análise dos dados apóia-se nos conceitos de Bourdieu (1971, 1982, 1989, 1998, 2007), fundamentalmente os de capital cultural e social, na medida em que propomos identificar as práticas relativas ao uso do inglês nas experiências sócio-educacionais dos participantes da pesquisa, que foram determinantes ou não para uma satisfatória/insatisfatória assimilação da Língua Inglesa. Acessoriamente, procuramos analisar as atividades que envolviam a Língua Inglesa com base nas contribuições desse mesmo autor sobre a construção social do gosto. Constatamos, por meio dos dados coletados, que algumas práticas sócio-educacionais de alunos do último ano do Ensino Médio, de uma mesma classe social, são determinantes para que alguns desses educandos obtenham um desempenho melhor em inglês que o da grande maioria dos estudantes. No teste de proficiência em inglês, dos 99 alunos pesquisados, 6 tiveram um resultado acima da média, 16 obtiveram um desempenho mediano e 77 um baixo desempenho. Esses dados mostram que, apesar de cursarem, pelo menos, sete anos de aulas de inglês, o nível de proficiência da maioria é baixíssimo o que, se de um lado, reforça a falta de qualidade da escola brasileira no geral, indica que o ensino de Língua Estrangeira também é fator para essa falta de qualidade: tanto é assim que, quando comparados os resultados dos alunos das duas escolas cujos índices de avaliação (SARESP) se distinguem, os níveis de proficiência em inglês encontrados foram semelhantes, o que nos fez abandonar o objetivo inicial de cotejamento entre os resultados dos alunos de cada uma das escolas. No que se refere à relação entre ambiência familiar, experiências escolares e sociais e os níveis de proficiência, foram encontrados os seguintes resultados: a existência de familiar que sabe inglês parece ser pouco significativa para o aumento da proficiência; as experiências sociais (uso de internet, hábitos de leitura em inglês e de assistir filmes dublados) mostram que, independentemente de sabermos se o hábito leva à proficiência ou esta a uma maior ocorrência dos primeiros, o fato é que os alunos que apresentaram maior proficiência liam mais em inglês e assistiam mais a filmes legendados, o que parece reforçar a tese de que a educação escolar nada mais faz do que reforçar o capital cultural obtido fora dela. Com relação às experiências escolares, o achado mais significativo diz respeito ao número elevado de alunos com baixa proficiência e que foi reprovado no Ensino Médio, o que parece confirmar que esse grupo de aluno está fadado ao insucesso em todas as atividades e disciplinas escolares

Ett ovanförperspektiv avseende kartläggningen av nyanlända elevers behov präglar det svenska samhället och skolsystem. Detta leder således till en indelning av elever i språkintroducerande förberedelseklasser som separeras från elever från ordinarie klasser vilket försvårar integrering. Syftet med denna studie är att fånga aktörens perspektiv genom en så kallad narrativ identitetsanalys som ämnar att undersöka hur 7 elever som läser Språkintroduktion på en gymnasieskola i Stockholm presenterar sina identiteter i deras berättelser om sin skolsituation. Detta har genomförts med hjälp av livshistorieintervjuer om elevernas erfarenheter och tolkningar av händelser på skolan. Berättelser rörande bytet av skolsystem, möte med klassen samt framtidsförhoppningar har presenterats på olika sätt av eleverna. De mest framträdande berättelserna utgörs av ontologiska berättelser som bygger på individens subjektiva upplevelser och självbild, offentliga berättelser om integration samt konceptuella berättelser om rasism. Eleverna skildrar en likställd bild av lärarnas och elevernas roller på skolan, en samhörighet med sina klasskamrater, kamp om erkännande från de andra eleverna och makthavarna på skolan, samt ett lyckligt avslut i sina berättelser om framtiden vilka beror på deras uppfattningar av sig själva. Det lyckliga slutet skildrar således en ovisshet om framtiden där en osäkerhet avseende den genomgående kampen om erkännande framgår. / An overarching perspective regarding the mapping of newly arrived pupils's needs characterizes the Swedish society and school system. This leads to a breakdown of pupils in so-called “Language Introductory Preparation Classes” which separates newly arrived pupils from pupils in ordinary classes and complicates integration. The purpose of this study is to capture the pupils`s perspective through a so-called narrative identity analysis aimed to investigate how 7 pupils from a Language Introduction- class at a high school in Stockholm, Sweden present their identities through their stories about their school situation. This has been implemented using interviews about the pupils' experiences and interpretations of events that has taken place at their school and class. Stories regarding the change of school system, the meeting with the class and future hopes have been presented in different ways by the students. The most prominent stories consist of ontological narratives based on the individual's subjective experiences and self-image, public stories about integration, and conceptual stories about racism. The students portray a similar picture of the roles of teachers and students at the school, a community with their fellow classmates, a struggle for recognition from the other students and the rulers of the school, as well as a hope for a happy ending and a resolution of the fight for recognition. The happy end also depicts an uncertainty about the future where an uncertainty regarding the ongoing struggle for recognition appears.

