The role of phoneme and onset‐rime awareness in second language reading acquisition

This study investigated the link between phoneme and onset‐rime awareness and reading outcomes in children learning to read in a second language (L2). Closely matched phoneme and onset‐rime awareness tasks were administered in English and French in the spring of kindergarten to English‐dominant children in French immersion programmes (n=98). Regression analyses indicated that English phoneme manipulation was a significant predictor of both English and French reading outcomes after controlling for kindergarten knowledge of letter names and word identification. French onset‐rime knowledge measured in kindergarten accounted for significant variance for French reading outcome measures. Results support the existence of a link between English phoneme manipulation in kindergarten and both English and French reading outcomes in Grade 2. Practically, these results provide information about what phonological awareness measures can be used in kindergarten to predict later reading outcomes for children learning to read in an L2.