1. 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
Presented by: Marie Smith
FLT 841 Fall Dr. Temples

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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?

6. Participants

7. 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.

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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?

14. 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),