Transfer and Variation in Cognitive Reading Strategies of Latino Fourth-Grade Students in a Late-Exit Bilingual Program

Abstract

The present study examines how 50 fourth-grade Spanish-dominant students utilize cognitive reading strategies to enhance comprehension of expository texts in Spanish and transfer strategic reading behaviors to English reading. The participants were grouped by Spanish reading ability into Able (Ab), Average (Av), and Less-Able (LAb) readers in order to determine how native language (LI) reading ability influences second language (L2) reading. Students' perception of the reading process and their oral proficiency in English were also examined as possible influences on cross-linguistic transfer. Data were collected through student interviews and think-aloud task tasks. For purposes of analysis, responses were grouped into categories of similar answers for comparisons across groups and languages; overall group means for strategic reading in Spanish were compared to those in English at various Language Assessment Scales (LAS) levels of English oral proficiency. All groups reported an increase in strategy use in English reading. Results indicate that strategic behaviors in L1 undergird L2 reading behaviors and that the level of second language proficiency played a less prominent role in second-language strategic reading than did the level of strategy use in L1.