Developmental changes in the nature of language proficiency and reading fluency paint a more complex view of reading comprehension in ELL and EL1

We examined theoretical issues concerning the development of reading fluency and language proficiency in 390 English Language Learners (ELLs,) and 149 monolingual, English-as-a-first language (EL1) students. The extent to which performance on these constructs in Grade 5 (i.e., concurrent predictors) contributes to reading comprehension in the presence of Grade 2 autoregressors was also addressed. Students were assessed on cognitive, language, word reading, and reading fluency skills in Grades 2 and 5. In Grade 2, regardless of language group, word and text reading fluency formed a single factor, but by Grade 5 word and text reading fluency formed two distinct factors, the latter being more aligned with language comprehension. In both groups a substantial proportion of the variance in Grade 5 reading comprehension was accounted for uniquely by Grade 2 phonological awareness and vocabulary. Grade 5 text reading fluency contributed uniquely in the presence of the autoregressors. By Grade 5 syntactic skills and listening comprehension emerged as additional language proficiency components predicting reading comprehension in ELL but not in EL1. Results suggest that predictors of reading comprehension are similar but not identical in ELL and EL1. The findings point to a more nuanced and dynamic framework for understanding the building blocks that contribute to reading comprehension in ELLs and EL1s in upper elementary school. They underscore the importance of considering constructs such as vocabulary, whose role is stable, and other components of language proficiency and reading fluency whose role becomes pivotal as their nature changes.     

Should the Simple View of Reading Include a Fluency Component?

The Simple View of Reading states that reading comprehension is the product of word recognition and listening comprehension. Whereas much research has focused on word recognition accuracy, recent attention has been directed toward word recognition fluency. The current study investigated whether a separate fluency component should be added to the Simple View of Reading. A battery of reading and language measures was administered to 604 children in second, fourth, and eighth grades. Approximately half these children had language and/or nonverbal cognitive impairments in kindergarten, but weighting procedures were used to reduce the potential bias this sampling characteristic may have entailed. Structural equation modeling was used to determine whether fluency accounted for unique variance in reading comprehension after controlling for word recognition accuracy and listening comprehension. Individual profile analyses were conducted to determine the number of individual participants who␣had poor fluency in the spite of good word recognition accuracy and listening comprehension. Results showed that fluency did not account for unique variance in reading␣comprehension and that few individuals had problems in fluency separate from word recognition accuracy or listening comprehension. Thus, it does not appear that a separate fluency component should be added to the Simple View of Reading.     

Do Phonological and Executive Processes in English Learners at Risk for Reading Disabilities in Grade 1 Predict Performance in Grade 2?

This study determined the degree to which the phonological and executive components of memory reflect language‐specific capacities in reading achievement. We tested whether the memory processes in a sample of English‐language learners that played a major role in predicting second‐language acquisition and risk for reading disability (RD) in Grade 1 (Swanson, Sáez, Gerber, & Leafstedt, 2004) also predicted reading performance in Grade 2. The present results showed that Spanish short‐term memory (STM) performance in Grade 1 predicted basic Spanish‐reading skills and Spanish comprehension in Grade 2, whereas Grade 1 English STM performance predicted English vocabulary and English comprehension in Grade 2. More importantly, children at risk for RD in Grade 1 differed from the counterparts in Grade 2 on both English and Spanish measures of reading, whereas their memory deficits were isolated to Spanish STM and working memory (WM). The relationship between language‐specific processes in memory and reading are discussed.     

