The development of the decoding process in spanish and english in emerging bilingual children: a case study

Abstract

This study explores the development of the decoding process in Spanish and English in emerging bilingual children in a Spanish-speaking country. This investigation uses an exploratory sequential mixed methods design through a case study with three 7-year-old students in a private school in Barranquilla, Colombia. The objective is to identify patterns, linguistic interferences, and correlations between decoding and comprehension to create a set of strategies to support students reading below level. Our results indicate a high correlation (0,98) between the improvement of the decoding in L1 and L2, and that a good comprehension is possible despite poor decoding.