While participating in the Bilingual Teacher Research Forum (a teacher inquiry group), I decided to do research in my classroom to investigate the ways in which emergent bilinguals (EBs) expanded their appreciation and understanding of writing in English as a second language. The purpose of this study was to examine and describe first-grade EBs'…

First-language (L1) and 2nd-language (L2) oral language skills and L2 word reading were used as predictors to test the simple view of reading as a model of 2nd-language reading comprehension. The simple view of reading states that reading comprehension is related to decoding and oral language comprehension skills. One hundred thirty-one…

A read-aloud program focused on vocabulary and comprehension skills for children bilingual in Quechua and Spanish was evaluated for efficacy. The authors present a study with classrooms of first-grade students, suggesting that specific read-aloud strategies that target the use of background knowledge in a discussion-based format can be a…

We examined the components of first (L1) and second language (L2) phonological processing that are related to L2 word reading and vocabulary. Spanish-speaking English learners (EL) were classified as average or low readers in grades 1 and 2. A large number of children who started out as poor readers in first grade became average readers in second…

The authors report 1-year follow-up data from 215 English language learners with reading difficulties who received a supplemental first grade reading intervention in the language of their core reading instruction. The researchers provided no intervention or boosters in second grade. The Spanish study revealed significant differences favoring…

This article reports on a longitudinal analysis of factors that predict the word reading skills in English and Spanish for a sample of 234 Spanish-speaking students in first grade. The children were assessed at the end of preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. Data include three subtests of the Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery and a…

In this article we explore some of the ways that language ideologies--shared beliefs about language forms and practices embedded in social conflicts over power--mediated the language choices of 4 girls in peer activities. These activities took place in the Spanish and English first-grade classrooms of a dual-language program that enrolled children…

Background: Studies focusing on reading errors can help to understand how children learn to read and to structure key components of reading instruction. However, no prior studies have examined which letters might be a greater source of difficulty for beginning readers in Spanish. Aims: First, to examine the pattern of reading errors in beginning…

This study surveyed the literacy practices of 45 English-speaking parents of Latino kindergarten through second graders using English questionnaires. The results of the survey were similar in many respects to other studies of English-speaking Latinos and unlike studies of Spanish-speaking Latinos. Respondents reported numbers of children's books…

We provide data 3 to 4 years postintervention for four samples of English language learners from two sequential Grade 1 cohorts who received supplemental Grade 1 reading interventions in Spanish or English and for whom the language of instruction for intervention was matched with language of core reading instruction. Participants were 300 students…

Success for All (SFA) is a comprehensive reading, writing, and oral language development program for students in pre-K through eighth grade. Its underlying premise is that all children, including those with limited English proficiency, can and should be reading in English at grade level by the end of third grade. (SFA can impact Spanish literacy…

The relation of language of instruction and vocabulary to the English spelling of bilingual first graders receiving either English or Spanish literacy instruction and of monolinguals in English literacy instruction was explored. Only bilingual students in Spanish literacy instruction (SLI) exhibited Spanish-influenced spelling, indicating a…

This study explores influences on bilingual children's phonological awareness (PA) performance in English, examining the role of language of instruction and vocabulary. English monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual kindergartners and first graders receiving either English or Spanish literacy instruction were assessed in English PA and in…

Taking a position that is unusual these days, New Jersey officials are promoting research that says bilingual education methods have an edge over English-only methods in teaching English-language learners to read. This article talks about the importance of bilingual education or a blended approach in the implementation of Reading First Program in…

This paper presents findings from a study of teaching and learning strategies co-constructed by peers in a Spanish/English dual language first grade classroom. Grounded in sociocultural theory and developed using ethnographic approaches to data collection and analysis, the study analyses the children's mediation of their own and each other's…