A Longitudinal Study of Reading Development of Canadian Children from Diverse Linguistic Backgrounds

Abstract

This study examined the development of reading and reading‐related skills for native and nonnative speakers of English through the first and second grades. Tasks assessing reading, phonological, and language processing were administered to 36 native English speakers (NS) and 38 children who spoke English as a second language (ELL). Both ELL and NS children showed similar patterns of growth and achievement on measures of word recognition and phonological processing. Error analyses revealed that children from both language groups used similar strategies in reading unfamiliar words. Furthermore, the same first‐grade variables—pseudoword reading and phonological awareness—were important contributors to reading skill for children from both language groups. Therefore, the findings from this sample suggested that word recognition in English develops in a similar way for NS and ELL children from middle‐class backgrounds.