This study examined the heterogeneity of early literacy profiles of English learners and non-English learners. Utilizing a latent profile analysis, the degree to which distinct learner profiles emerged was examined using code-based and language-based measures administered in the beginning of first grade. Participants included 11,803 English…

Using a conversation analysis (CA) framework, this study investigated how kindergarten-aged learners took initiative during classroom interactions through multimodal communication resources. Over a thirteen-week period, data was collected from kindergarten English classroom interactions between two male native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) and…

The current study followed literacy skills development amongst 79 Arabic native speaking pupils from kindergarten to fourth grade. Based on reading comprehension attainments in fourth grade, two groups of skilled and poor readers were identified. Poor readers showed significantly lower performance on measures of phonological and morphological…

Using U.S. state-level data, we report unadjusted and adjusted odds ratio of special education (SPED) trends in Tennessee from 2009 to 2019 for students in Grades 3 to 8 by three language groups: native English speakers (NES), English-proficient bilinguals (EPB), and Current English learners (Current EL). We report trends across all SPED…

This study examined the writing skills of first-grade students who are English Language Learners (ELLs) or Native English Speakers (NESs). We examined the roles of transcription and oral language skills on contextualized spelling, writing fluency, and writing quality outcomes for ELL and NES students. Thirty-four ELLs (Mean age (A) = 78.03 months,…

Background: In countries with German as an official language, children with German as a second language perform overall worse in school than their German native speaking peers. This particularly affects written language skills, which require advanced language knowledge. The reasons are manifold, but one is prominent, namely poor vocabulary…

This article reports on a formative experiment involving the implementation of long-term multifaceted vocabulary instruction in second-grade Spanish-English dual-immersion classes. The findings indicate that students in the second year of the project showed accelerated growth in English vocabulary knowledge in comparison to the norming sample of a…

Using state-level data, we report unadjusted and adjusted odds ratio of special education (SPED) trends in Tennessee from 2009-2019 for students in grades 3-8 by 3 language groups: native English speakers (NES), English-proficient bilinguals (EPB) and Current English learners (Current EL). We report trends across all SPED disability categories and…

The assessment of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students, including students who are learning English as a second language (English language learners, ELL), is a challenge for many school psychologists who have limited training and practice opportunities with students from these populations. According to the National Center for…

Acadience Reading (AR) is a screener for early detection of reading problems in elementary students. Limited research exists, however, on its technical adequacy for evaluation of English Learners (ELs). In this study, we tested the long-term predictive validity and diagnostic accuracies of AR and examined the differences between native…

Despite the increasing number of U.S. born Latinos, placing heritage and native speakers in the Spanish curriculum is still a challenge (MacGregor-Mendoza & Moreno, 2020). The present article: (1) addresses the unique needs of heritage speakers in the Spanish curriculum; (2) problematizes traditional grammar-based placement exams; and (3)…

Do learners of a second language (L2) need frequent contact with native speakers of that language in order to master its phonology? What if they hear audio recordings of native speakers and receive immediate corrective feedback about their perception? We used a randomized controlled experiment with 135 Chinese speakers (with English as their L2)…