Toward modeling reading comprehension and reading fluency in English language learners

This study investigated the adequacy of an expanded simple view of reading (SVR) framework for English language learners (ELLs), using mediation modeling approach. The proposed expanded SVR included reading fluency as an outcome and phonological awareness and naming speed as predictors. To test the fit of the proposed mediation model, longitudinal data from 308 ELLs from different linguistic backgrounds were analyzed using structural equation modeling. We examined the mediating role of Grade 2 word-level reading skills in the association between Grade 1 phonological awareness, naming speed, and listening comprehension and Grade 3 reading comprehension and reading fluency. The results indicated that word-level reading skills fully mediated the association between phonological awareness, reading comprehension and reading fluency. Word-level reading skills partially mediated the association between naming speed and reading fluency. Listening comprehension contributed directly to reading comprehension and reading fluency. It appears that reading development in ELLs is better understood when reading fluency is added to the SVR framework as an outcome and naming speed as a building block of SVR. Theoretical aspects of the mediation model in relation to ELL reading development are also addressed.     

The development of reading comprehension skills in children learning English as a second language

Reading comprehension is a multi-dimensional process that includes the reader, the text, and factors associated with the activity of reading. Most research and theories of comprehension are based primarily on research conducted with monolingual English speakers (L1). The present study was designed to investigate the cognitive and linguistic factors that have an influence on reading comprehension in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) speakers. The cognitive aspects of reading comprehension among L1 speakers and ESL speakers in the seventh grade were investigated. The performance of both groups was compared and the role of some relevant processes, including word reading, word reading fluency, phonological awareness, working memory, and morphological and syntactic awareness were assessed. Within this sample, three groups were examined: (1) children with poor comprehension (PC) in the absence of word reading difficulties (2) children with poor word reading and poor comprehension (poor readers, PR) (3) and children with both good word reading and comprehension abilities (good comprehenders, GC). The results demonstrated that a variety of cognitive processes, such as working memory and phonological, syntactic, and morphological awareness are important for reading comprehension and compromised in poor comprehenders. The GC group performed better than the PC group on all of the cognitive measures, indicating that comprehension depends on a variety of phonological, memory and linguistic processes and that adequate word recognition skill are important for reading comprehension. The prevalence of the ESL and L1 students was similar across the three reading groups. The ESL and L1 students demonstrated similar performance, indicating that the skills underlying reading comprehension are similar in the ESL and L1 students. This study demonstrated that ESL students are capable of developing word reading and reading comprehension skills that are as strong as those of their L1 peers.     

Adequate Cost Analysis as a Basis for Budget Making

ABSTRACT

The authors examined the impact of 2 subsequent, longitudinal interdisciplinary interventions for 58 Hispanic English language learners (ELLs): (a) Grade 5 science with English language/reading embedded (i.e., science intervention) and (b) K–3 English language/reading with science embedded (i.e., language/reading intervention). Results revealed that (a) in the science intervention treatment ELLs outperformed their counterparts in English-reading fluency, knowledge of word meaning, and science and reading achievement; (b) in the language/reading intervention treatment ELLs continued to develop faster than their peers in English oracy, reading fluency, and comprehension; (c) ELLs benefited more from the science intervention if they received the prior language/reading intervention. We conclude that for ELLs, the integration of science and English language/reading should primarily focus on reading in elementary grades and science in Grade 5.     

Minding morphology: How morphological awareness relates to reading for English language learners

This study explored subprocesses of reading for 157 fifth grade Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) by examining whether morphological awareness made a unique contribution to reading comprehension beyond a strong covariate-phonological decoding. The role of word reading and reading vocabulary as mediators of this relationship was also explored. Results showed that fourth grade morphological awareness did not make a significant unique direct effect on fifth grade reading comprehension, controlling for phonological decoding, word reading, and reading vocabulary. Fourth grade morphological awareness did, though, make a unique moderate total contribution to fifth grade reading comprehension with reading vocabulary, but not word reading, mediating the relationship when controlling for phonological decoding. In contrast, phonological decoding made a nonsignificant total contribution to reading comprehension with neither word reading nor reading vocabulary mediating the relationship when controlling for morphological awareness. Alternative models were also explored, showing the importance of including both predictors in a model of ELL reading comprehension, primarily to include the support of phonological decoding to word reading and the support of morphological awareness to reading comprehension via reading vocabulary. Results highlighted the importance of morphological awareness in facilitating reading comprehension via improving reading vocabulary knowledge, and also the potential of interventions involving morphological instruction to support reading achievement for Spanish-speaking ELLs.     

