Testing the Cognitive Retroactive Transfer Hypothesis: Evidence from Moroccan University Readers

Noureddine Atouf, Meriem Harrizi

Abstract


The extant study extrapolates the principles of the Cognitive Retroactive Transfer hypothesis, a theory of reading transfer between languages recently introduced to the literature, in an academic context. Forty-five freshmen are recruited from the English Department at the School of Arts and Humanities Ben M’sik (Hassan II University of Casablanca). The study employs a quasi-experimental design which involves two main phases: pre-intervention and post-intervention. The participants are selectively allocated to an experimental group (n=25) and a control group (n=20). The experiment measures the transferability of improved metalinguistic awareness from English (the foreign language “FL”) to Arabic (the first language “L1”). To this end, a battery of reading tests is administered in both languages before and after the intervention. Upon completing the pretest phase, the experimental group receives a three-month training, targeting core metalinguistic skills. To compare pretest and posttest scores, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) is conducted to check the groups’ overall differences across the set of reading skills before using Simple Group Contrasts (k-matrix) as a follow-up test to analyze the groups’ performance on each reading skill. The results show a positive effect of the intervention on the experimental group’s performance over all the skills except orthographic knowledge posttest scores which level off. The findings give more prominence to the CRT hypothesis which has been solely tested in children bilingual settings. The unchanged orthographic knowledge scores suggest the essential role of explicit print exposure and practice in developing spelling skills in another language. The ongoing research paper calls for adopting fine-grain and level-fitting pedagogical approaches to address reading difficulties at university levels.

Keywords


Cognitive Retroactive Transfer, metalinguistic awareness, Intervention, orthographic knowledge, print exposure.

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abu-Rabia, S., Bluestein-Danon, D. (2012). A study into the results of an intervention program of linguistic skills in English (L2) and its effect on Hebrew (L1) among poor readers: An examination of the Cognitive-Retroactive Transfer (CRT) hypothesis. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 02(04), 131–139. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojml.2012.24017.

Abu-Rabia, S., & Sanitsky, E. (2010). Advantages of bilinguals over monolinguals in learning a third language. Journal of Bilingual Research, 33, 173-199.

Abu Rabia, S., & Shakour, W. (2014). Cognitive retroactive transfer of language skills among trilingual Arabic-Hebrew and English learners. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 4, 1-20.

Abu-Rabia, S., Shakkour, W., & Siegel, L. (2013). Cognitive retroactive transfer (CRT) of language skills among bilingual Arabic-English readers. Bilingual Research Journal, 36, 61–81. https://doi.org/10. 1080/15235882.2013.775975.

Abu-Rabia, S., & Wattad, H. (2022). Transfer of Language Skills (TLS): A Critical literature review. Creative Education, 13, 98-111. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2022.131007.

Andreou, G., & Segklia, M. (2019). Cross-linguistic skills transfer from the second/foreign language to the first among students with learning disabilities after an intervention program in the second language. Creative Education, 10, 1023-1036. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2019.105077.

Arab-Moghaddam, M., & Sénéchal, M. (2001). Orthographic and phonological processing skills in reading and spelling in Persian/English bilinguals. International Journal of Behavioral Development, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01650250042000320.

Atouf, N. & Harrizi, M. (2023). Examining a reversed cross-language transfer of core metalinguistic awareness skills among Moroccan university students with reading difficulties: A longitudinal quasi-experimental study. International Journal of Language and Education Research, 5(2), 78-97.

Bindman, M. (2004). Grammatical awareness across languages and the role of social context: Evidence from English and Hebrew. In T. Nunes, & P. Bryant (Eds.), Handbook of children’s literacy (pp. 691-709). Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Burt, J. S., & Heffernan, M. E. (2012). Reading and spelling in adults: Are there lexical and sub-lexical subtypes? Journal of Research in Reading, 35(2), 183–203.

Chiang, P., & Rvachew, S. (2007). English-French bilingual children’s phonological awareness and vocabulary skills. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10, 293 308.

Cohen, L. Manion L., & Morrison, K. (2018). Research methods in education (8th ed.). Routledge.

Cummins, J. (1991) Interdependence of first- language second-language proficiency in bilingual children. In E. Bialystok (ed.), Language processing in bilingual children. Cambridge University Press.

D’Angiulli, A., Siegel, L. S., & Serra, E. (2001). The Development of reading in English and Italian in bilingual children. Applied Psycholinguistics, 22, 479-507.

