Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Exploring sources of poor reading comprehension in English language learners

Exploring sources of poor reading comprehension in English language learners This study examined the sources of reading comprehension difficulties in English language learners (ELLs). The characteristics of ELL poor comprehenders were compared to their English as a first language (EL1) peers. Participants included 124 ELLs who spoke Chinese as an L1 and 79 EL1 students. Using a regression technique based on age, non-verbal reasoning, word reading accuracy, and word reading fluency, three types of comprehenders (poor, average, and good) were identified within each language group. The groups were then compared on measures of oral language skills (vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, and listening comprehension), metalinguistic skills (morphological awareness and syntactic awareness), working memory, and higher-level processing skills (inference, conjunction use, and comprehension monitoring). ELL poor comprehenders had significantly lower scores than ELL average and good comprehenders on vocabulary breadth, listening comprehension, and morphological awareness, whereas there were no significant differences between the average and good comprehender groups on these skills. Additionally, both ELL poor and average comprehenders had lower scores than ELL good comprehenders on all three higher-level skills. Finally, results showed that ELL poor comprehenders scored lower than EL1 poor comprehenders on vocabulary breadth, listening comprehension, and morphological awareness, but the two groups did not differ on higher-level skills. Theoretical and educational implications for the identification and instruction of ELL poor comprehenders are discussed. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Annals of Dyslexia Springer Journals

Exploring sources of poor reading comprehension in English language learners

Download PDF
23 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/exploring-sources-of-poor-reading-comprehension-in-english-language-ADShQavvNY
Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © The International Dyslexia Association 2021
ISSN
0736-9387
eISSN
1934-7243
DOI
10.1007/s11881-021-00214-4
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This study examined the sources of reading comprehension difficulties in English language learners (ELLs). The characteristics of ELL poor comprehenders were compared to their English as a first language (EL1) peers. Participants included 124 ELLs who spoke Chinese as an L1 and 79 EL1 students. Using a regression technique based on age, non-verbal reasoning, word reading accuracy, and word reading fluency, three types of comprehenders (poor, average, and good) were identified within each language group. The groups were then compared on measures of oral language skills (vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, and listening comprehension), metalinguistic skills (morphological awareness and syntactic awareness), working memory, and higher-level processing skills (inference, conjunction use, and comprehension monitoring). ELL poor comprehenders had significantly lower scores than ELL average and good comprehenders on vocabulary breadth, listening comprehension, and morphological awareness, whereas there were no significant differences between the average and good comprehender groups on these skills. Additionally, both ELL poor and average comprehenders had lower scores than ELL good comprehenders on all three higher-level skills. Finally, results showed that ELL poor comprehenders scored lower than EL1 poor comprehenders on vocabulary breadth, listening comprehension, and morphological awareness, but the two groups did not differ on higher-level skills. Theoretical and educational implications for the identification and instruction of ELL poor comprehenders are discussed.

Journal

Annals of Dyslexia – Springer Journals

Published: Feb 11, 2021

Keywords: English language learners; Poor comprehenders; Reading comprehension difficulties

