Cross-linguistic transference of reading skills: Assessing reading difficulties in early French immersion students.

The purpose of this thesis was to examine both French and English reading errors made by early French immersion students to determine if there was a transfer of literacy skills between the two languages. French immersion students (n = 12) in Grade 2 and Grade 3 were assessed for word reading, word decoding, and paragraph comprehension using standardized English measures and an experimental French assessment tool, the Karen Andrews Reading Assessment Tool (KARAT). The participants, whose first language was English, had not yet received formal English reading instruction. Detailed error analyses revealed that students make the same types of errors when reading in French as when reading in English. Additionally, students who have reading difficulties in one language, experience similar difficulties in the other language. --P. ii.