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Spanish-speaking students' use of cognate knowledge to infer the meaning of English words*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2011

CHERYL DRESSLER ,
MARIA S. CARLO ,
CATHERINE E. SNOW ,
DIANE AUGUST  and
CLAIRE E. WHITE
CHERYL DRESSLER*
Affiliation:
Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, DC
MARIA S. CARLO
Affiliation:
University of Miami
CATHERINE E. SNOW
Affiliation:
Harvard Graduate School of Education
DIANE AUGUST
Affiliation:
Center for Applied Linguistics
CLAIRE E. WHITE
Affiliation:
Harvard Graduate School of Education
*
Address for correspondence: Cheryl Dressler, 75 Westminster Ave., Arlington, MA 02474, USAcheryl.dressler@comcast.net
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Abstract

This research examines the processes which native Spanish-speaking learners of English and English-only students engage in when inferring meaning for unknown English words that have Spanish cognates. Conducted within the context of a large-scale vocabulary intervention that taught word inferencing strategies, including a cognate strategy, this qualitative study describes cognate strategy use among a small sample of participants. The data suggest that explicit instruction, students' metalinguistic and metacognitive skills, and the structural characteristics of cognate pairs are associated with cognate recognition.

Keywords

cognate wordscognate strategyvocabularymetalinguistic skillsSpanish–English bilingualism
Type
Research Notes
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , April 2011 , pp. 243 - 255
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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Footnotes

*

This research was funded by a grant from the Institute for Education Sciences (Award #R306F60077-97). The authors are very grateful to the teachers and students who participated in this study for their effort and time. We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments and suggestions.

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