Project ScriVo
Vowel perception and written language skills in primary school children with German as a second language
The ScriVo (lat. scribere and lat. vocali) project investigates whether there is a relationship between the auditory discrimination skills of primary school children with German as a second language for long and short vowels in German and their written language skills, in particular when writing elongation graphs (to mark long vowels) and double consonants (after short vowels).
Unlike many other languages, German has an above-average number of vowels and distinguishes between long vowels (e.g. in Bahn) and short vowels (e.g. in bunt). This phonetic distinction is also reflected in German orthography, where long vowels are marked by an extended h (as in Sohn) or a double vowel spelling (as in Boot), and short vowels always appear before a double consonant spelling (as in Tasse).
Some studies suggest that second language learners who started learning before they started school are unable to differentiate vowels in their second language according to the target language, even after several years of language experience. The ScriVo project therefore investigates whether a lack of auditory discrimination skills for German vowels has an impact on the written language skills of pupils with German as a second language.
The research project focuses on monolingual and multilingual primary school children in Year 3. Data will be collected using standardised tests of spelling and auditory discrimination, pseudoword tasks and parent/teacher questionnaires.
Selected publications
Roth, A. (2017). Vowel perception in German-Turkish preschoolers: A comparison between simultaneous bilinguals and early second language learners. Master’s thesis. Goethe University Frankfurt.
Roth, A. (2023). Double consonants and elongation graphs in German: Vowel perception and writing systems in monolingual and multilingual primary school children*. Dissertation (unpublished). Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main.