Bhavna Chatterjee
Independent Researcher
West Bengal, India
Abstract
This study investigates the cognitive repercussions of early exposure to dual-script books—storybooks simultaneously printed in Latin and Devanagari scripts—on foundational literacy and executive functions among young learners aged 5 to 7 years. Employing a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest control design, 200 participants from four urban Mumbai schools were divided evenly into an experimental group, which engaged with dual-script texts, and a control group, which read equivalent single-script (Latin-only) materials. Over a twelve-week intervention, both cohorts received thrice-weekly, 30-minute guided reading sessions. Outcome measures included reading fluency (words per minute and error rate), working memory capacity (digit span forward and backward), and metalinguistic awareness (phoneme deletion and blending tasks). Additionally, a structured motivation survey and follow-up interviews probed learners’ subjective experiences, engagement levels, and perceived difficulty. Quantitative analyses—paired t-tests and ANCOVAs controlling for baseline performance—revealed that dual-script readers demonstrated significantly larger gains in working memory span (p = .012) and metalinguistic awareness (p = .005), with moderate but non-significant improvements in reading fluency (p = .095). Survey results indicated higher enjoyment and engagement ratings (mean = 4.2/5) for dual-script materials compared to single-script counterparts (mean = 3.6/5), without a corresponding increase in perceived difficulty. Thematic analysis of interview data uncovered three core themes—“script comparison,” “cognitive challenge,” and “increased motivation”—underscoring the role of dual-script reading in fostering active cross-script comparisons and sustained interest. These findings underscore dual-script books’ pedagogical potential to accelerate biliteracy development, enhance phonological processing, and strengthen working memory in early readers. Implications for curriculum design include integrating dual-script resources into literacy programs, providing teacher training for effective implementation, and conducting longitudinal follow-ups to assess sustained cognitive and academic outcomes.
Keywords
Dual-Script Reading, Early Literacy, Working Memory, Metalinguistic Awareness, Biliteracy
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