Word Reading Accuracy and Fluency: Their Relations and Their Cross-Linguistic Transfer in Arabic-English Sequential Bilingual Children

This study explores the relation between word reading accuracy and fluency in a first language (L1) versus in a second language (L2), and it also investigates the bidirectional cross-linguistic transfer of word reading accuracy and fluency. The participants were 130 Grade 3 native Arabic-speaking children learning English as an L2 in the United Arab Emirates, and they were assessed for their bilingual word reading abilities, vocabulary, and intelligence. The results of piecewise regression indicate that Arabic word reading fluency score increased more quickly among higher-accuracy readers, whereas the association between Arabic reading accuracy and fluency was much stronger in lower-accuracy readers. In addition, Arabic vocabulary predicted word reading fluency above word reading accuracy only among higher-accuracy readers. English word reading accuracy and fluency were very strongly associated, and most of the variance (79.1%) in fluency could be explained by accuracy. The path analyses demonstrate bidirectional cross-linguistic transfer of word reading accuracy and fluency. Arabic word reading accuracy also independently contributed to English word reading fluency, whereas English word reading accuracy did not uniquely predict Arabic word reading fluency. Word reading fluency did not uniquely contribute to word reading accuracy across the languages. The theoretical and practical implications were discussed.