EARLI 2009, Amsterdam Mirjam Trapman (ACLC – UvA) Project 3: Individual attributes Literacy-related individual attributes of at-risk adolescents in grades 7-9 in multilingual contexts Mirjam Trapman, Jan Hulstijn, Amos van Gelderen, Roel van Steensel Study into Adolescent Literacy of Students At-risk SALSA

2 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Project SALSA Project 4 Reading and writing Development Van Steensel Project 1 Literacy context in school De Milliano Project 2 Literacy context outside school Van Kruistum Project 3 Literacy-related skills

3 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Outline presentation 1.Literacy-related variables and reading comprehension 2.Methodology 3.Analyses and results grade 7 4.Discussion

4 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Individual attributes Research questions What are the literacy-related individual variables associated with reading comprehension of both monolingual and bilingual at-risk adolescents? What is the role of low order literacy skills in reading comprehension of at-risk adolescents?

5 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Decoding skills and reading comprehension Role of decoding skills diminishes over time –Correlations between both skills is higher for beginning readers than for older children (a.o. Aarnoutse & Van Leeuwe 1988) –Role of higher order skills increases Hypotheses for our population – two possibilities 1. There is no correlation – after elementary school 2. There is a correlation – participants lag behind Hypotheses tested for two groups of participants Monolingual and bilingual at-risk adolescents

6 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Sample Lower tracks of prevocational secondary education (vmbo): basic and middle management program 30% lowest end of CITO End of Primary School Test Grade 7 N = 63 Monolingual (N = 32) and bilingual students (N = 31) –Maroccan (n = 10), Turkish (n = 9), Antillean (n = 4), Surinamese (n = 4), Capeverdian (n = 3), Chinese (n = 1)

7 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Reading comprehension Basic reading skills - wpm Speed of word recognition Receptive vocabulary Speed of lexical retrieval Nonverbal IQ Grammatical knowledge WM / Sentence span Metacognitive knowledge Speed of sentence verification Included variables

8 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 SALSA Literacy test – Text comprehension 9 texts, 65 items 3 types of texts –Narrative, expository, instructive 3 types of items –Retrieving, interpreting, reflecting Cronbach’s alpha:.80 Reading comprehension

9 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Decoding speed (excl. meaning) 1. Basic reading skills (wpm) 2. Word recognition Speed Grammatical form3. Grammatical knowledge Lexical knowledge 4. Receptive vocabulary (incl. meaning)5. Lexical-retrieval Speed 6. Working Memory – listening span Meaning on sentence level7. Sentence verification Speed High order skills8. Metacognitive knowledge 9. Non-verbal IQ low high Independent variables

10 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Total (N =63)Monolinguals (N = 31)Bilinguals (N = 32) 1. Basic reading skills (DMT).22.40* Word recognition Speed * Grammatical knowledge.66**.31.78** 4. Receptive vocabulary.59**.20.71** 5. Lexical retrieval Speed -.47** * 6. WM – listening span.42**.31.45** 7. Sentence verification Speed * Metacognitive knowledge.41**.11.50** 9. Non-verbal IQ.36**.25.45** Correlations with reading comprehension

11 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Total (N =63)Monolinguals (N = 31)Bilinguals (N = 32) 1. Basic reading skills (DMT).22.40* Word recognition Speed * Grammatical knowledge.66**.31.78** 4. Receptive vocabulary.59**.20.71** 5. Lexical retrieval Speed -.45** * 6. WM – listening span.42**.31.45** 7. Sentence verification Speed * Metacognitive knowledge.41**.11.50** 9. Non-verbal IQ.36**.25.45** Correlations with reading comprehension

12 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 MonolingualsBilinguals ModelR2R2 R 2 changeSig F changeR2R2 R 2 changeSig F change Model 1: basic reading skills and speed of word recognition Model 2: + grammatical knowledge Model 3: + receptive vocabulary and lexical retrieval Model 4: + speed of sentence verification and sentence span Model 5: + metacognitive knowledge Model 6: + nonverbal IQ Multiple regression analysis

