Bilingualism and early literacy in Dutch Caribbean kindergartners

Abstract Research in (early) literacy development involving creoles in post-colonial contexts is scarce. Therefore, Papiamento (L1) and Dutch (L2) early literacy of 296 kindergartners in post-colonial Dutch Caribbean was assessed to determine the extent to which their L1 and L2 phonological awareness and letter knowledge correlate with each other and are related to L1 and L2 precursors (speech decoding, receptive vocabulary, rapid naming, verbal short-term memory). Higher phonological awareness and precursor scores were found for Papiamento. In Papiamento, speech decoding, vocabulary and rapid naming predicted phonological awareness; while phonological awareness along with vocabulary, rapid naming and verbal short-term memory predicted letter knowledge. In Dutch, speech decoding and vocabulary predicted phonological awareness. There was evidence of transfer from Papiamento- as the stronger language- to Dutch for both phonological awareness and letter knowledge. Results reveal an important role for the Papiamento Creole in both L1 and L2 literacy acquisition in a post-colonial language setting.