BILINGUALISM'S

POSITIVE IMPACT ON
DYSLEXIC CHILDREN'S
LANGUAGE SKILLS
By Samantha Silva
A NOTE TO DYSLEXIC
READERS:
Hello! I’m Samantha, the creator of this WP2.
I, too, have dyslexia and recognize that it can pose major
challenges especially when trying to read long complex
articles! In this project, did my best to break down this study
into small parts to make it as easy to read as possible.
I hope that after reading this study, you better understand
your dyslexia and maybe even find ways to use it to your
advantage! Dyslexia may be a disability, but I also believe it
can be a superpower :)
MAIN QUESTION
How does bilingualism affect
morphological skills* in dyslexic
and non-dyslexic children?

*Morphological skills are essentially the ability to understand

word and language structure.
WHO WAS TESTED?
24 MONOLINGUAL DYSLEXICS
*both monolingual groups spoke italian as their
first language

30 MONOLINGUAL NON-DYSLEXICS

22 BILINGUAL DYSLEXICS
*both bilinguals groups spoke Italian as their
second language with varying first languages

30 BILINGUAL NON-DYSLEXICS
ADDITIONAL NOTES
ON THE SUBJECTS

Children with dyslexia were recruited from clinical speech

centers or public schools in the area of Trento and Verona;
they were diagnosed with dyslexia on standard criteria.

Control children were recruited in the same public schools

as the dyslexics.

Neither had any diagnosed or reported oral language

problems or hearing disorders.

All bilingual dyslexics had been diagnosed during or after

their third year of school attendance in Italy.
 PRELIMINARY TASKS
Before the study could be conducted, various tasks were given to the children to ensure a similar level of basic brain
function and knowledge, and to collect information on the subjects tested.
The following functions were tested in both dyslexic and non dyslexic students:

using “Prova di lettura di parole e di using the “Working Memory Test

nonparole”/ “word and non-word Battery for Children” by Pickering
reading test” and Gathercole

READING WORKING
ABILITIES * MEMORY OCT
BILINGUAL
NONVERBAL LANGUAGE
RECEPTIVE
INTELLIGENCE EXPOSURE
VOCABULARY QUESTIONNAIRE

using “Raven’s Colored Progressive using “Test di Vocabolario Recettivo”, a set of questions filled in by parents,
Matrices test” the Italian version of the “Peabody provides a detailed description of
Picture Vocabulary Test” children’s exposure to Italian

Note: the required score for dyslexic subjects was two points lower than the required score for non dyslexic subjects to help accommodate for their disability
 HOW THE STUDY
WAS CONDUCTED
a pluralization test (called the "wug test") was given to the children, testing
two things:
1) their ability to pluralize familiar words (example: "cat" to "cats") and
2) their ability to familiarize non-words (for example "wug” to "wugs").
 THE RESULTS FROM
THE FOUR GROUPS
WERE COMPARED:
ALL GROUPS PERFORMED WELL pluralizing real words
PLURALIZING REAL WORDS.
= = =
DYSLEXICS (BOTH BILINGUAL AND
MONOLINGUAL) PERFORMED WORSE THAN NON-
=
DYSLEXIC GROUPS WHEN PLURALIZING pluralizing non words
NONWORDS.

>
BILINGUAL STUDENTS (BOTH DYSLEXICS AND
NON DYSLEXICS) PLURALIZED NONWORDS
BETTER THAN MONOLINGUAL STUDENTS
<
 REMEMBER THOSE “PRELIMINARY
TESTS” YOU HEARD ABOUT EARLIER
THAT TESTED THINGS LIKE READING
ABILITIES, VOCABULARY, AND
MEMORY?
Well, their results, combined with the results of the “wug”
pluralization tests helped researchers discover this:
 Student’s ability to correctly
pluralize nouns was found to
be correlated with their
speed and accuracy in
reading words and nonwords.
In other words, subjects with
strong skills in reading words
and nonwords quickly and
accurately were also skilled
in their ability to pluralize
nouns.
Together, these abilities
indicate subjects’ overall
morphological skills*
(*remember!
Morphological skills are
essentially the ability to
understand word and
language structure)
MAIN FINDINGS REGARDING MORPHOLOGICAL SKILLS

In monolingual children: non-

dyslexics have stronger
morphological skills than dyslexics
: >

In bilingual children: dyslexics have stronger

morphological skills than non-dyslexics : >

Bilingual dyslexics have stronger

morphological skills than monolingual non-
dyslexics.
>
 CONCLUSION
Bilingualism significantly increases morphological skills in
dyslexic children. In other words, dyslexic children can improve
their understanding of language if they know multiple languages!

+ =
 THE END
The information presented in this slideshow is based on the
article “Inflectional morphology: evidence for an advantage of
bilingualism in dyslexia” published in 2018 by the International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.