Deacon, S. H., Wade-Woolley, L., & Kirby, J. R. (2009). Flexibility in young second-language learners: Examining the language specificity of orthographic processing. Journal of Research in Reading, 32, 215-229. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2009.01392.x.

Deacon, S., Tucker, R., Bergey, B., Laroche, A., & Parrila, R. (2017). Personalized outreach to university students with a history of reading difficulties: Early screening and outreach to support academically at-risk students. Journal of College Student Development, 58, 432- 450.

Feder L. & Abu-Rabia S. (2022). Cognitive retroactive transfer of language skills from English as a foreign language to Hebrew as the first language. Journal of Learning Disabilities 213–228. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222194211003820.

Florida Department of Education. (2003). The source: a curriculum guide for reading mentors. Florida Department of Education. Retrieved August 31 2023 from http://edocs.dlis.state.fl.us/fldocs/doe/pubs/ReadingMentors.pdf.

Gonca, A. (2016). Do L2 writing courses affect the improvement of L1 writing skills via skills transfer from L2 to L1? Educational Research and Reviews 987–997.

International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). (2021). Progress in international reading literacy study (PIRLS) 2021. Retrieved from https://pirls2021.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/files/PIRLS-2021-International Results-in-Reading.pdf.

Jarvis, S., & Odlin, T. (2000). Morphological type, spatial reference, and language transfer. Studies in Second Language http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100004034

Khtou,H. (2020). Challenges to the mission of the English department in Morocco. In Belhiah, H., Zeddari, I., Amrous, N., Bahmad, J., & Bejjit, N. (Eds.), English language teaching in Moroccan higher education (pp. 213-221). Springer.

Koda, K. (2005). Insights into second language reading. A cross-linguistic approach. Cambridge: CUP.

Koda, K. (2007). Reading and language learning: Crosslinguistic constraints on second language reading development. Language Learning, 57, 1-44.

Koda, K. (2009). Learning to read in new writing systems. In M. H. Long & C. J. Doughty (Eds.), The handbook of language teaching (pp. 463-485). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Mann, V. A., & Wimmer, H. (2002). Phoneme awareness and pathways into literacy: A comparison of German and American children. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 15, 653-682. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1020984704781.

Nagy, W. E., & Anderson, R. C. (1999) Metalinguistic awareness and literacy acquisition in different languages. In D. Wagner, R. Venezy, & B. Street (eds.), Literacy: an international handbook (pp. 155–60). Westview Press.

Parrila, R., Georgiou, G., & Corkett, J. (2007). University students with a significant history of reading difficulties: What is and is not compensated? Exceptionality Education Canada, 17(2), 195-220.

Ramirez, G., Chen, X., Geva, E., & Kiefer, H. (2010). Morphological awareness in Spanish speaking English language learners: Within and cross-language effects on word reading. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 23, 337-358. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11145-009-9203-9

Saiegh-Haddad, E., & Geva, E. (2008). Morphological awareness, phonological awareness, and reading in English-Arabic bilingual children. Reading and Writing, 21(5), 481 504. https://doi.org/10. 1007/s11145-007-9074-x

Shemesh, R., & Waller S. (2000). Teaching English spelling: A practical guide. Cambridge University Press.

The National Charter for Education and Training. (2000). Morocco.

Tighe, E. L., Little, C. W., Arrastia-Chisholm, M. C., Schatschneider, C., Diehm, E., Quinn, J. M., & Edwards, A. A. (2019). Assessing the direct and indirect effects of metalinguistic awareness to the reading comprehension skills of struggling adult readers. Reading and Writing, 32(3), 787-818.

Wang, M., Ko, I. Y., & Choi, J. (2009). The importance of morphological awareness in Korean-English biliteracy acquisition. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 34, 132-142. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2008.12.002.

Warmington, M., Stothard, S. E., & Snowling, M. J. (2012). Assessing dyslexia in higher education: The york adult assessment battery-revised. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs 48-56. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-3802.2012.01264.x.

Wawire, B. A., & Kim, Y.-S. G. (2018). Cross-Language transfer of phonological awareness and letter knowledge: Causal evidence and nature of transfer. Scientific Studies of Reading, 22(6), 443–461.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21462/jeltl.v9i1.1268

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.






JELTL (Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics); Web: www.jeltl.org; Email: journal.eltl@gmail.com


Creative Commons License
JELTL by http://www.jeltl.org is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License


Indexed and Abstracted BY: