First‐grade latino students' english‐reading growth in all‐english classrooms

Abstract

Two main questions were addressed in this study: (1) How does first‐grade Latino English‐language learners’ growth in English instructional reading level and selected word‐level reading subprocesses (ability to read words in isolation, phonemic awareness, and phonics) compare to their monolingual native‐English‐speaking peers’ growth?; and (2) Does first‐grade Latino English‐language learners’ English reading growth (instructional reading level and selected word‐level reading subprocesses) vary according to their oral English language abilities? Participants were 47 students in two first‐grade classrooms—28 were Latino English‐language learners, and 19 were monolingual native‐English speakers. At each of two points in time—mid‐year and end‐of‐year—three reading measures were administered to all participants and an additional four oral‐English measures were administered to the Latino participants. To address the first research question, repeated measures analyses of variance were performed, first using Instructional Reading Level as the dependent variable, then with follow‐up analyses to examine growth in word‐level sub‐processes of reading. The second research question was addressed using repeated measures analyses of covariance. Main findings were that language status (Latino English learners versus monolingual native‐English speakers) was not related to Instructional Reading growth or growth in word‐level subprocesses of reading, and Overall English Oral Ability was not related to Instructional Reading Level growth, but was related to word‐level reading sub‐processes.