Reading Accuracy in Bilingual Dyslexic Students of Brazilian Portuguese (L1) and English (L2): A Collective Case Study

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2025.e106715

Keywords:

Dyslexia, Accuracy, Bilingualism, Reading

Abstract

This collective case study investigates how dyslexia affects reading ability in the first and second language among six Brazilian students with dyslexia and a control group without dyslexia in grades 3 to 5 at a bilingual primary school. Two reading-aloud tests, one with real words and one with pseudowords, were administered in English (L2) and Brazilian Portuguese (L1). Dyslexic students made more errors than their typically developing peers across all conditions of language, word frequency, word length, error type, and syllabic position. Some error types decreased with age among dyslexics, suggesting improvement over time. Both groups encountered greater difficulty with pseudowords, especially in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). In BP, dyslexics showed more rhyme and multisyllabic errors, which further illustrates how error patterns differed between languages.

Author Biographies

Rebecca Reina, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

Doctorate student in Linguistics (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Jan Kochanowski University), Master’s degree in Linguistics by UFRJ, graduated in English and Portuguese by UFRJ, MBA in School Management by USP. Researcher on Neuroscience of Language focusing on bilingualism and dyslexia and the impacts of this relation on cognitive skills, reading and writing processes and diagnosis, using experimental paradigms of psycholinguistics and cognitive neuroscience.

Marije Soto, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

Works in the field of cognitive neuroscience and language. A constant theme in her research has been lexical processing, involving both the syntactic-semantics and morphosyntax interfaces, in monolingual and in bilinguals. She works mainly with EEG/ERP methodology, at the ACESIN laboratory (UFRJ) but also worked with fMRI (in collaboration with IDOR) during her PhD. In her current research group, she uses experimental paradigms of psycholinguistics and cognitive neuroscience to investigate lexical processing as well as to address the integration of linguistic processing with other cognitive functions, such as executive functions, visual processing, and social and emotional cognition.

Monika Łodej, Jan Kochanowski University

Conducts research in the field of applied linguistics, with a particular focus on dyslexia and bilingualism. Her work explores reading and writing processes in bilingual individuals, both dyslexic and non-dyslexic, whose first language (L1) is orthographically transparent and a second language (L2) is non-transparent. Building on these insights, she investigates how instructional and assessment approaches, particularly those grounded in the principles of Universal Design, influence the academic performance and language development of learners with dyslexia. Her research employs a mixed-methods design that integrates qualitative and quantitative data within a rigorous replication framework, ensuring the reliability and validity of the findings.

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Published

2025-10-01

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Vol. 78 No. 1 (2025):

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Language Studies

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Copyright (c) 2025 Rebecca Reina, Marije Soto, Monika Łodej

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.