Early literacy and comprehension skills in children learning English as an additional language and monolingual children with language weaknesses

Claudine Bowyer-Crane,Blanca Schaefer,Arne Lervåg,Charles Hulme,Silke Fricke

doi:10.1007/s11145-016-9699-8

Abstract

Many children learning English as an additional language (EAL) show reading comprehension difficulties despite adequate decoding. However, the relationship between early language and reading comprehension in this group is not fully understood. The language and literacy skills of 80 children learning English from diverse language backgrounds and 80 monolingual English-speaking peers with language weaknesses were assessed at school entry (mean age = 4 years, 7 months) and after 2 years of schooling in the UK (mean age = 6 years, 3 months). The EAL group showed weaker language skills and stronger word reading than the monolingual group but no difference in reading comprehension. Individual differences in reading comprehension were predicted by variations in decoding and language comprehension in both groups to a similar degree.

Highlights

Reading development depends upon both decoding and oral language skills, as summarised by the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986)
In this paper we investigate the early language and literacy skills of a group of 160 children; 80 monolingual English children are learning a second language (English)-speaking children with language weaknesses and 80 children learning to read in English as an additional language (EAL)
We report data collected at school entry and again after roughly 2 years of formal literacy instruction in the UK

Summary

Introduction

Reading development depends upon both decoding and oral language skills, as summarised by the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986). Less research exists exploring the component processes that underpin the early reading development of children learning to read in English as an additional language (EAL), in a UK context where the language background of English language learners is diverse. Results from national tests of language and literacy reveal a consistent achievement gap in many areas between EAL children and their monolingual English-speaking peers at the early stages of schooling in the UK (Strand, Malmberg, & Hall, 2015). There is clearly a need to provide support for EAL children in developing their early language and literacy skills

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