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Multiliteracy in Akshara and Alphabetic Orthographies: The Case of Punjabi, Hindi and English Learners in Primary Schools in Punjab

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Handbook of Literacy in Akshara Orthography

Part of the book series: Literacy Studies ((LITS,volume 17))

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Abstract

This chapter reports research on Grade 2–5 children learning to be literate in Punjabi, Hindi and English. Children (80–100 per grade) were assessed on reading comprehension, listening comprehension, non-word reading ability, phonological processing, orthographic knowledge and speed of processing in all three languages. The focus was on predictors of reading in the two akshara orthographies (Punjabi and Hindi) and the one alphabetic orthography (English). For both Punjabi and Hindi, reading comprehension was predicted by listening comprehension and decoding ability. Orthographic knowledge also predicted reading comprehension after controlling for word recognition. In English, along with listening comprehension and decoding, rapid naming and orthographic knowledge were also independent predictor of reading comprehension. Findings will be considered in terms of the development of reading across different orthographies (akshara versus alphabetic) within children learning to be literate in multiple languages.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Teacher Education, College of Education, Health and Human Development, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Seema Gautam, John Everatt & Brigid McNeill

  2. Department of English Language Teaching, Islamic Azad University, Damavand, Iran

    Amir Sadeghi

Authors
  1. Seema Gautam
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  2. John Everatt
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  3. Amir Sadeghi
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  4. Brigid McNeill
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Seema Gautam .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture, College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    R. Malatesha Joshi

  2. Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Catherine McBride

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Gautam, S., Everatt, J., Sadeghi, A., McNeill, B. (2019). Multiliteracy in Akshara and Alphabetic Orthographies: The Case of Punjabi, Hindi and English Learners in Primary Schools in Punjab. In: Joshi, R.M., McBride, C. (eds) Handbook of Literacy in Akshara Orthography. Literacy Studies, vol 17. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05977-4_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05977-4_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-05976-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-05977-4

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

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