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Cited by 24Reading and Literacy DevelopmentEFL/ESL Teaching and LearningSecond Language Acquisition and Learning

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

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Abu-Rabia, Salim, Bluestein-Danon, Dana·2012·Open Journal of Modern Linguistics
DOI 10.4236/ojml.2012.24017
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Abstract

The present study examined whether an improvement in English as a second language causes an improvement among poor readers in Hebrew as the first language. This assumption is named in the present study “The Cognitive-Retroactive Transfer (CRT) hypothesis of linguistic skills”. The participants were 20 sixth-grade poor readers from Israeli elementary schools, with Hebrew as their first language, and who learn English as their second language. All the students in the program participated in small group instruction sessions that emphasized linguistic and meta-linguistic skills in the second language (English). The program, which was administered over a 5-month period, involved approximately 40 hours of contact with a trained instructor. The participants were administered various tests which measured their basic linguistic skills in English as well as in Hebrew. The tests were as follows: phonological awareness, phonological processing, word identification, reading fluency, reading comprehension, morphological awareness, syntactic awareness, orthographic knowledge and spelling. The tests in both languages were given to the participants before and after the intervention program. The test results indicated significant differences both in English and in Hebrew before and after the intervention program for all linguistic skills (except orthographic knowledge). The findings provide scientific support for the Cognitive-Retroactive Transfer (CRT) hypothesis, which means that an improvement in linguistic and meta-linguistic skills in a second language will be expected to give rise to a similar improvement in the first language as well. The results are discussed in light of the findings in the literature as well as suggestions for future research.

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Abu-Rabia, S., & Bluestein-Danon, D.
Affiliations
University of Haifa (IL)
Venue
Open Journal of Modern Linguistics
Publisher
Scientific Research Publishing, Inc.
Published
2012
Volume
02
Issue
04
Pages
131-139
ISSN
  • 2164-2818 (ISSN-L)
  • 2164-2834
DOI
10.4236/ojml.2012.24017
OpenAlex
W1987670788
Cited by
24
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
FWCI
2.58
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
Open Journal of Modern Linguistics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
Keywords
second language literacy, English as a second language, struggling readers, reading intervention, phonological awareness, morphological awareness, syntactic awareness, reading fluency, reading comprehension, spelling, orthographic knowledge, language transfer

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