Culture is an integral part of the FL classroom, yet teachers often face difficulties when incorporating it into their curricula. This survey study gathered data from teachers of many different languages, including ASL, all at the secondary level in the state of Utah. The study attempts to describe how secondary FL teachers view the role of culture in language teaching. It also details which models, means, or methods teachers use to communicate culture to their students, as well as the amount of culture included in their lesson planning, instruction, and assessment. Factors that contribute to more culture inclusion in the secondary classroom are also discussed. Findings from this study support previous research in the field, but also reveal particular definitions, insights, and dilemmas. These ideas form a basis to suggest pedagogical implications and further research for an effective model of culture integration for the FL teaching profession.

<p>South Africa&rsquo / s Language-in-Education Policy is one of additive multilingualism, but in reality this policy is not adhered to, in that most black children are being educated through the medium of English from Grade 4. This type of instruction affects the development of academic language proficiency in their primary language, as these children are not engaging in cognitively demanding tasks in their primary or first language. The Woodcock Mu&ntilde / oz Language Survey (WMLS) is a test to assess academic language proficiency in Additive Bilingual Education, and is extensively used in the United States of America (USA) for this purpose. It is important to note that the proposed study is a sub-study of a larger study, in which the original WMLS (American-English version) was adapted into English and Xhosa, to be used in South Africa to assess additive bilingual programmes. For this sub-study, the researcher was interested in examining the overall equivalence of the adapted English version of the WMLS. Owing to insufficient tests evaluating academic language proficiency in the South African context, the significance, as well as the overall aim, of the study is to ensure that the issues of group difference and item bias have been assessed to ensure that the adapted English version of the WMLS is suitable to be used across English first-language and Xhosa first-language speakers. Because this is a sub-study, the researcher (of the sub-study) has conducted an exploratory quantitative study with the use of Secondary Data. The researcher has used the framework of equivalence as a theoretical framework in order to examine the research question. Given the use of existing data, the procedures of the collection of the data by the researcher of the larger study have been outlined in the Methodology section of the present study. The sample consisted of 198 English and 197 Xhosa first-language speakers...</p>

<p>South Africa&rsquo / s Language-in-Education Policy is one of additive multilingualism, but in reality this policy is not adhered to, in that most black children are being educated through the medium of English from Grade 4. This type of instruction affects the development of academic language proficiency in their primary language, as these children are not engaging in cognitively demanding tasks in their primary or first language. The Woodcock Mu&ntilde / oz Language Survey (WMLS) is a test to assess academic language proficiency in Additive Bilingual Education, and is extensively used in the United States of America (USA) for this purpose. It is important to note that the proposed study is a sub-study of a larger study, in which the original WMLS (American-English version) was adapted into English and Xhosa, to be used in South Africa to assess additive bilingual programmes. For this sub-study, the researcher was interested in examining the overall equivalence of the adapted English version of the WMLS. Owing to insufficient tests evaluating academic language proficiency in the South African context, the significance, as well as the overall aim, of the study is to ensure that the issues of group difference and item bias have been assessed to ensure that the adapted English version of the WMLS is suitable to be used across English first-language and Xhosa first-language speakers. Because this is a sub-study, the researcher (of the sub-study) has conducted an exploratory quantitative study with the use of Secondary Data. The researcher has used the framework of equivalence as a theoretical framework in order to examine the research question. Given the use of existing data, the procedures of the collection of the data by the researcher of the larger study have been outlined in the Methodology section of the present study. The sample consisted of 198 English and 197 Xhosa first-language speakers...</p>

This study formed part of a larger project that is concerned with the adaptation of a test of cognitive academic language proficiency, the Woodcock Muñoz Language Survey (WMLS). The WMLS has been adapted from English into isiXhosa and the present study is located within the broader study that is concerned with establishing overall equivalence between the two language versions of the WMLS. It was primarily concerned with the Verbal Analogies (VA) scale. Previous research on this scale has demonstrated promising results, but continues to find evidence of some inequivalence. This study aimed to cross-validate previous research on the two language versions of the WMLS and improve on methodological issues by employing matched groups. It drew upon an existing dataset from the larger research project. The study employed a monolingual matched two-group design consisting of 150 mainly English speaking and 149 mainly isiXhosa learners in grades 6 and 7. This study had two sub aims. The first was to investigate item bias by identifying DIF items in the VA scale across the isiXhosa and English by conducting a logistic regression and Mantel-Haenszel procedure. Five items were identified by both techniques as DIF. The second sub aim was to evaluate construct equivalence between the isiXhosa and English versions of the WMLS on the VA scale by conducting a factor analysis on the tests after removal of DIF items. Two factors were requested during the factor analysis. The first factor displayed significant loadings across both language versions and was identified as a stable factor. This was confirmed by the Tucker&rsquo;s Phi and scatter plot. The second factor was stable for the English version but not for the isiXhosa version. The Tucker&rsquo;s phi and scatter plot indicated that this factor is not structurally equivalent across the two language versions / Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych)

