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The development of reading comprehension skills in children learning English as a second language

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Abstract

Reading comprehension is a multi-dimensional process that includes the reader, the text, and factors associated with the activity of reading. Most research and theories of comprehension are based primarily on research conducted with monolingual English speakers (L1). The present study was designed to investigate the cognitive and linguistic factors that have an influence on reading comprehension in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) speakers. The cognitive aspects of reading comprehension among L1 speakers and ESL speakers in the seventh grade were investigated. The performance of both groups was compared and the role of some relevant processes, including word reading, word reading fluency, phonological awareness, working memory, and morphological and syntactic awareness were assessed. Within this sample, three groups were examined: (1) children with poor comprehension (PC) in the absence of word reading difficulties (2) children with poor word reading and poor comprehension (poor readers, PR) (3) and children with both good word reading and comprehension abilities (good comprehenders, GC). The results demonstrated that a variety of cognitive processes, such as working memory and phonological, syntactic, and morphological awareness are important for reading comprehension and compromised in poor comprehenders. The GC group performed better than the PC group on all of the cognitive measures, indicating that comprehension depends on a variety of phonological, memory and linguistic processes and that adequate word recognition skill are important for reading comprehension. The prevalence of the ESL and L1 students was similar across the three reading groups. The ESL and L1 students demonstrated similar performance, indicating that the skills underlying reading comprehension are similar in the ESL and L1 students. This study demonstrated that ESL students are capable of developing word reading and reading comprehension skills that are as strong as those of their L1 peers.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to L.S. Siegel. The authors would like to thank the children that participated in this study, the teachers, and administrators for their cooperation and support. This study was part of a thesis of the first author. We would like to thank the thesis committee, Dr. Laurie Ford and Professor Bruno Zumbo, for their valuable support and comments during the writing of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education, University of British Columbia, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Orly Lipka & Linda S. Siegel

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  1. Orly Lipka
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  2. Linda S. Siegel
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Correspondence to Orly Lipka.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Planet filk

The silver spaceship, Starview, glided to a gentle stop on the planet Filk. Just as the landing wheels touched down, Pat and Kim, the passengers, both age 12, felt the spaceship bump.

They peered out the window. Pat screamed, “Look at the lake, look at the lake! It’s purple!”

Kim said, “That is because it is made out of grape juice.”

“You’re kidding me. Lakes are not made out of grape juice.”

“Yes, they are. They are on Filk.”

“Really? Are you fooling me?”

“They are made out of grape juice. Let’s go taste what is in the lake. Then you’ll believe me.”

While strolling along the path to the lake, they heard a rustling in the bushes. “What’s that, Pat?”. Pat looked scared, “I don’t know”. All of a sudden a big bear with blue fur appeared in front of a bush just a short distance away. The bear stared at them. What should they do? They tried to remember what to do when you meet a bear. Run? Climb a tree? Make noise?

“What should we do?” asked Kim.

Just then the bear started to come toward them. They were scared. Suddenly, the bear turned and ran away into the bushes. “Wow, that was close. I hope we don’t meet any more bears.”

They dashed to the lake and scooped up the purple liquid with their hands. “Yum! This tastes good, Pat. I wish the lakes on Earth were made of grape juice.”

In the distance they spotted a large tree with different coloured flowers on it: red, green, yellow, white, orange, brown. The flowers were round and very smooth. What strange looking flowers, they thought. When they reached the tree they saw they were not flowers; they were Smarties. Pat reached up and grabbed one. So did Kim. The Smarties tasted good. In the distance they saw a person. It must be someone who lives on Filk. People who live on Filk are called Filkians. Pat whispered, “Look! The Filkian has three heads! Wow, they must be very smart.”

“Having three big brains does not always mean that you are smart. Elephants have big brains and they’re not very smart”, said Kim.

“The Filkian has no ears!” Kim exclaimed. Pat pointed to the large antenna on each of the Filkian’s three heads. “Maybe that’s what they use to hear.”

“I bet that you’re right.”

The Filkian had only one mouth in the middle of his head.

