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Orthographic knowledge is predicted to be central in the process of children's reading development. We examined both the temporal order between orthographic knowledge and each of word reading and word spelling--effectively, which predicts which by including autoregressive controls--and cross-linguistic transfer between English and French for our emerging bilingual participants. Seven-three children (36 males) were followed from Grades 1 to 3 in a French immersion program in which instruction was entirely in French. We conducted cross-lagged panel models of orthographic knowledge, word reading, and spelling that included controls of phonological awareness, non-verbal ability. In terms of temporal order, word reading (at grade 1) and word spelling (at grade 2) predicted gains in each of English and French orthographic knowledge. In contrast, early orthographic knowledge did not predict gains in word reading or word spelling in either language. In terms of transfer, from their earliest point of measurement, English word reading and spelling consistently predicted later French orthographic knowledge; French word reading and spelling contributed to English orthographic knowledge only from Grade 2. These findings illustrate a dynamic picture of the relations between orthographic knowledge and word reading and spelling both within and across languages, informing current models of each reading with both monolinguals and bilinguals.

Models of reading development point to a role for knowledge about the orthography quite late in children's reading development; here we explore the contributions of early orthographic knowledge -- of the features of print -- to word reading development between kindergarten and Grade 1. We did so in a longitudinal study of 93 emergent bilingual children whose formal instruction was in French, a different language than they spoke at home, followed from senior kindergarten to Grade 1. Linear regression analyses showed that early print knowledge in both English and French significantly predicted French word reading in Grade 1; no such relations emerged to English word reading. Analyses included control measures of parental education and English vocabulary, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and autoregressive controls of earlier word reading. These results suggest that print knowledge can be used to predict progress in second language word reading in emergent bilingual children.

This study investigates the within- and cross-language relations between orthographic processing and spelling for children learning to read in languages that share the same Roman script: namely, English and French. We examined these relations in a group of 152 children attending grade 1 in a French immersion program. Measures of English and French lexical orthographic processing (e.g., "dream-dreem"; "jaune-jeaune") as well as English and French spelling were administered. Control measures included nonverbal ability, English phonological awareness, as well as rapid automatised naming, vocabulary, and word reading in English and French. We found a within-language relation between orthographic processing and spelling in each of English and French. Cross-language transfer from French orthographic processing to English spelling was also observed; there were no relations in the other direction. Our results suggest that orthographic processing is important for spelling development among bilingual children learning English and French.

This longitudinal study investigated the predictors of word reading in English and French for 69 children in early total French immersion from first through third grade. The influence of phonological awareness, orthographic processing, and vocabulary in English and French on the achievement and growth of word reading in the 2 languages were evaluated with growth curve analyses. Findings revealed that predictors in Grade 1 were similar for English and French word reading in Grade 3. Specifically, English phonological awareness and orthographic processing predicted English word reading achievement; English orthographic processing also predicted growth in English word reading. French phonological awareness and orthographic processing in Grade 1 predicted French word reading achievement in Grade 3. Furthermore, at-risk readers identified in Grade 1 (n = 6) generally fell behind their typically developing peers across all measures, although evidence of improvement emerged over time.