Abstract
There are many ethnic minority children in mainstream primary schools for whom English is their second language. For these children there is concern that they are under-represented among children identified as having dyslexia. Whilst early screening tests are now available for identifying monolingual children at risk of dyslexia, it is more complicated to identify such difficulties in a bilingual child. Literacy difficulties in emergent bilingual children are often attributed to linguistic confusions, and fears of appearing discriminatory may contribute to an unwillingness to label ethnic minority children as dyslexic. If all children are to have equal access to education, this issue must be addressed. This paper reports on the first stage of a longitudinal study which examines literacy development in 50 bilingual pre school children and 50 of their monolingual peers. Measures of reading accuracy and comprehension plus detailed cognitive-linguistic profiles were compiled for each child. Data suggest that phonological awareness in the two populations is similar and that for both populations, these skills correlate with reading accuracy. However, aspects of comprehension and grammar appear to distinguish between the two groups. Implications for the identification of reading difficulties in ethnic minority children are discussed.
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