Reading Skills in Greek as a First Language and in French as a Foreign Language among Primary and Secondary School Children with Specific Reading Disorder

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to investigate reading skills among primary and secondary school students with good reading skills with those of students with specific reading disorder, in Greek as a first language (L1) and in French as a foreign language (L2). Furthermore, a basic objective of the study is to investigate whether reading skills in Greek could predict reading skills in French both for students with good reading skills and for students with specific reading disorder. The sample of the study consists of one hundred and eight (N=108) students with good reading skills and one hundred and eight (N=108) students with specific reading disorder who are assessed for decoding and fluency in reading, both in Greek and French languages. The results of the study revealed that students with specific reading disorder had lower performance than those with good reading skills, with a statistically significant difference, in all tasks of the French language. Furthermore, it was found that the deficits appeared in a specific task in one language were transferred analogically to the same task in the other language. Finally, there was a statistically significant relation between the tasks in both groups and in both languages.