Reading Abilities

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Language learning is beneficial in the development of students’ reading abilities.

This study analyzes the reading abilities of 81 English-speaking Canadian-born children (ages 9-13) who had been exposed to Italian at home, where both languages were spoken by their middle-class parents. The children attended an Italian heritage language class every day for 35 minutes, starting in the first grade. English and Italian monolingual comparison groups of students were used, which matched students on age. English monolingual students were comparable to bilingual students in that they lived in same geographical area, were taught using similar methods, and had comparable socioeconomic status. The Italian monolingual students from northern Italy were similar to the bilingual group in socioeconomic status and family background. A series of word reading, pseudoword reading, spelling, working memory, and oral cloze tasks were administered in each language. Findings indicate significant similar levels of performance in both languages, with correlations between English and Italian word reading, pseudoword reading, and spelling. In comparing 9-10 year-old bilinguals to English monolinguals on tasks in English, the bilingual skilled readers scored higher on word-reading and spelling tasks than the monolingual skilled readers, although no differences were found on psuedoword reading tasks, working memory, or oral cloze tasks.

The development of reading in English and Italian in bilingual children. Applied Psycholinguistics, 22(4), 479-507. from PsycINFO database.

D'Angiulli, A., Siegel, L. S., & Serra, E. (2001)
This study revealed that Puerto Rican students recently arrived in the United States who participated in a bilingual reading program in Spanish and English performed significantly better than did similar students who did not participate in the program.

The effects of a dual language reading program on the reading ability of Puerto Rican students. Reading Psychology, 3(3), 233-238. from ERIC database.

Diaz, J. O. P. (1982).
This study examines the effect of language study on the English reading skills of sixth-grade school children. Achievement in reading skills of a control group of students receiving no foreign language instruction was compared with that in the Latin instruction group. Differences in scores of pretests and posttests of the more than 1100 students in three categories of reading achievement--vocabulary, comprehension, and total reading skills--were used as the data in determining average achievement in each group. Results of the study indicate that there is a significant difference between reading achievement scores of sixth-grade students receiving foreign language instruction and students with no foreign language instruction.

A study of the effect of Latin instruction on English reading skills of sixth grade students in the public schools of the district of Columbia, school year, 1970-71., 18. from ERIC database.

District of Columbia Public Schools,Washington, D.C. (1971).
In a four-year study of the relationship between the length of elementary foreign-language education & English reading achievement, 672 students from a Midwestern elementary school were administered reading tests after they had received two or four years of foreign-language instruction - up to grade six. The sample represented varying intelligence levels. Results indicated that students of average intelligence profited most from the two extra years of instruction in terms of English reading skills.

Elementary school foreign languages and English reading achievement: A new view of the relationship. Foreign Language Annals, 24(5), 375-382. from Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts database.

Garfinkel, A., & Tabor, K. E. (1991).

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Reading Abilities

Language learning is beneficial in the development of students’ reading abilities.