This study examined whether, and if so how, L1 and L2 segmental and suprasegmental phonological awareness is longitudinally related to L1 and L2 reading comprehension difficulties among Hong Kong Chinese-English bilingual children. Using a regression approach, we identified five types of comprehenders, i.e., 11 poor-Chinese/average-English…

Building on theories of cross linguistic transfer, reading proficiency of Spanish-speaking Emerging Bilinguals may be enhanced by providing tiered instruction through multitiered systems of support. To realize the benefits of this systems-level framework, technically adequate universal screening assessments to support teachers' decision making are…

Given the multilingual population of the United States, dual-language books (DLBs), or books with the complete text written in two languages, are often recommended for teachers to use in their classrooms to validate students' language and culture, facilitate language learning, and support (bi)literacy development. These recommendations are based…

This case study focused on transitional bilingual class and explored connections between the literacy practices co-constructed in this figured world and one student's developing identity. Yanet, a newcomer student from Cuba, was encouraged to draw on community cultural wealth to support her own and her classmates' language, literacy and identity…

The author looks at bilingual first language acquisition Spanish-English Mexican American bilinguals across an elementary school in Colorado. Based on classroom observations, and small group and one-on-one interviews with student participants, their teachers, and immediate family members, these bilinguals reveal how their identity is compromised…

In teaching reading, educators strive to find the balance between a code-emphasis approach and a meaning-oriented literacy approach. However, little is known about how different approaches to literacy can benefit bilingual children's early reading acquisition. To investigate the novel hypothesis that children's age of first bilingual exposure can…

The United States is experiencing an increase in young students developing literacy in English and Spanish. Schools providing dual-language English/Spanish instruction need technically adequate tools to assess reading skills in the languages of instruction, and interpretation of results needs to acknowledge the complexity of cross-linguistic…

Previous cross-language research has focused on L1 phonological processing and its relation to L2 reading. Less extensive is the research on the effect that L1 orthographic processing skill has on L2 reading and spelling. This study was designed to investigate how reading and spelling acquisition in English (L2) is influenced by phonological and…

This study contributes to the literature on cross-linguistic literacy relationships for English language learners, and in particular, the Spanish-influenced spelling patterns of Spanish-English bilinguals. English spelling, reading, and vocabulary assessments were administered to 220 students in four TWI programs over a three-year period, from…

The purpose of this study was to assess the roles of oral language and phonological awareness on reading performance in grade 3 bilingual students. Several hierarchical models assessed the best predictors of third grade English and Spanish word attack, word identification and reading comprehension. Predictor variables were measures of phonological…

The universality of reading comprehension strategies across languages is a view generally accepted. What has not been clearly established, however, is the degree to which specific comprehension strategies are used by skilled L1 and L2 readers in the early grades. To investigate this issue, similarities and differences in the reading strategies of…

This paper suggests that bilingualism can increase the child's metalinguistic awareness and promote an analytic orientation to linguistic input. (Author/AM)

The interview techniques developed by Carol Chomsky were used in a comparative study of the language acquisition of 32 bilingual and monolingual third grade students. After these students were matched for age, socioeconomic status, IQ, family environment (both parents in the home), and reading ability, they were placed in four…

An ethnographic study of language proficiency in the home and school languages of bilingual children was conducted. From a qualitative sociolinguistic perspective, language proficiency, the relation of linguistic performance to community language use and attitudes, and the correlation of the sociolinguistic findings on language repertoire with…