Predictors of Grade 2 Word Reading and Vocabulary Learning from Grade 1 Variables in Spanish‐Speaking Children: Similarities and Differences

We examined the components of first (L1) and second language (L2) phonological processing that are related to L2 word reading and vocabulary. Spanish‐speaking English learners (EL) were classified as average or low readers in grades 1 and 2. A large number of children who started out as poor readers in first grade became average readers in second grade while vocabulary scores were more stable. Binary logistic regressions examined variables related to classifications of consistently average, consistently low, or improving on reading or vocabulary across grades. Good L2 phonological short‐term memory and phonological awareness scores predicted good reading and vocabulary scores. L1 and L2 measures differentiated consistently good performers from consistently low performers, while only L2 measures differentiated children who improved from children who remained low performers. Children who are EL should be screened on measures of pseudoword repetition and phonological awareness with low scorers being good candidates for receiving extra assistance in acquiring L2 vocabulary and reading. This study suggests measures that can be used to select children who have a greater likelihood of experiencing difficulties in reading and vocabulary.     

The simple view of second language reading throughout the primary grades

In the Simple View of Reading proposed by Hoover and Gough (1990), reading comprehension is conceived as the product of word decoding and listening comprehension. It is claimed that listening comprehension or the linguistic processes involved in the comprehension of oral language strongly constrain the process of reading comprehension. In several studies, evidence for this theoretical framework has been provided for first language learners. In the present study, an attempt was made to find empirical evidence for the same view underlying second language reading. Therefore, the word decoding and listening comprehension skills of samples of 1,293 first language (L1) learners and 394 second language (L2) learners of Dutch were related to their reading comprehension abilities throughout the primary grades. It was found that the levels of word decoding were more or less equal in the two groups of learners, whereas the L2 learners stayed behind their first L1 peers in both listening, and reading comprehension. The relationships between word decoding, listening comprehension and reading comprehension turned out to be highly comparable. A longitudinal analysis of data showed the Simple View of Reading to be equally valid for L1 and L2 learners. With progression of grade, the impact of word decoding on reading comprehension decreased, whereas the impact of listening comprehension showed an increase to the same extent in the two groups of learners. However, the reciprocity of the relationship between listening comprehension and reading comprehension tended to be less prominent in the group of L2 learners.     

Predicting individual differences in reading comprehension: a twin study

We examined the Simple View of reading from a behavioral genetic perspective. Two aspects of word decoding (phonological decoding and word recognition), two aspects of oral language skill (listening comprehension and vocabulary), and reading comprehension were assessed in a twin sample at age 9. Using latent factor models, we found that overlap among phonological decoding, word recognition, listening comprehension, vocabulary, and reading comprehension was primarily due to genetic influences. Shared environmental influences accounted for associations among word recognition, listening comprehension, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Independent of phonological decoding and word recognition, there was a separate genetic link between listening comprehension, vocabulary, and reading comprehension and a specific shared environmental link between vocabulary and reading comprehension. There were no residual genetic or environmental influences on reading comprehension. The findings provide evidence for a genetic basis to the “Simple View” of reading.     

Predictors of English reading comprehension: Cantonese-speaking English language learners in the U.S.