13 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 MonolingualsBilinguals ModelR2R2 R 2 changeSig F changeR2R2 R 2 changeSig F change Model 1: basic reading skills and speed of word recognition Model 2: + grammatical knowledge Model 3: + receptive vocabulary and lexical retrieval Model 4: + speed of sentence verification and sentence span Model 5: + metacognitive knowledge Model 6: + nonverbal IQ Multiple regression analysis

14 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Total amount of explained variance - 48% for the monolingual group - 72% for the bilingual group Role of grammar significant contribution for the bilingual group, but not for the monolingal group, once decoding skill is in the model already Role of decoding skills significant contribution for the monolingual group, but not for the bilingual group Difference between monolinguals and bilinguals

15 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 What are the literacy-related individual variables associated with reading comprehension of both monolingual and bilingual at-risk adolescents? Monolinguals: decoding skills Bilinguals: grammar What is the role of low-order literacy skills in reading comprehension of at-risk adolescents? Monolinguals: significant contribution Bilinguals: no significant contribution Back to the questions

16 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Discussion Possible explanation role vocabulary and grammar? difference in performance between groups? Near future analyses

17 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Thank you! Contact information Mirjam Trapman Website SALSA project:

18 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Results - Descriptives – grade 7 TotalMonolingualBilingualDifferences Reading comprehension 41 (8)43 (6)38 (9)p =.03 Basic reading skills (DMT) 81 (14)82 (13)79 (16)p =.50 Word recognition speed 825 ms (129)828 ms (137)822 ms (122)p =.87 Grammatical knowledge 34 (6)36 (4)31 (6)p <.001 Receptive vocabulary 50 (9)54 (7)46 (9)p <.001 Lexical retrieval speed 1871 ms (344)1775 ms (314)1971 ms (349)p =.02 WM – listening span 4.4 (2.0)4.7 (1.7)4.2 (2.3)p =.33 Sentence verification speed 4358 ms (746)4213 ms (769)4506 ms (704)p =.12 Metacognitive knowledge 28 (4)29 (4)26 (4)p =.01 Non-verbal IQ 37 (3) 37 (4)p =.88

19 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Correlation matrix (N = 63) Reading comprehension **.59**-.45**.42** **.36** 2. Basic reading skills (DMT) 1-.30* ** Word recognition Speed * ** Grammatical knowledge 1.66**-.31* ** Receptive vocabulary 1-.29*.40* ** Lexical retrieval Speed WM – listening span Sentence verification Speed Metacognitive knowledge Non-verbal IQ 1

20 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Correlation matrix (monolinguals) Reading comprehension 1.40*-.45* * * Basic reading skills (DMT) 1-.42* * ** Word recognition Speed *-.35*.60** Grammatical knowledge * Receptive vocabulary * ** Lexical retrieval Speed WM – listening span * 8. Sentence verification Speed Metacognitive knowledge Non-verbal IQ 1

21 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Correlation matrix (bilinguals) Reading comprehension **.71**-.40*.45** **.45** 2. Basic reading skills (DMT) ** Word recognition Speed ** Grammatical knowledge 1.70** * **.49** 5. Receptive vocabulary 1-.37*.40*.11.57**.39* 6. Lexical retrieval Speed WM – listening span Sentence verification Speed Metacognitive knowledge Non-verbal IQ 1

22 Mirjam Trapman, EARLI 2009 Correlations with reading comprehension Total (N =63) Monolinguals (N = 31) Bilinguals (N = 32) Fisher Z-test 2. Basic reading skills (DMT).22.40*.10p =.23 (2-tailed) 3. Word recognition Speed *.02p = Grammatical knowledge.66**.31.78**p < Receptive vocabulary.59**.20.71**p < Lexical retrieval Speed -.45**-.41*-.40**p = WM – listening span.42**.31.45**p = Sentence verification Speed *-.08p = Metacognitive knowledge.41**.11.50**p = Non-verbal IQ.36**.25.45**p =.42