Relatore Chiar mo Prof. Graziano Serragiotto Correlatore

Graph 65: Q6- the results as percentage 
20
Abu-Rabia and Sanitsky (2010) found that children raised in bilingual households tend to be especially sensitive to 
learning a foreign language for a longer time than children raised in monolingual households. 
5,7%
68,7%
25,6%
Q6: Do you find it difficult to pronounce words 
when you speak English?
Yes, I find it difficult to
pronounce many words
Yes, I find it difficult to
pronounce some words
No, I find it easy to
pronounce all the words

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98 
Graph 66: Q6- the results as percentage according to the year level of the pupils 
Graph 67: Q6- the results as percentage according to the languages spoken by the pupils in the 
household 
The complex relationship between spelling and pronunciation in English is perceived as 
difficult to cope with while reading aloud by more than half of the pupils (about 56%) (Graph 68); so 
these results confirm what has been stated by the teachers. However, most of these pupils do not find 
it always very difficult. In fact, most of the teachers (about 77%) stated that this difficulty mainly 
concerns new words. In light of these results, it could be assumed that most of the pupils are aware 
of this difficulty related to learning English. Furthermore, when comparing the results according to 
the year level of the pupils, it was noticed that it seems like the lower the year level of the pupils, the 
slightly higher the tendency to find it very difficult to cope with this aspect of the English language 
while reading aloud (Graph 69). In fact, the teachers who claimed to notice this difficulty very often, 
4,8%
56,5%
38,7%
6,9%
80,6%
12,5%
5,4%
67,7%
26,9%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Yes, I find it difficult to
pronounce many words
Yes, I find it difficult to
pronounce some words
No, I find it easy to
pronounce all the words
Q6: Do you find it difficult to pronounce words 
when you speak English?
3rd year level
4th year level
5th year level
5,5%
61,6%
32,9%
5,8%
72,1%
22,1%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Yes, I find it difficult to
pronounce many words
Yes, I find it difficult to
pronounce some words
No, I find it easy to pronounce
all the words
Q6: Do you find it difficult to pronounce words when 
you speak English?
Pupils who speak a foreign language in the household
Pupils who speak only Italian in the household

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99 
even with words that pupils already know, teach at 3
rd
and 4
th
year level. In addition, it is also 
interesting to notice that the children who speak at least one language other than Italian in their 
household also showed a slightly lower tendency to claim that they find it very difficult to cope with 
this aspect of the English language while reading aloud (Graph 70). 
Graph 68: Q14- the results as percentage 
Graph 69: Q14- the results as percentage according to the year level of the pupils 
10,6%
44,9%
40,1%
4,4%
Q14: Do you find the complex relationship 
between spelling and pronunciation in English 
difficult to cope with when you read aloud? 
Yes, find it very difficult
Yes, I find it somewhat
difficult
No, I find it easy
I don't know
17,7%
46,8%
29,0%
6,5%
11,1%
40,3%
44,4%
4,2%
5,4%
47,3%
44,1%
3,2%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Yes, find it very difficult
Yes, I find it somewhat difficult
No, I find it easy
I don't know
Q14: Do you find the complex relationship between spelling and 
pronunciation in English difficult to cope with when you read aloud? 
3rd year level
4th year level
5th year level

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100 
Graph 70: Q14- the results as percentage according to the languages spoken by the pupils in the 
household