A: Types of L1 literacy and effects on L2 literacy learning
L1 Literacy
| Explanation
| Special considerations
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| L1 has no written form (eg. many American indigenous, African, Australian and Pacific languages).
| Learners need exposure to the purposes and uses of literacy.
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| Learners had no access to literacy instruction.
| Learners may feel stigmatised.
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| Learners had limited access to literacy instruction.
| Learners may have had negative experiences with literacy learning.
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| Learners are fully literate in a language written in a non-alphabetic script such as Chinese.
| Learners need instruction in reading an alphabetic script and in the sound-syllable correspondences of English.
|
Non-Roman alphabet literate
| Learners are literate in a language written in a non-Roman alphabet (eg. Arabic, Greek, Korean, Russian, Thai).
| Learners need instruction in the Roman alphabet in order to transfer their L1 literacy skills to English. Some (eg. readers of Arabic) will need to learn to read from left to right.
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| Learners are fully literate in a language written in a Roman alphabetic script (eg. French, German, Croatian, Spanish). They know to read from left to right and recognise letter shapes and fonts.
| Learners need instruction in the specific letter-to-sound and sound-syllable correspondences of English.
|
L1 mother tongue or first language
L2 second or other language
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