Does Knowledge of Romaji Facilitate English Reading?

In this investigation we studied the relationship between Japanese students' knowledge of romaji (roman letters) and their ability to read English words before being formally taught English. Knowledge of romaji determined the ability to read English words, and the degree of similarity between English words and their corresponding romaji representations was an important factor in the students' ability to identify the English words. Implications for biliteracy education of English and Japanese and for further research are discussed.