In 2009, Dr. Esther Geva was Professor and Chair of the Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. "Her research, publications and teaching focused on developmental issues and best practices concerning language and literacy skills in children who are learning in various second language (L2) contexts, including… English-Hebrew…children…"(2009 GISHA Conference Program Booklet).

Her presentation focused on "Second Language Learning/Challenges of Teaching Hebrew." Geva's work stems from her definition of reading: "the meaningful interpretation of printed symbols in light of the reader's own background and experience, and as such, is regarded as an ability to attach meaning to words, phrases, sentences and longer selections." (E. Geva, PowerPoint presentation, GISHA Conference, April, 2009) She made a distinction between "reading" and "decoding," the ability to sound out printed words without necessarily understanding their meaning. Two questions that have motivated her work are:

1. How does reading fluency in a native language (L1) influence the acquisition of reading skills in another language (L2)?
   
   
2. Does one have to understand L2 in order to read words in L2?

Geva reported that research says that L2 reading development is different because L2s draw on L1 competencies and experiences. It has been shown that if a native English speaker is a good reader in English (L1), that individual is likely to be a good reader in Hebrew (L2). Geva found that many factors contribute to becoming a successful and skilled reader, such as ability, attitudes and motivation, and age-appropriate instruction.

Reading in L2 requires sensitivity to new sounds, i.e., phonological awareness. This can be tested by seeing if a student can correctly show phonemic awareness in L1. For instance, ask the student the following questions (Geva, PowerPoint presentation slide, GISHA Conference, April, 2009):

1. "boy", "toy", "bag" - which one begins with a different sound? A correct answer shows the ability to hear initial word sounds.
   
   
2. Say "cowboy" - Now, say it without "cow." A correct answer shows the ability to isolate syllables.
   
   
3. Say "stop" - Now, say it without the 's'. A correct answer shows the ability to isolate and remove an initial word sound.

Geva presented a chart that links and relates four distinct branches of cognitive and environmental variables that are necessary for reading comprehension:

• Home Literacy
  
  
• Language Comprehension
  
  
• Decoding
  
  
• Attitudes & Motivation

The Decoding branch requires knowledge of grapheme-phoneme correspondence, orthographic knowledge, phoneme awareness, knowledge of the alphabetic principle, letter knowledge and understanding of concepts about print. Decoding skills can be tested with both real and nonsense words.

Hebrew has a "shallow orthography," as there are few exceptions to the phonological rules of written Hebrew. In one study, Geva found that children whose L1 is English were more accurate in decoding Hebrew (L2) words than in their native language between first grade and fifth grade. This appears to show that once phonological awareness is established, accurate decoding can be achieved without necessarily having knowledge of the cognitive content.

Geva's findings correlate well with the anecdotal evidence of this author and generations of other B'nei Mitzvah tutors, who more often than not must guide their students to prepare for their Bar or Bat Mitzvah service using only Hebrew decoding skills to make their way through their assigned biblical and prayer texts.