Linguistic analysis and reading skills of first graders in partial French and Hebrew immersion programs

This study compared the performance of 45 first graders in partial French immersion, partial Hebrew immersion, and traditional English programs on measures of linguistic analysis ability and early reading skills in English. A modified version of the Auditory Analysis Test (Rosner and Simon, 1971) established that both French and Hebrew immersion children were more proficient than their English program peers at explicity analyzing the internal structure of spoken words. Subjects in the Hebrew program read non-words more successfully than either of the other two groups, and read orthographically regular real words better than the control subjects. These results suggest that second language learning, even in a partial immersion setting, enhances linguistic awareness. The potential implications for reading skill acquisition are discussed.This research was funded by Grant A2008 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.     

Linguistic awareness skills in grade one children in a French immersion setting

This study examined the ability of children in French immersion and English programs to analyze the internal structure of spoken words in relation to their early reading and spelling abilities in English. Thirty-two children in the first grade were given a modified version of the Auditory Analysis Test, and reading and spelling tasks that included both real words and non-words. Results indicated that French immersion children were more proficient than their English program peers at explicitly analyzing spoken words and that the groups did not differ when reading and spelling orthographically regular real words and non-words. The English program children performed better than their French program peers only when reading orthographically irregular English words. These results demonstrate that second language learning enhances metalinguistic awareness and help to explain why children in immersion programs do not experience long-term difficulty in acquiring English written language skills.     

The effectiveness of computer-based EFL instruction among primary school students in Israel

This paper presents an effectiveness study of a computer-based English reading program, the Waterford Early Reading Program (WERP), among first and second grade students in Israel. Students who used the program were compared to a control group only receiving English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction as part of the school curriculum. First grade students who used the software during the study period experienced significantly greater gains than control group students on all four measures of reading ability. Second grade students in the treatment group experienced greater gains than control group students on the nonsense word and phoneme segmentation measures. These results indicate that adaptive English reading software has a place in an EFL education system, especially among young students with complex linguistic backgrounds. Adaptive programs like WERP may produce better EFL results than non-adaptive programs because they are able to adjust based in part on a student’s linguistic proficiency.     

Bilingual education for majority english-speaking children

A variety of second-language program options are available to anglophone children in Montreal’s public schools: French-as-a second-language (FSL), delayed and early French immersion, and full French-medium schooling. In this research, the achievement in French, English, and mathematics of two cohorts of anglophone students in each of these program options was evaluated longitudinally through grade 6 (12 years of age). The performance of these students was compared to that of comparable anglophone and francophone control groups who were attending conventional all-English and all-French schools, respectively. In terms of approximations to native-like command of French, the French-medium option was the most effective followed by the early immersion option: students in these programs were generally indistinguishable from the French Controls on all written French language tests and in mathematics. On tests of French oral skills, however, they scored below the French Controls, the extent of disparity depending on the opportunities available for social interaction with francophones. As well, no retardation in English language development was found for any of the options, even those that provided little instruction time in English. To the contrary, anglophone students scored significantly higher than English Controls on tests of English and mathematics, and in general the more concentrated the second language component, the better they performed relative to the controls on first language skills and mathematics. The apparent transfer of competence from second language to first and the bilingual advantages involved in these results are discussed in terms of time spent on the target language, the mode of instruction, and the opportunities provided for interaction with native-speaking peers.     

Learning about print: the development of orthographic processing and its relationship to word reading in first grade children in French immersion

As children learn to read, they become sensitive to the patterns that exist in the ways in which their language(s) are represented in print. This skill is known as orthographic processing. We examined the nature of orthographic processing in English and French for children in the first grade of a French immersion program, and the relationship between orthographic processing and reading beyond controls for mother’s education, non-verbal reasoning, English vocabulary and phonological awareness. We found that children showed greater orthographic processing skill to patterns that were common to both of their languages than to those that occurred in just one of their languages. Across both lexical and sub-lexical orthographic processing measures, scores were related to word reading within each language, beyond our control variables. There was some evidence of cross-language relationships between orthographic processing and word reading, both for lexical and sub-lexical language-shared measures of orthographic processing. These findings suggest that children’s attention to features that are common both languages might be one source of transfer of orthographic processing to reading between languages.     

