Teaching reading to bilingual children: A longitudinal study of teaching and learning in the early grades

Abstract

Abstract This six-year longitudinal study examined the relations between current schooling practices and the language and reading achievement of a large sample of low-income Hispanic children who began their schooling in bilingual classrooms in Texas. The study examined the children’s language on entry into school and thereafter. Standardized test data were collected and examined, as were other more detailed sources of language and reading data. Systematic observation was carried out in the classroom. Information was gathered about the teachers’ instructional plans; the nature of the instructional program was documented. The student’s entry skills and subsequent achievement in oral language and the various components of reading were examined, and the students’ rates and patterns of growth were investigated in relation to the instruction each student received. The data revealed that the students on the average were acquiring English oral language skills at the rate expected and were gaining in English lite...