Contributions of Oral Narrative Skills to English Reading in Spanish–English Latino/a Dual Language Learners

Purpose: The study examined the contributions of Spanish and English oral narrative skills to English reading among 95 early elementary dual language learners (DLLs) from Spanish-speaking homes in the United States. This sample of first- and third-grade DLL children attended Spanish–English dual language immersion programs and received language and literacy instruction in both English and Spanish. Method: All participants completed a storytelling task in both languages and two English reading tests in decoding and reading comprehension. The story narratives were analyzed for microstructures (number of different new words, lexical diversity [D], mean length of utterance, subordination index [SI]) using the Computerized Language ANalysis program. The narrative samples were also evaluated for macrostructures (i.e., discourse-level features) using the Narrative Scoring Scheme. Results: Grade, English D, and Spanish SI significantly predicted English reading. Grade level was the strongest predictor of the three for both decoding and comprehension. However, Spanish SI was more robust than English D for decoding whereas English D was a stronger predictor than Spanish SI for comprehension. Conclusions: Young DLL children's oral narrative skills in English as well as in their home language Spanish contributed to their English reading outcomes. The study further specified the contributions of narrative elements to different reading skills. Microstructural elements appeared to play a stronger role in English reading than macrostructural elements for DLLs in dual language programs in early elementary grades. The results provided support for the simple view of reading and the linguistic interdependence hypothesis . The results also implicated that maintaining young DLL children's home language skills may be beneficial, rather than harmful, to their English reading development.

A preliminary study of the relationship between working memory, language experience, and grammatical skill in dual language learners

Purpose: This study examined the relationship between verbal short-term and working memory, language experience, and English tense-marking skill in Spanish L1-English L2 dual language learners (DLLs). Methodology: Ten Spanish-English DLLs, in kindergarten and first grade, participated in the study. Children completed the Test of Early Grammatical Impairment, a narrative retell task in English, and verbal memory tasks. Parents provided information regarding language input and output in the home and school environment. Data and analysis: Correlational analyses were conducted to examine relationships between English and Spanish input/output, forward and backward digit span, assessed in English and Spanish, and the accurate and productive use of English tense morphemes in various linguistic contexts. Conclusions: Study outcomes indicated varied use of English tense morphemes among DLLs. Additionally, a strong, positive association was found between the use of a variety of distinct tense forms and verbal working memory performance. Originality: This study is the first investigation to examine verbal short-term and working memory and home language experience to advance our understanding of the specific child internal and external factors that may account for the variability in tense marking during English second language acquisition. Significance: This research provides further insight to the effects of individual differences on the acquisition of second language grammatical skill during childhood.