Development of German reading comprehension in two-way immersive primary schools

Two-way immersion (TWI) is a variant of the increasingly popular bilingual instruction. Most TWI research lacks longitudinal data or the consideration of background variables to control for possible selection effects. This article examines the development of German reading comprehension of TWI students (N = 984) from fourth to sixth grade compared to conventionally taught students (N = 992). The latent growth curve models showed that immersion students reached the same level of German reading comprehension over the three measurement points, even if background variables like first language, socioeconomic background, and cognitive ability were included. Despite reduced instruction in German, TWI students showed the same reading comprehension level as students in regular instruction while having the advantage of learning an additional language. Although the level of reading comprehension differed between language groups (L1 German speakers, L1 partner language speakers, simultaneous bilinguals), the learning trajectories of reading comprehension were similar.     

Cognate Awareness in French Immersion Students: Contributions to Grade 2 Reading Comprehension

Cognate awareness is the ability to recognize the cognate relationship between words in two etymologically related languages. The current study examined the development of cognate awareness and its contribution to French (second language) reading comprehension among Canadian French immersion children. Eighty-one students were tested at the end of Grade 1 and again at the end of Grade 2. Children were administered a cognate awareness task in French, in which they were asked to decide whether a French word had a cognate in English. Overall, performance on the cognate awareness task was significantly above chance at both time points, and it improved overtime. Thus, for the majority of the participants, cognate awareness was evident as early as first grade. Regressions revealed that cognate awareness measured in Grades 1 and 2 made a significant contribution to Grade 2 French reading comprehension, beyond multiple controls. The results of the study suggest that cognate awareness is a unique aspect of second-language reading comprehension in young bilingual children.     

Development of reading skills from K-3 in Spanish-speaking English language learners following three programs of instruction

The development of English and Spanish reading and oral language skills from kindergarten to third grade was examined with a sample of 502 Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) enrolled in three instructional programs. The students in the transitional bilingual and dual-language programs had significantly higher scores than the students in the English immersion program on the Spanish reading and oral language measures and significantly lower scores on the English reading comprehension and oral language measures. Multiple-group path models showed that the predictors of third grade English and Spanish reading comprehension did not differ across the three programs. Spanish phonological/decoding skill and oral language in first grade mediated the association between Spanish phonological/decoding skill and oral language in kindergarten and third grade Spanish reading comprehension. English phonological/decoding, Spanish phonological/decoding skill, and English oral language in first grade mediated the link between Spanish phonological/decoding skill in kindergarten and third grade English reading comprehension.     

A school-based phonological awareness intervention for struggling readers in early French immersion

The current intervention study investigated the sustained effectiveness of phonological awareness training on the reading development of 16 children in French immersion who were identified as at-risk readers based on grade 1 English measures. The intervention program provided children from three cohorts with supplemental reading in small groups on a withdrawal basis. Children in the experimental group (n = 5) received English phonological awareness training in combination with letter-sound correspondence instruction twice per week for 18 consecutive weeks, while those in the control condition (n = 7) engaged in English vocabulary-building activities. Significant gains were made after the training and maintained for 2 years on both French phonological awareness and French word reading skills for the experimental group. Results suggest that a phonologically based intervention in English can effectively address phonological awareness deficits and facilitate reading acquisition for French immersion children who may be at-risk for later reading difficulties.     