Estudos anteriores mostraram evidências de que crianças bilíngues alcançam a consciência metalinguística, maturação cerebral esperada em torno de doze anos de idade, precocemente, em comparação com crianças monolíngues. A consciência metalinguística está ligada à capacidade de refletir sobre a língua, sobre de que maneira ela é usada, sendo importante ressaltar a distinção existente entre consciência metalinguística e habilidade linguística, pois a consciência metalinguística exige uma demanda cognitiva maior (Bialystok, 2001; CARLISLE; BEEMAN; HULL; DAVIS, AND SPHARIM; 1999; Ringbom, 1987; Cenoz & Valencia, 1994; Lasagabaster, 1997, apud Jessner 2006). Contudo, cabe ressaltar que tais evidências partem de estudos envolvendo grupos de bilíngues imigrantes, ou grupos que possuem grande exposição à língua estrangeira em ambiente escolar ou na comunidade em que estão inseridos. O objetivo geral do estudo relatado nesta dissertação foi verificar a existência de uma vantagem bilíngue no caso de um grupo diferente de participantes, formado por crianças que são bilíngues aditivos, ou seja, que estão se tornando bilíngues a partir da exposição à segunda lingua, no caso, inglês, em uma escola com currículo bilíngue. A amostra foi composta por 42 crianças, de 7 e 8 anos de idade, sendo que o grupo de bilíngues (inglês/português) possui exposição à segunda língua na escola por um total de 10h semanais. Foram utilizados dois testes experimentais que exigem alto controle de atenção: Teste de Arbitrariedade da Língua, adaptado do estudo de Eviatar & Ibrahim (2000) e de Piaget (1929); e Teste de Substituição de Símbolos, baseado em Ben-Zeev (1977). Além disso, foi verificada a necessidade de se utilizar ainda um Teste de Proficiência Leitora em Língua Materna, a fim de verificar possíveis diferencas em termos de proficiência leitora em língua materna entre os dois grupos, principalmente pelo fato de os testes citados anteriormente terem sido aplicados em português. Não foi verificada diferença entre os grupos na análise dos resultados dos Testes de Arbitrariedade da Língua e Substituição de Símbolos. Foi encontrada, entretanto, diferença significativa entre os grupos no Teste de Proficiência Leitora em Língua Materna, mostrando um melhor desempenho dos participantes bilíngues. Os resultados encontrados são discutidos traçando uma comparação aos resultados já relatados na literatura, no que diz respeito ao grau de bilinguismo, tempo de exposição à segunda língua, trazendo evidências de que estar em contato a dois idiomas simultaneamente não acarreta desvantagens aos bilingues na aquisição da habilidade de leitura na língua materna. / Previous studies have shown evidence that bilingual children reach metalinguistic awareness, brain maturity, before the expected age of twelve, which is earlier in comparison to monolingual children. Metalinguistic awareness is linked to the ability to reflect on the language and how it is used. It is important to emphasize the distinction between metalinguistic awareness and linguistic skills, as the metalinguistic requires a greater cognitive demand (Bialystok, 2001; CARLISLE; Beeman, HULL, DAVIS, AND SPHARIM; 1999; Ringbom, 1987; Cenoz & Valencia, 1994; Lasagabaster, 1997, apud Jessner 2006). This evidence involves groups of bilingual immigrants, or groups that have high exposure to foreign language in a school or community where they live. The overall objective of this study is to verify whether a bilingual advantage exists among a different group of participates, additive bilinguals. They have become bilingual from exposure to a second language through a school with a bilingual curriculum. The sample comprised of 42 children, around the age of 7 and 8 years old. The group of bilingual (English / Portuguese) children are exposed to a second language at school for a total of 10 hours per week. In this study we used two experimental tests in which both required high attention control. The Language Arbitrariness Task, that comes from the original study of Eviatar & Ibrahim (2000) and Piaget (1929), and the Symbol Substitution Task, based on the work of Ben-Zeev (1977). In order to verify possible differences in terms of reading proficiency between the two groups there was a need to use a Reading Proficiency Test in the Mother Tongue Language, mainly because the tests have been applied in Portuguese. There were no differences between the groups in the analysis results of the Language Arbitrariness Task and Language Symbol Substitution Task. However, we found significant differences between groups on the Test of Reading Proficiency in Mother Tongue Language, showing a better performance of bilingual participants. The results are discussed comparing the information already reported in the literature regarding the degree of bilingualism and the time of exposure to second the language, providing evidence that being in contact with two languages simultaneously carries no disadvantages to the acquisition of bilingual reading ability in mother tongue language.