“Ellohay, Earth eoplepay.” A Filkian walked slowly toward them.

“What did the Filkian say?” asked Pat.

“I don’t understand.” Kim replied. “It sounds like Martian. I guess he’s speaking Filkian.”

Pat and Kim spoke to the Filkian, “We don’t understand. We speak English. Do you speak English?”

“Onay. I ouldway ikelay ota earnlay. Illway ouya eachtay emay?”

“Okay. When we meet people we say ‘hello’.”

Pat and Kim both said, “Hello.”

Pointing and smiling, Pat said, “My name is Pat.” Pointing to Kim, Pat said, “My friend’s name is Kim.” Pat pointed to the Filkian. “What is your name?”

“89213.”

“Do you have numbers instead of names?”

“Esyay.”

The Filkian waved and said “Oodgay ayday.”

Pat and Kim said “Goodbye.”

They looked ahead of them.

Large and beautiful mountains rose majestically in the distance. They were brown with white tops.

“Let’s go visit the mountains.”

“How will we get there?”

Pat looked ahead and saw a sign ‘TRAIN TO THE MOUNTAINS. 200 KM FROM HERE TO THE MOUNTAINS. NEXT TRAIN 12 NOON. TRAIN ARRIVES 1400 (2 PM). RETURN TRAIN AT 1600 (4PM). FARE: FREE ONLY FOR EARTH PEOPLE. FARE FOR FILKIANS: 27 PABBERS.

“Let’s go!”

“Do we have time?”

“Yes. The spaceship leaves at 1900 (7 pm). We can catch the train at 1600 and be at the spaceship in plenty of time.”

Pat and Kim took the train to the mountains. They threw snowballs at each other on the top of the mountains. They had a good time and returned to the spaceship.

Questions

  1. 1.

    If Kim and Pat saw a Filkian wearing a fur coat made of bearskin, the coat would be

    1. a.

      Brown

    2. b.

      Blue

    3. c.

      White

    4. d.

      Black

  2. 2.

    Which of the following could be a word in Filkian language?

    1. a.

      Latcay

    2. b.

      Otnak

    3. c.

      Onpat

    4. d.

      Ogday

  3. 3.

    Majestic means

    1. a.

      Very big and beautiful

    2. b.

      Very little and beautiful

    3. c.

      Average size and beautiful

    4. d.

      No way to know

  4. 4.

    How fast does the train to the mountains travel?

    1. a.

      200 km per hour

    2. b.

      100 km per hour

    3. c.

      50 km per hour

    4. d.

      150 km per hour

  5. 5.

    Will Pat and Kim return to the spaceship on time?

    1. a.

      Yes

    2. b.

      Maybe

    3. c.

      No

    4. d.

      If they hurry

  6. 6.

    If Pat and Kim were thirsty and decided to drink from the lake, what would they drink?

    1. a.

      Water

    2. b.

      Grape juice

    3. c.

      Milk

    4. d.

      Hot chocolate

  7. 7.

    Who said, “Yes they are on Filk.”

    1. a.

      Kim

    2. b.

      Pat

    3. c.

      Neither Kim nor Pat

    4. d.

      Both Kim and Pat

  8. 8.

    Were Pat and Kim boys or girls?

    1. a.

      They were both boys.

    2. b.

      Pat was a girl and Kim was a boy.

    3. c.

      Kim was a girl and Pat was a boy.

    4. d.

      The story does not tell us.

  9. 9.

    What time will the train return from the mountains?

    1. a.

      1600

    2. b.

      1800

    3. c.

      1900

    4. d.

      1400

  10. 10.

    The Filkian money is called

    1. a.

      Filkers

    2. b.

      Pabbers

    3. c.

      Dollars

    4. d.

      Cents

Greb

The spaceship, Starview, drifted silently down from the clouds to the Planet Greb. The passengers, Leslie and Cory, age 11 years old, peered out the large round window and saw a grassy meadow.

“Look at the turquoise coloured leaves on the trees!” shouted Leslie.

“All the trees have turquoise leaves, Leslie,” Cory said.

They started off down the path. A large creature stepped in front of them.