Components and context: exploring sources of reading difficulties for language minority learners and native english speakers in urban schools

Drawing on the cognitive and ecological domains within the componential model of reading, this longitudinal study explores heterogeneity in the sources of reading difficulties for language minority learners and native English speakers in urban schools. Students (N = 150) were followed from first through third grade and assessed annually on standardized English language and reading measures. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the relative contributions of code-related and linguistic comprehension skills in first and second grade to third grade reading comprehension. Linguistic comprehension and the interaction between linguistic comprehension and code-related skills each explained substantial variation in reading comprehension. Among students with low reading comprehension, more than 80% demonstrated weaknesses in linguistic comprehension alone, whereas approximately 15% demonstrated weaknesses in both linguistic comprehension and code-related skills. Results were remarkably similar for the language minority learners and native English speakers, suggesting the importance of their shared socioeconomic backgrounds and schooling contexts.     

Cultural and Linguistic Investment: Adolescents in a Secondary Two-Way Immersion Program

This qualitative study inquired into secondary students' perceptions of their participation in a secondary Spanish-English two-way immersion (TWI) program, triangulating data from 166 surveys and 24 focus interviews across grades 6–12. After reviewing current research on secondary two-way immersion programs, the article describes the study and its findings. The first finding stresses the continuous link between language and identity and how this link differs within the Latino group. A second theme centered on how students viewed the linguistic and cultural capital the TWI program aims to develop, with the Anglo students identifying bilingualism for better job opportunities as the most important capital. Latino students also envisioned better job opportunities; however, Spanish was valued foremost for its connection to their families and roots. Finally, the third theme discusses linguistic and cultural equity. Though all students evaluated their experiences in the TWI program positively, they acknowledged that as they moved through the secondary years, their exposure to Spanish declined and English dominated their school day. The authors urge educators to consider how the academic, linguistic, and cultural benefits of TWI programs are distributed for various groups enrolled in the program.     

An emergent interaction between reading fluency and vocabulary in the prediction of reading comprehension among French immersion elementary students

This study investigated an emergent interaction between word reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge in the prediction of reading comprehension among French immersion students in Grades 2 and 3. A group of 66 students were tested on measures of phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, word reading accuracy, vocabulary, word reading fluency and reading comprehension in English and French at both time points. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine whether vocabulary and word reading fluency interact in predicting English and French reading comprehension. Regressions were constructed for each language and grade separately. Results showed that in Grade 2, word reading fluency and vocabulary contributed independently to reading comprehension, though an interaction between these variables was not observed in either language. By Grade 3, an interaction between these constructs emerged and was shown to predict reading comprehension in both English and French. Specifically, vocabulary was positively related to reading comprehension among students with moderate to high levels of fluency, while vocabulary did not uniquely contribute to reading comprehension among those who were less fluent. The emergence of an interaction in Grade 3 suggests that as students’ reading skills become more proficient, reading comprehension outcomes are better explained by taking into account the interaction between reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge.

     

图式理论与大学英语写作

写作作为一种重要的输出形式,需要学生有较高的语言综合运用能力。在教学中,利用图式理论,可以帮助学生摆脱这种尴尬的境地,有效地提高他们的写作水平。关键在于启发学生主动思考,通过阅读来积累语言图式,与时俱进增强内容图式,了解形式图式并整理其思维模式。     

Using Nearpod in elementary guided reading groups

A student teacher placed at a school with a high English Language Learner population used mini iPads, and an application called Nearpod, during guided reading instruction. Groups of students in a fourth grade classroom used this application. The students and the teacher were interviewed to determine the benefits and challenges of this approach. An analysis of data revealed that all of the students found this type of guided reading to be beneficial and motivating in learning the content presented through the application. Students also explained how they could transfer the knowledge gained into their independent work. The teacher discussed how it improved organization in a guided reading group, but how careful consideration and planning must be done to ensure the technology will work properly during guided reading. It is recommended that the Nearpod application be used in guided reading lessons because of its user-friendliness, ability to engage students, and monitor their progress.     