In this paper, first language (L1) and second language (L2) oral language and word reading skills were used as predictors to devise a model of reading comprehension in young Cantonese-speaking English language learners (ELLs) in the United States. L1 and L2 language and literacy measures were collected from a total of 101 Cantonese-speaking ELLs during the early spring of second grade. Results show that English vocabulary and English word decoding, as measured with real and nonsense words, played significant roles in English reading comprehension. In particular, results highlight the crucial role of English vocabulary in the development of L2 English literacy skills. English listening comprehension did not predict English reading comprehension. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Early Comprehension Instruction for Spanish‐Speaking English Language Learners: Teaching Text‐Level Reading Skills While Maintaining Effects on Word‐Level Skills

This study investigated the effects of three instructional conditions on precursors to successful reading for Spanish‐speaking English language learners (ELL). The study was conducted using a randomized, alternate treatment control group design specifically targeting phonological awareness (PA) listening comprehension (LC), and decoding in a sample of ELL (N= 82) including students who were and were not at risk for later reading failure. Two randomly assigned experimental intervention groups and one treatment control group were created to test the effectiveness of three instructional interventions that differed in the relative amount of time used for instructing the word‐ and text‐level targeted skills. Specifically, the two experimental intervention groups received different doses of LC relative to PA instruction, creating a LC Concentration group and a PA Concentration group. The treatment control group received only PA and alphabet knowledge instruction (word‐level skills). Results indicated that both at‐risk and not‐at‐risk ELLs in the LC Concentration group outperformed students in the other groups on almost all measures, including PA skills, despite minimal amounts of instructional time‐targeting word‐level skills. These data extend the existing literature by lending empirical support to the use of a LC component in early reading interventions for young ELL.     

Cognitive and Linguistic Precursors to Early Literacy Achievement in Children With Specific Language Impairment

This study investigated the role of cognitive and language skills as predictors of early literacy skills in children with Specific Language Impairment. A range of cognitive and linguistic skills were assessed in a sample of 137 eight-year-old children with SLI at the beginning of the school year, and 6 months later on word decoding and reading comprehension. The cognitive and linguistic measures revealed four factors that were called language, speech, short-term memory, and phonological awareness. Structural equation modeling showed word decoding to be predicted by speech, short-term memory, and phonological awareness, whereas reading comprehension was predicted by word decoding skills and short-term memory. It can be concluded that in children with SLI variations in early word decoding are mostly determined by speech abilities and short-term memory, and to a lesser extent by phonological awareness. Moreover, reading comprehension turns out to be highly dependent on word decoding and short-term memory.     

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.     

The Contribution of Naming Speed to the Simple View of Reading

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether naming speed makes a contribution to the prediction of reading comprehension, after taking into account the product of word decoding and listening comprehension (i.e., the Simple View of Reading; [Gough, P.B. & Tunmer, W.E. (1986). Remedial and Special Education 7, 6–10]), and phonological awareness. In grade 3, word decoding was measured with the Woodcock [(1998). Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests – Revised. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Services]. Word Identification and Word Attack subtests, listening comprehension with the Woodcock (1991) [Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery – Revised. Chicago: Riverside Publishing Company] test of Listening Comprehension, naming speed with a picture naming task, and 4 measures assessed phonological awareness. Reading comprehension was assessed in grades 3, 4, and 5 with the Woodcock (1998) Passage Comprehension subtest and in grade 5 with the Gates–MacGinitie reading test. The Simple View was evaluated twice: first, with a pseudoword measure for decoding (Grapheme–Phoneme-conversion product) and, second, with a word identification measure for decoding (word recognition product). Hierarchical regression and commonality analyses indicated that the decoding and listening comprehension products accounted for considerable variance in reading comprehension. Naming speed had a small but significant effect after accounting for the Grapheme–Phoneme-conversion product (2–3%), but little effect after accounting for the word-recognition product (0–2%). Subgroup analyses indicated that naming speed had its primary effect for less able readers. Commonality analyses supported the interpretation that naming speed contributes after the Grapheme–Phoneme-conversion product but not after the word recognition product because naming speed has already had its effect upon word recognition. These results indicate that it is important how the Simple View decoding term is defined, and that the Simple View may be incomplete, especially for less able readers.     

