Literacy in Monolinguals and Bilinguals: Acquisition and Preliteracy Intervention in Italian

The influence of language, metaphonology, RAN, and short-term memory on literacy is widely acknowledged. The existence of a bilingual advantage in these skills is highly debated. Nevertheless, longitudinal studies about the effects of these skills on reading and writing are sparse, notably in shallow-orthography languages and bilingual populations.

The book addresses this gap by longitudinally describing the typical and atypical development of preliteracy and literacy in Italian monolinguals and bilinguals. Childrens preliteracy skills and their effects on literacy are monitored from the last year of kindergarten to the 3rd grade. Metaphonological, RAN, and graphic interventions are administered.

A four-stage developmental pattern emerges for literacy. Interventions on preliteracy should be multicomponent, timely planned, and reinforced during early literacy. There is no evidence of the putative bilingual advantage, whose possible presence might depend on specific language conditions.

The book provides linguists, psychologists, speech therapists, and test developers with valuable information about the role of different component skills of literacy and suggests effective interventions on preliteracy in a shallow-orthography language.