References

  • Classification and identification of reading and math disabilities: The special case of comorbidity
    Branum-Martin, L; Fletcher, JM; Stuebing, KK
  • Syntactic awareness and reading ability: is there any evidence for a specialrelationship?
    Cain, K
  • Inference making ability and its relation to comprehension failure in young children
    Cain, K; Oakhill, JV
  • Profiles of children with specific reading comprehension difficulties
    Cain, K; Oakhill, JV
  • Matthew effects in young readers: Reading comprehension and reading experience aid vocabulary development
    Cain, K; Oakhill, JV
  • Comprehension skill, inference-making ability, and their relation to knowledge
    Cain, K; Oakhill, JV; Barnes, MA; Bryant, PE
  • Children’s reading comprehension ability: Concurrent prediction by working memory, verbal ability, and component skills
    Cain, K; Oakhill, JV; Bryant, PE
  • The ability to learn new word meanings from context by school-age children with and without language comprehension difficulties
    Cain, K; Oakhill, JV; Elbro, C
  • Individual differences in the inference of word meanings from context: The influence of reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, and memory capacity
    Cain, K; Oakhill, JV; Lemmon, K
  • Morphological awareness and early reading achievement
    Carlisle, JF; Feldman, LB
  • Awareness of the structure and meaning of morphologically complex words: impact on reading. Read
    Carlisle, JF
  • Language deficits in poor comprehenders: A case for the Simple View of Reading
    Catts, HW; Adlof, SM; Weismer, SE
  • How the reading for understanding initiative's research complicates the simple view of reading invoked in the science of reading
    Cervetti, GN; Pearson, PD; Palincsar, AS; Afflerbach, P; Kendeou, P; Biancarosa, G; Higgs, J; Fitzgerald, MS; Berman, AI
  • Deconstructing and reconstructing cross-language transfer in bilingual reading development: an interactive framework
    Chung, C; Chen, X; Geva, E
  • The poor comprehender profile: Understanding and supporting individuals who have difficulties extracting meaning from text
    Clarke, PJ; Henderson, LM; Truelove, E; Holmes, J
  • Individual differences in the vocabulary skills of children with poor reading comprehension
    Colenbrander, D; Kohnen, S; Smith-Lock, K; Nickels, L
  • Selecting at-risk readers in first grade for early intervention: A two-year longitudinal study of decision rules and procedures
    Compton, DL; Fuchs, D; Fuchs, LS; Bryant, JD
  • Working memory span tasks: A methodological review and user’s guide
    Conway, A; Kane, MJ; Bunting, MF; Hambrick, DZ; Wilhelm, O; Engle, RW
  • Testing and refining the direct and inferential mediation model of reading comprehension
    Cromley, J; Azevedo, R
  • Factors that influence comprehension of connectives among language minority children from Spanish-speaking backgrounds
    Crosson, A; Lesaux, N; Martiniello, M
  • Does knowledge of connectives play a unique role in the reading comprehension of English learners and English-only students?
    Crosson, A; Lesaux, NK
  • Language profiles of poor comprehenders in English and French
    D’Angelo, N; Chen, X
  • Poor comprehenders in French immersion: Implications for identification and instruction
    D’Angelo, N; Hipfner-Boucher; Chen, X
  • Understanding how syntactic awareness contributes to reading comprehension: Evidence from mediation and longitudinal models
    Deacon, SH; Kieffer, M
  • Language proficiency and reading ability in first-and second-language learners
    Droop, M; Verhoeven, L
  • Longitudinal stability and predictors of poor oral comprehenders and poor decoders
    Elwer, S; Keenan, JM; Olson, RK; Byrne, B; Samuelsson, S
  • Cognitive correlates of vocabulary growth in English language learners
    Farnia, F; Geva, E
  • Growth and predictors of change in English language learners’ reading comprehension
    Farnia, F; Geva, E
  • The structure of oral language and reading and their relation to comprehension in Kindergarten through Grade 2
    Foorman, BR; Herrara, S; Petscher, Y; Mitchell, A; Truckenmiller, A
  • Conjunction Use in School Children's Oral Language and Reading
    Geva, E; Horowitz, R
  • Developmental changes in the nature of language proficiency and reading fluency paint a more complex view of reading comprehension in ELL and EL1
    Geva, E; Farnia, F
  • A comparison of the language skills of ELLs and monolinguals who are poor decoders, poor comprehenders, or normal readers
    Geva, E; Massey-Garrison, A
  • Use of conjunctions in expository texts by skilled and less skilled readers
    Geva, E; Ryan, EB
  • Linguistic and Cognitive Correlates of Academic Skills in First and Second Language
    Geva, E; Ryan, EB
  • The effect of connectives and causal relatedness on comprehension
    Golding, JM; Millis, KM; Hauselt, J; Sego, SA; Lorch, RF; O’Brien, EJ
  • Coh-Metrix: Analysis of text on cohesion and language
    Graesser, AC; McNamara, DS; Louwerse, MM; Cai, Z
