Mediating Effects of Reading Engagement on the Reading Comprehension of Early Adolescent English Language Learners

Abstract

Reading engagement has been found to be a predictor of reading comprehension and reading achievement in English monolingual students across the elementary grades. However, researchers have not yet explored this relationship with English language learners (ELLs). The purpose of this study was to understand the role of ELLs' reading engagement in both their general and content-specific reading comprehension. We used the construct of reading engagement to determine whether engagement mediated the relationship between ELLs' English language proficiency and general reading comprehension and the relationship between content-specific (science) academic vocabulary and content area (science) reading comprehension. For both 5th-grade Asian ELLs and 6th-grade Hispanic ELLs, reading engagement mediated the relationship between English language proficiency and general comprehension and the relationship between science vocabulary and science comprehension. Taken together, these findings suggest that reading engagement functions as an explanatory mechanism between language proficiency and comprehension in early adolescent ELLs. We discuss the implications of these findings for reading engagement in late elementary and middle school.

Notes

¹We refer to ELLs as individuals who come from a language background other than English and whose English proficiency is not yet developed to the point where they can profit fully from English-only instruction (August & Shanahan, 2006). ELLs vary in terms of their English proficiency and the levels of English language support they require.

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