Flexibility in young second‐language learners: examining the language specificity of orthographic processing

This study examines whether orthographic processing transfers across languages to reading when the writing systems under acquisition are sufficiently related. We conducted a study with 76 7‐year‐old English‐first‐language children in French immersion. Measures of English and French orthographic processing (orthographic choice tasks) and standardised measures of English and French word reading (Woodcock and FIAT) were taken, in addition to verbal and nonverbal ability, and phonological and morphological awareness. Analyses reveal significant contributions of orthographic processing to reading both within and across the two languages, despite the inclusion of control variables. Findings of the transfer of orthographic processing skills to reading across languages suggest that orthographic processing may not be as language specific as previously hypothesised. We discuss the several similarities between English and French, such as a shared alphabet and cognates, that may drive transfer across languages in the context of current theories of second‐language reading development.     

Bilingual precocious readers of English

Giftedness develops in varied forms from diverse roots. This phenomenon is illustrated by 12 children from bilingual homes who, before beginning first grade, demonstrated advanced ability to comprehend written English. The home and school experiences of these children and their reading and oral English skills are described. The results demonstrate that some gifted children learn well even when they appear to be weak in relevant skills, and that lack of fluency in oral English should not exclude children from advanced instruction in reading.     

Effects of Bilingual and English as a Second Language Adaptations of Success for All on the Reading Achievement of Students Acquiring English

Two adaptations of Success for All, a comprehensive reform program for elementary schools, have been used with students acquiring English. One is a Spanish bilingual version, called Exito Para Todos, in which students are taught to read in Spanish and then transitioned to English reading, usually in third or fourth grade. The other integrates English as a Second Language (ESL) strategies with English reading instruction. This paper summarizes the results of both of these adaptations for students acquiring English. The effects of Success for All on the achievement of English language learners are, in general, substantially positive. In all schools implementing Exito Para Todos, effect sizes for first graders on Spanish assessments were very positive, especially when schools were implementing most of the program's elements. Even after transitioning to English-only instruction, Exito Para Todos third graders performed better on English assessments than control students who were primarily taught in English. For students acquiring English receiving ESL instruction, effect sizes for all comparisons were also positive.     

The response to intervention of English language learners at risk for reading problems

The response to intervention (RTI) of English language learners identified as at risk for reading difficulties in the fall of first grade was examined at the end of first grade and at the end of second grade. Students at risk for reading problems were randomly assigned to intervention or control groups. Intervention students received supplemental reading intervention daily for 50 minutes in small groups from October to April. Students in the comparison condition received the school's existing instructional program for struggling readers. Criteria were established to determine adequate RTI at the end of first grade and at the end of second grade. The results indicated that more students who participated in the first-grade intervention in either Spanish or English met the established RTI standards than students who did not, and this finding was maintained through the end of second grade.     

Bilingualism,Biliteracy, and Learning to Read: Interactions Among Languages and Writing Systems

Four groups of children in first grade were compared on early literacy tasks. Children in three of the groups were bilingual, each group representing a different combination of language and writing system, and children in the fourth group were monolingual speakers of English. All the bilingual children used both languages daily and were learning to read in both languages. The children solved decoding and phonological awareness tasks, and the bilinguals completed all tasks in both languages. Initial differences between the groups in factors that contribute to early literacy were controlled in an analysis of covariance, and the results showed a general increment in reading ability for all the bilingual children but a larger advantage for children learning two alphabetic systems. Similarly, bilinguals transferred literacy skills across languages only when both languages were written in the same system. Therefore, the extent of the bilingual facilitation for early reading depends on the relation between the two languages and writing systems.     

Are there peer effects associated with having English Language Learner (ELL) classmates? Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K)

Over the past decade, several state and federal policies have directed schools to mainstream English Language Learner (ELL) students into English-only instruction classrooms. While there is mixed evidence on the effects of these immersion policies on the ELL students, research examining potential peer effects on their non-ELL classmates is non-existent. This paper begins to fill in this gap by using a nationally representative longitudinal sample of children in early elementary grades. Results indicate that having an ELL classmate during kindergarten and first grade is associated with lower test score gains in reading but not necessarily in math for non-ELL students whose primary language is English, controlling for unobserved fixed school characteristics as well as individual characteristics. The negative peer effects on reading test score gain are sensitive to the frequency of within classroom ability grouping usage, gender, and household income level of non-ELL children.