COMPARING CORRELATES OF READING COMPREHENSION BETWEEN TRANSPARENT AND OPAQUE ORTHOGRAPHIES: A CASE OF CHINYANJA-ENGLISH BILINGUALS IN ZAMBIA
Keywords:
Decoding, English, Chinyanja, Orthographic Depth, Reading Comprehension
Abstract
Orthographic transparency has a significant impact on reading and its development. Transparent orthographies are more beneficial for the reading process compared to opaque ones. This hypothesis was explored to examine the factors contributing to reading comprehension among bilingual children in Zambia. Two groups of fourth to sixth graders were administered equivalent measures of letter discrimination, phonological awareness, word reading, pseudo-word decoding, and reading comprehension skills in both Chinyanja and English languages. The results indicated that overall, reading proficiency is influenced by the writing system. Children tested in the transparent Chinyanja orthography performed better on all sub-tests compared to their counterparts tested in English, except for phonological awareness. The predictive power of the four variables on comprehension was specific to each orthography, with high correlations within each orthography. Word reading significantly predicted English reading comprehension, while pseudo-word decoding better predicted Chinyanja comprehension. The data from the English language aligned better with the conceptualised model of reading comprehension. This finding supports Share’s (2008) argument that reading models centred on the English language cannot be universally applied across orthographies with varying levels of transparency, as the English writing system is considered an exception.
Published
2024-09-06
How to Cite
Kaani, B., & Joshi, M. (2024). COMPARING CORRELATES OF READING COMPREHENSION BETWEEN TRANSPARENT AND OPAQUE ORTHOGRAPHIES: A CASE OF CHINYANJA-ENGLISH BILINGUALS IN ZAMBIA. ZANGO: Zambian Journal of Contemporary Issues, 38(1), 83-106. Retrieved from https://journals.unza.zm/index.php/ZJOCI/article/view/1268
Section
Articles