Predictors of English reading comprehension: Cantonese-speaking English language learners in the U.S.

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 913-939 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuuko Uchikoshi
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 19-42
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Mirfatemi ◽  
Amir Sadeghi ◽  
Mitra P Niyazi

Supra-segmental features refer to various forms of intonation and how words and sentences are uttered. Such features challenge meaning and comprehension, too. Despite the importance of these features and their reported association with phonological awareness and linguistic comprehension, their effects on reading comprehension have not been explored. The current work investigated the impact of a remedial program on Persian and English reading comprehension of a group of English language learners (N=30 divided into experimental and control groups). The measurements tested the components of reading comprehension based on the Simple View of Reading (SVR). Additionally, supra-segmental features were assessed by Profiling Elements of Prosody (i.e., supra-segmentals) in Speech-communication (PEPS) in both languages. As a result, English and Persian elision and also Persian listening were affected by teaching supra-segmental features. Assessing the transfer of linguistic skills revealed that Persian listening and knowledge of supra-segmentals, in particular, recognizing short syllables and awareness of stress position in a sentence, contribute to English reading comprehension. It indicates that reading and listening comprehension are affected by similar cognitive processes that may lay in the knowledge of supra-segmentals. The findings also suggest that simpler systems of supra-segmentals are more likely to transfer. Pertinent pedagogical implications were presented, as well.


Author(s):  
G. Sue Kasun ◽  
Cinthya M. Saavedra

Young immigrant youth often live their lives across borders, either by physically crossing them for return visits and/or by metaphorically crossing them through social media and cultural identification. The authors argue these students are better understood as transnational, shifting the focus for educators away from imagining their immigrant students on a straight, one-way path to assimilation in the U.S. to understanding these youths’ abilities to cross borders. Specifically, they call for a redesignation of English Language Learners (ELLs) as Transnational English Learners (TELs). Highlighting examples of educators’ successful border-crossing work, the authors call for educators to cross borders as well in their curriculum and relationships with transnational youth.


2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 268-271

07–449Barber, Richard (Dubai Women's College, UAE), A practical model for creating efficient in-house placement tests. The Language Teacher (Japan Association for Language Teaching) 31.2 (2007), 3–7.07–450Chang, Yuh-Fang (National Chung Hsing U, Taiwan), On the use of the immediate recall task as a measure of second language reading comprehension. Language Testing (Hodder Arnold) 23.4 (2006), 520–543.07–451Hyun-Ju, Kim (U Seoul, Korea), World Englishes in language testing: A call for research. English Today (Cambridge University Press) 22.4 (2006), 32–39.07–452Mahon, Elizabeth A. (Durham Public Schools, North Carolina, USA), High-stakes testing and English language learners: Questions of validity. Bilingual Research Journal (National Association for Bilingual Education) 30.2 (2006), 479–497.07–453McCoy, Damien (Australian Centre for Education and Training, Vietnam), Utilizing students' preferred language learning strategies for IELTS test preparation. EA Journal (English Australia) 23.1 (2006), 3–13.07–454Menken, Kate (City U New York, USA), Teaching to the test: How no child left behind impacts language policy, curriculum, and instruction for English language learners. Bilingual Research Journal (National Association for Bilingual Education) 30.2 (2006), 521–547.07–455Pae, Tae-Il (Yeungnam U, China) & Gi-Pyo Park, Examining the relationship between differential item functioning and differential test functioning.Language Testing (Hodder Arnold) 23.4 (2006), 475–496.07–456Rimmer, Wayne (U Reading, UK), Measuring grammatical complexity: The Gordian knot. Language Testing (Hodder Arnold) 23.4 (2006), 497–519.07–457Rupp, André A. (Humboldt U, Berlin, Germany) Tracy Ferne & Hyeran Choi, How assessing reading comprehension with multiple-choice questions shapes the construct: A cognitive processing perspective. Language Testing (Hodder Arnold) 23.4 (2006), 441–474.07–458Vanderveen, Terry (Kangawa U, Japan), The effect of EFL students' self-monitoring on class achievement test scores. JALT Journal (Japan Association for Language Teaching) 28.2 (2006), 197–206.07–459Van Moere, Alistair (Lancaster U, UK), Validity evidence in a university group oral test. Language Testing (Hodder Arnold) 23.4 (2006), 411–440.


Author(s):  
Laila Aghai

This qualitative research study focuses on English language learners who are continuing their education in the U.S. high schools and examines their translanguaging in the classroom. When students are learning a second language, they use their linguistic repertoire and their knowledge in English and their native language for negotiation of meaning. In order to gain a better understanding of the students' translanguaging, one ESL teacher and 10 ESL students were interviewed and observed in a classroom. The ESL students spoke Arabic as their native language and had beginning to intermediate proficiency levels. The findings of the study showed that English language learners use various strategies to make the content comprehensible by making connections between their knowledge in their L1 and L2.


Author(s):  
Alejandra Sanmiguel-López

Research shows that children who speak a language other than English in Latinx and immigrant households make up a significant portion of schoolchildren in the United States and the process of developing and maintaining the heritage language (HL) is complex when that language is distinct from their classroom's language. This chapter explores the motivations parents have in maintaining the home language and the effect this has on Latinx and immigrant English language learners (ELLs) children. The motivations for preserving home language for Latinx and immigrant families are to maintain ties to Latinx cultural values and sustain cultural identity while also providing academic support for Latinx and immigrant ELLs students in the U.S. schools. Research on previous works of literature documents that through family language policy (FLP) practices and HL maintenance, Latinx and immigrant ELLs children can maintain and carry on their cultural values while simultaneously advancing academically in the U.S. schools.


AERA Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 233285841989257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Phillips Galloway ◽  
Paola Uccelli ◽  
Gladys Aguilar ◽  
Christopher D. Barr

In this study, we examine the unique and shared contributions of Spanish and English core academic language skills (CALS) to English reading comprehension in a population of Spanish-English dual language learners in Grades 4 and 5 (n = 165). We focus on cross-disciplinary CALS, operationalized as sets of high-utility lexical, syntactic and discourse resources prevalent in school texts. This study finds that Spanish and English CALS are positively and significantly related, and, further, that both sets of skills exert a unique positive influence on English reading comprehension. Aligned with an interpretation of linguistic interdependence between Spanish and English academic language skills, results document their cross-linguistic contribution to reading comprehension for students enrolled in educational programs that foster literacy and content learning regularly in two languages.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document