“Greb to Welcome! Stay your enjoy you hope I.” The creature grinned at them with a mouthful of teeth.

“What did the creature say?”

“I don’t know; it must speak the Grebian language.”

The creature yelled at them: “Me understand you don’t?”

“No, I’m sorry; we only speak English.”

“You understand don’t I.” the creature said and waved goodbye.

“Look at its hand! It has 12 fingers on it, neatly arranged in three rows of four fingers!” The other hand has 12 also, in three rows.

“Don’t stare. He probably thinks that we are funny looking.”

Leslie and Cory ran off to the spaceship.

Questions

  1. 1.

    Leslie kicked a pile of leaves. What colour were the leaves?

    1. a.

      Green

    2. b.

      Red

    3. c.

      Yellow

    4. d.

      Turquoise

  2. 2.

    Which one of these sentences should be correct in the Grebian language?

    1. a.

      Strange and scary very is large planet this.

    2. b.

      Strange and scary very is planet large this.

    3. c.

      Strange and scary planet is very large.

    4. d.

      Strange and scary larger very this planet.

  3. 3.

    What is one advantage of having 24 fingers, 12 on each hand, arranged in three rows?

    1. a.

      You could play the piano very easily.

    2. b.

      You could type on a computer very easily.

    3. c.

      You could knit more easily than someone with only 5 fingers on each hand.

    4. d.

      You could pick your nose more easily than someone with 5 fingers on each hand.

  4. 4.

    Which is correct?

    1. a.

      Cory and Leslie are both boys.

    2. b.

      Cory is a boy and Leslie is a girl.

    3. c.

      Cory and Leslie are both girls.

    4. d.

      There is not enough information to judge from the story.

Appendix 2

Oral cloze—grade 7

Instructions: I will read something to you and there will be a word missing. Where the word is missing, I will say “blank.” I want you to think of a word that would sound right in the blank. For example, I might say, “The moon shines bright in the ‘blank’” (pause and repeat) and I want you to say “sky” or “night.” “The moon shines bright in the sky.” O.k. let’s try another one. I’ll say, “The children ‘blank’ with the toys.” (pause and repeat). What’s the word missing? (If the child fails to respond, say “How about play? The children play with the toys.”) Let’s try another one. “The little puppy wags its ___” (pause and repeat). “Good!”

  1. 1.

    The ___ little pigs ate corn.

  2. 2.

    Fred put the big turkey ___ the oven.

  3. 3.

    The ___ put his dairy cows in the barn.

  4. 4.

    Jane ___ her sister ran up the hill.

  5. 5.

    It was a sunny day with a pretty ___ sky.

  6. 6.

    Betty ___ a hole with her shovel.

  7. 7.

    we should have____that yesterday.

  8. 8.

    With a piece ___ chalk, he sketched her face.

  9. 9.

    The girl ___ is tall plays basketball well.

  10. 10.

    The boy had big brown eyes and a pleasant ___.

  11. 11.

    Because of the rain yesterday, the children ___ inside the house.

  12. 12.

    Nancy knocked ___ before entering the house.

  13. 13.

    The children put on their boots ___ it snows.

  14. 14.

    I want to play with a toy ___ is fun.

  15. 15.

    ___ is Susan going to the doctor today?

  16. 16.

    Jeffrey wanted to go ___ the roller coaster.

  17. 17.

    When we go ___ the building, we must be quiet.

  18. 18.

    Dad ___ Bobby a letter several weeks ago.

  19. 19.

    After her broken leg had healed, Laura found it hard to walk ___.

  20. 20.

    Paul’s mother picked up the toys ___ books

Appendix 3

Prefixes/suffixes knowledge—grade 7

You will see a list of parts of words. Try to guess what they mean. Think of a word that has that part in it and write it on the line. Some of them are at the beginning of words and some are at the end. Some of these are hard but try your best. This is not a test. Your teacher will not see your answers.

Example

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Lipka, O., Siegel, L.S. The development of reading comprehension skills in children learning English as a second language. Read Writ 25, 1873–1898 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-011-9309-8

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