Literacy Development in Elementary School Second-Language Learners Diane August, PhD; Catherine Snow PhD; Maria Carlo, PhD; Patrick Proctor, EdD; Andrea Rolla de San Francisco, EdD; Elisabeth Duursma, MA, MEd; Anna Szuber, MEd Topics in Language Disorders, Volume 26, No. 4, pp. 351-364 Presented by: Marie Smith FLT 841 Fall 2014 Dr. Temples

August, D. , Snow, C. , Carlo, M. , Proctor, C. P. , Francisco, A. R August, D., Snow, C., Carlo, M., Proctor, C. P., Francisco, A. R., Duursma, E., et al. (2006) Key Terms Elementary school, second-language learners, second-language Research Questions Examines three questions related to the development of literacy in Spanish-speaking children acquiring English in U.S. schools. Participants Elementary Spanish ELL students grades 1-5

August, D. , Snow, C. , Carlo, M. , Proctor, C. P. , Francisco, A. R August, D., Snow, C., Carlo, M., Proctor, C. P., Francisco, A. R., Duursma, E., et al. (2006) Procedure Ongoing assessment of student performance in elementary school Demographic survey and collected data on classroom language use Results First language literacy skills are related to second language literacy skills Becoming or staying proficient in English does not require use of English at home Discussion Children need instruction in literacy if they are to be good readers Spanish, not English, is the at-risk language for Hispanic children living in the United States

Key Terms Goals Elementary school Second-language learners Review the highlights of a collection of studies that test a series of hypotheses related to predicative power of lexical, orthographic, morphological and phonological knowledge of English literacy development. Consider their implications for educators and language specialists who work with children at various stages of acquiring oral language proficiency and literacy in two languages.

Research Questions What is the relationship between learning to read in Spanish and learning to read in English? What does research show about the development of phonological awareness (PA) and spelling in young second-language learners? What role do home literacy and language environment play in bilingual students’ English and Spanish vocabulary development?

Participants

Participants Spanish ELL students grades 1-5 Within this group of elementary students: Different stages of reading proficiency in Spanish (L1) Different stages of knowledge of oral English (L2) Unique and diverse group provides the perfect natural experiment for assessing the importance of first language literacy skills and second language oral language skills in the development of second-language literacy.

Procedure Assessed students’ performance in: Oral language proficiency in second through fifth grades Phonological awareness in second and third grades Word reading and reading comprehension in second through fifth grades In fourth grade, they added measures of word knowledge, awareness of derivational morphology and cognate relations, and reading vocabulary Administered a demographic survey and collected data on classroom language use

Results What is the relationship between learning to read in Spanish and learning to read in English? L1 literacy skills are related to L2 literacy skills For this relationship to exist, L1 literacy needs to occur first; oral proficiency is not sufficient L2 vocabulary is an important predictor of L2 reading comprehension Intervention research designed to improve reading comprehension outcomes among Spanish-English bilingual children should include robust vocabulary instruction As English fluency increases, the bilingual reader seems to be able to devote more cognitive energy to meaning making strategies Children instructed bilingually were able to achieve at similar levels of English and Spanish literacy in comparison with students instructed in one language or the other

Results What does research show about the development of phonological awareness (PA) and spelling in young second- language learners? Spanish instructed bilinguals were more likely than English instructed bilinguals or English monolinguals to treat diphthongs as two units, reflecting the influence of Spanish language instruction on English phonological analysis Both English vocabulary and literacy instruction made unique contributions to English spelling whereas Spanish literacy instruction (SLI) played a more important role than Spanish vocabulary in the production of Spanish influenced spelling in English. Only bilingual students in SLI exhibited Spanish influenced spelling, indicating a powerful effect of language literacy instruction

Results What role do home literacy and language environment play in bilingual students’ English and Spanish vocabulary development? Becoming or staying proficient in English does not require parental use of English in the home Spanish, not English, is the at-risk language for children of Hispanic heritage living in the US. Students need early instruction in Spanish and home support to remain proficient

Discussion Children need literacy instruction in order to become strong readers in the language they are learning. L1 literacy skills provide a positive relationship and influence with L2 literacy skills in Hispanic ELL students It is important for teachers as well as speech-language pathologists working with ELLs to consider the complex linguistic environment and to provide support for all students

Critique How do these findings relate to my own experience working with Hispanic ELL students? Would results be different if the languages in the studies differed?

References August, D., Snow, C., Carlo, M., Proctor, C. P., Francisco, A. R., Duursma, E., et al. (2006). Literacy Development in Elementary School Second-Language Learners. Topics in Language Disorders,26(4), 351-364.