Estudos anteriores mostraram evidências de que crianças bilíngues alcançam a consciência metalinguística, maturação cerebral esperada em torno de doze anos de idade, precocemente, em comparação com crianças monolíngues. A consciência metalinguística está ligada à capacidade de refletir sobre a língua, sobre de que maneira ela é usada, sendo importante ressaltar a distinção existente entre consciência metalinguística e habilidade linguística, pois a consciência metalinguística exige uma demanda cognitiva maior (Bialystok, 2001; CARLISLE; BEEMAN; HULL; DAVIS, AND SPHARIM; 1999; Ringbom, 1987; Cenoz & Valencia, 1994; Lasagabaster, 1997, apud Jessner 2006). Contudo, cabe ressaltar que tais evidências partem de estudos envolvendo grupos de bilíngues imigrantes, ou grupos que possuem grande exposição à língua estrangeira em ambiente escolar ou na comunidade em que estão inseridos. O objetivo geral do estudo relatado nesta dissertação foi verificar a existência de uma vantagem bilíngue no caso de um grupo diferente de participantes, formado por crianças que são bilíngues aditivos, ou seja, que estão se tornando bilíngues a partir da exposição à segunda lingua, no caso, inglês, em uma escola com currículo bilíngue. A amostra foi composta por 42 crianças, de 7 e 8 anos de idade, sendo que o grupo de bilíngues (inglês/português) possui exposição à segunda língua na escola por um total de 10h semanais. Foram utilizados dois testes experimentais que exigem alto controle de atenção: Teste de Arbitrariedade da Língua, adaptado do estudo de Eviatar & Ibrahim (2000) e de Piaget (1929); e Teste de Substituição de Símbolos, baseado em Ben-Zeev (1977). Além disso, foi verificada a necessidade de se utilizar ainda um Teste de Proficiência Leitora em Língua Materna, a fim de verificar possíveis diferencas em termos de proficiência leitora em língua materna entre os dois grupos, principalmente pelo fato de os testes citados anteriormente terem sido aplicados em português. Não foi verificada diferença entre os grupos na análise dos resultados dos Testes de Arbitrariedade da Língua e Substituição de Símbolos. Foi encontrada, entretanto, diferença significativa entre os grupos no Teste de Proficiência Leitora em Língua Materna, mostrando um melhor desempenho dos participantes bilíngues. Os resultados encontrados são discutidos traçando uma comparação aos resultados já relatados na literatura, no que diz respeito ao grau de bilinguismo, tempo de exposição à segunda língua, trazendo evidências de que estar em contato a dois idiomas simultaneamente não acarreta desvantagens aos bilingues na aquisição da habilidade de leitura na língua materna. / Previous studies have shown evidence that bilingual children reach metalinguistic awareness, brain maturity, before the expected age of twelve, which is earlier in comparison to monolingual children. Metalinguistic awareness is linked to the ability to reflect on the language and how it is used. It is important to emphasize the distinction between metalinguistic awareness and linguistic skills, as the metalinguistic requires a greater cognitive demand (Bialystok, 2001; CARLISLE; Beeman, HULL, DAVIS, AND SPHARIM; 1999; Ringbom, 1987; Cenoz & Valencia, 1994; Lasagabaster, 1997, apud Jessner 2006). This evidence involves groups of bilingual immigrants, or groups that have high exposure to foreign language in a school or community where they live. The overall objective of this study is to verify whether a bilingual advantage exists among a different group of participates, additive bilinguals. They have become bilingual from exposure to a second language through a school with a bilingual curriculum. The sample comprised of 42 children, around the age of 7 and 8 years old. The group of bilingual (English / Portuguese) children are exposed to a second language at school for a total of 10 hours per week. In this study we used two experimental tests in which both required high attention control. The Language Arbitrariness Task, that comes from the original study of Eviatar & Ibrahim (2000) and Piaget (1929), and the Symbol Substitution Task, based on the work of Ben-Zeev (1977). In order to verify possible differences in terms of reading proficiency between the two groups there was a need to use a Reading Proficiency Test in the Mother Tongue Language, mainly because the tests have been applied in Portuguese. There were no differences between the groups in the analysis results of the Language Arbitrariness Task and Language Symbol Substitution Task. However, we found significant differences between groups on the Test of Reading Proficiency in Mother Tongue Language, showing a better performance of bilingual participants. The results are discussed comparing the information already reported in the literature regarding the degree of bilingualism and the time of exposure to second the language, providing evidence that being in contact with two languages simultaneously carries no disadvantages to the acquisition of bilingual reading ability in mother tongue language.