  • A Developmental Examination of Narrative Writing in EL and EL1 School Children Who Are Typical Readers, Poor Decoders, or Poor Comprehenders
    Herbert, KED; Massey-Garrison, A; Geva, E
  • Development of morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge in Spanish-speaking language minority learners: A parallel process latent growth curve model
    Kieffer, MJ; Lesaux, NK
  • Why the simple view of reading is not simplistic: Unpacking the simple view of reading using a direct and indirect effect model of reading (DIER)
    Kim, YSG
  • Children’s morphological awareness and reading ability
    Kirby, JR; Deacon, SH; Bowers, PN; Izenberg, L; Wade-Woolley, L; Parrila, R
  • The dimensionality of language ability in young children
  • Exploring sources of reading comprehension difficulties among language minority learners and their classmates in early adolescence
    Lesaux, NK; Kieffer, M
  • Development of literacy of language minority learners
    Lesaux, NK; Koda, K; Siegel, LS; Shanahan, T; August, DL; Shanahan, T
  • Investigating cognitive and linguistic abilities that influence the reading comprehension skills of children from diverse linguistic backgrounds
    Lesaux, NK; Lipka, O; Siegel, LS
  • Unexpected poor comprehenders among adolescent ESL students
    Li, M; Kirby, JR
  • The development of reading comprehension skills in children learning English as a second language
    Lipka, O; Siegel, LS
  • The role of connectives in science text comprehension and memory
    Maury, P; Teisserenc, A
  • Specific reading difficulties in Chinese, English, or both: Longitudinal markers of phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and RAN in Hong Kong Chinese children
    McBride-Chang, C; Liu, PD; Wong, T; Wong, A; Shu, H
  • Making the right connections: Differential effects of reading intervention for subgroups of comprehenders
    McMaster, KL; Van den Broek, P; Espin, CA; White, MJ; Rapp, DN; Kendeou, P
  • The influence of connectives on sentence comprehension
    Millis, KK; Just, MA
  • Working memory deficits in poor comprehenders reflect underlying impairments
    Nation, K; Adams, JW; Bowyer-Crane, C; Snowling, MJ
  • A longitudinal investigation of early reading and language skills in children with poor reading comprehension
    Nation, K; Cocksey, J; Taylor, JS; Bishop, DV
  • Semantic processing and the development of word recognition skills: Evidence from children with reading comprehension difficulties
    Nation, K; Snowling, MJ
  • Developmental differences in sensitivity to semantic relations among good and poor comprehenders: Evidence from semantic priming
    Nation, K; Snowling, MJ
  • Factors influencing syntactic awareness skills in normal readers and poor comprehenders
    Nation, K; Snowling, MJ
  • Production of the English past tense by children with language comprehension impairment
    Nation, K; Snowling, MJ; Clarke, P
  • Examining reading comprehension profiles of grade 5 monolinguals and English language learners through the lexical quality hypothesis lens
    O’Connor, M; Geva, E; Koh, P
  • Levels of comprehension monitoring and working memory in good and poor comprehenders
    Oakhill, J; Hartt, J; Samols, D
  • What's meaning got to do with it: The role of vocabulary in word reading and reading comprehension
    Ouellette, GP
  • The lexical quality hypothesis
    Perfetti, CA; Hart, L
  • The acquisition of reading comprehension skill
    Perfetti, CA; Landi, N; Oakhill, J; Snowling, MJ; Hulme, C
  • Poor comprehenders in the classroom: Teacher ratings of behavior in children with poor reading comprehension and its relationship with individual differences in working memory
    Pimperton, H; Nation, K
  • Investigating orthographic and semantic aspects of word learning in poor comprehenders
    Ricketts, J; Bishop, DVM; Nation, K
  • The role of coherence relations and their linguistic markers in text processing
    Sanders, TJM; Noordman, LGM
  • The comprehension problems for second-language learners with poor reading comprehension despite adequate decoding: A meta-analysis
    Spencer, M; Wagner, RK
  • Reading comprehension and working memory in children with learning disabilities in reading
    Swanson, H; Howard, CB; Sáez, L; Cain, K; Oakhill, J
  • Growth in literacy and cognition in bilingual children at risk or not at risk for reading disabilities
    Swanson, HL; Sáez, L; Gerber, M
  • Morphological and syntactic awareness in poor comprehenders: another piece of the puzzle
    Tong, X; Deacon, SH; Cain, K
  • Morphological awareness: A key to understanding poor reading comprehension in English
    Tong, X; Deacon, SH; Kirby, JR; Cain, K; Parrila, R
  • Expository text comprehension in secondary school: for which readers does knowledge of connectives contribute the most?
    Welie, C; Schoonen, R; Kuiken, F; van den Bergh, H
  • Poor comprehenders in English-only and English language learners: Influence of morphological analysis during incidental word learning
    Zhang, J; Shulley, L