Acquiring Orthographic Processing through Word Reading: Evidence from Children Learning to Read French and English

This study examined the within-language and cross-language relationships between orthographic processing and word reading in French and English across Grades 1 and 2. Seventy-three children in French Immersion completed measures of orthographic processing and word reading in French and English in Grade 1 and Grade 2, as well as a series of control measures. Regressions controlled for non-verbal reasoning, phonological awareness, rapid naming, and the appropriate autoregressor of orthographic processing or word reading. Orthographic processing in Grade 1 did not predict word reading in Grade 2, in either language. Instead, within both languages, word reading in Grade 1 predicted orthographic processing in Grade 2. Cross-linguistically, French word reading was a unique predictor of growth in English orthographic processing. Theoretical and practical implications of the relationships between orthographic processing and word reading in bilinguals are discussed.