Language proficiency, reading comprehension and home literacy in bilingual children: the impact of context

ABSTRACT

Numerous studies on reading comprehension with monolingual children have shown that oral language, such as vocabulary, is an important factor in predicting reading comprehension success. However, few studies have looked at the reading comprehension performance of bilinguals, and less is known about the contributors to its success, linguistic or otherwise. Based on previous research showing weaker oral language among bilingual children, the goals of the present study are to examine how bilinguals perform in reading comprehension, along with possible contributors such as oral language and home literacy practices, in comparison with their monolingual peers. Participants were 82 children in the third grade who completed standardized language measures assessing vocabulary, grammar, and reading comprehension and whose parents completed a home literacy questionnaire. Bilingual children’s reading comprehension was comparable to monolinguals despite having lower language, and bilingual parents reported reading rate was higher than that of the monolinguals. Moreover, the contributors to this success in reading comprehension were different for the bilingual group, with oral language and home literacy playing a role. Overall, this suggests bilinguals are unique from monolinguals in the manner in which they make use of the resources available to them, linguistic and otherwise, to achieve reading comprehension success.

KEYWORDS:

• Bilingualism
• reading comprehension
• literacy
• vocabulary
• grammar

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grant R01HD052523 from the US National Institutes of Health to Ellen Bialystok. We would like to thank Perry So for his contributions through his undergraduate thesis on this topic, Elona Begollari for her help in data collection, and all of the children who participated in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, [KP]. The data are not publicly available due to restrictions e.g. their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants, especially since the participants are young children.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by NIH Clinical Center [grant number R01HD052523].

Notes on contributors

Kathleen F. Peets

Kathleen F. Peets, EdD is an Associate Professor at the School of Early Childhood Studies, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.

Odilia Yim

Odilia Yim, MA, is a doctoral candidate at the University of Ottawa, Canada.

Ellen Bialystok

Ellen Bialystok, OC, PhD, FRSC, is a Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology and Walter Gordon Research Chair of Lifespan Cognitive Development at York University, and Associate Scientist at the Rotman Research Institute of the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care.