How speaking Chinese and English shapes reading in children with dyslexia
Bilingual and cross-cultural investigation of developmental dyslexia
This project looks at whether being bilingual in Chinese and English changes how children with dyslexia learn to read and connect sounds and meanings to written words.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Michigan at Ann Arbor NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Ann Arbor, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11283994 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
From a parent’s view, the team will compare Chinese-English bilingual children with dyslexia to their monolingual peers to see how reading skills develop. Children will complete language and literacy tasks that measure sound-to-print and meaning-to-print connections, and researchers will record brain activity linked to those skills. The work builds on findings that Chinese reading emphasizes meaning links, which may give bilingual children different strengths in English. Results aim to explain how bilingual experience changes dyslexia and point toward better supports for bilingual learners.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Children who speak both Chinese and English and have diagnosed dyslexia or ongoing reading difficulties, typically elementary-school aged (around 8 years), are ideal candidates.
Not a fit: This project may not directly benefit adults, non–Chinese bilinguals, or children without reading disorders.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to reading supports that use bilingual children’s meaning-based strengths to improve English literacy outcomes.
How similar studies have performed: Previous studies found neurotypical Chinese-English bilinguals show stronger meaning-to-print connections in reading, but applying this idea to children with dyslexia is a newer direction.
Where this research is happening
Ann Arbor, United States
- University of Michigan at Ann Arbor — Ann Arbor, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kovelman, Ioulia — University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
- Study coordinator: Kovelman, Ioulia
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.