Measures of Reading Comprehension: A Latent Variable Analysis of the Diagnostic Assessment of Reading Comprehension

This study compares 2 measures of reading comprehension: (a) the Woodcock-Johnson Passage Comprehension test, a standard in reading research, and (b) the Diagnostic Assessment of Reading Comprehension (DARC), an innovative measure. Data from 192 Grade 3 Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) were used to fit a series of latent variable analyses designed to explicitly test the discriminant validity and differential determinants of the 2 measures. Findings indicated that the 2 measures are related (r =. 61) but distinct, and influenced by different factors. The DARC is less strongly related to word-level skills and more strongly related to measures of narrative language production and memory. Both tests are equally influenced by measures of nonverbal reasoning. These differential patterns of relations, which cannot be explained on the basis of differential reliabilities, reflect true differences in the processing demands of the tests for 3rd-grade ELLs.     

Children's reading profiles on exiting the Reading Recovery programme: do they predict sustained progress?

The aim of this study was to identify reading profiles, which predict the literacy progress of Reading Recovery graduates. Reading Recovery is an intensive remediation for children after the first year of school. Children were assessed at exit from the programme and at 3‐month, 6‐month and 12‐month follow‐up points. Text Reading Level made unique contributions to word reading, spelling and writing at all time points and was consistently the best predictor of word reading. Phonological processing also made unique contributions to word reading and spelling. Reading comprehension was found to be the best predictor of National Curriculum sublevels for reading and writing, 12 months later. These findings indicate that levelled texts, as employed in Reading Recovery, provide a good indication of progress in word reading, spelling and writing after the programme has been discontinued, but also present a case for assessing other reading skills (e.g., phonological processing and reading comprehension) in order to help predict sustained progress in literacy.     

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.

     

Growth in reading-related skills of language minority learners and their classmates: more evidence for early identification and intervention

This longitudinal study investigated growth in reading-related skills between Grade 1 and 4 for language minority (LM) learners and their native English-speaking classmates from similarly low socioeconomic backgrounds (N = 166). Growth trajectories were compared by language background and by Grade 4 reading difficulties, with the goal of informing decisions about how early LM learners can undergo screening for risk of reading difficulties. As a group, LM learners demonstrated weaknesses in vocabulary and oral comprehension and strengths in phonological awareness that were apparent in Grade 1 and consistent through Grade 4. LM learners also demonstrated early strengths in letter-word identification but fell far below national norms by Grade 4. The subset of LM learners with word reading difficulties demonstrated major weaknesses in vocabulary, oral comprehension, phonological awareness, and working memory, whereas LM learners with specific reading comprehension difficulties demonstrated major weaknesses in vocabulary and oral comprehension; these weaknesses were apparent in Grade 1 and consistent through Grade 4, suggesting the importance of early assessment and intervention.     

Who benefits from training in linguistic awareness in the first grade, and what components show training effects?

Who among first graders benefit from training in linguistic awareness, and what components of the linguistic awareness are most amenable to training effects? At the beginning of Grade 1 prospective at-risk readers (26 out of 117) were identified on the basis of very low phonological awareness. In the autumn term, they received practice in linguistic awareness. When compared to controls individually matched controls on phonological awareness, listening comprehension, and WISC-R scores, the intervention group showed a more rapid building-up of phonological awareness, especially phoneme-blending ability, as well as superiority in word recognition, spelling, and listening comprehension, which were sustained until the end of Grade 1. Reading comprehension could not be compared because 8 of the 26 controls did not read fluently enough to be tested. The half of the control group with cognitive delays, receiving normal special education instruction, performed consistently worse than their matched pairs in the intervention group. The latter group showed development of phonological awareness, decoding, and spelling equal to that of the cognitively nearly average intervention group and their matched pairs in the control group, who received no additional support. These three groups, originally defined as at-risk readers, performed at the level of other preschool nonreaders at the end of Grade 1. In sum, the children with cognitive delays benefitted from training in linguistic awareness. The results underscore the importance of phoneme synthesis skills in beginning reading and spelling, at least with regular languages.