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Reading and Writing

, Volume 31, Issue 2, pp 381–404 | Cite as

Role of narrative skills on reading comprehension: Spanish–English and Cantonese–English dual language learners

  • Yuuko Uchikoshi
  • Lu Yang
  • Siwei Liu
Article
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Abstract

This longitudinal study examined the role of narrative skills in English reading comprehension, after controlling for vocabulary and decoding, with a sample of 112 dual language learners (DLLs), including both Spanish–English and Cantonese–English children. Decoding, vocabulary, and narrative samples were collected in the winter of first grade and reading comprehension skills were assessed on the same children 1 year later in second grade. Spanish–English DLLs had significantly lower English receptive vocabulary but higher L1 receptive vocabulary than their Cantonese peers. At the same time, Spanish–English DLLs scored lower than Cantonese–English DLLs on English reading comprehension. There were no differences in English reading comprehension between DLL children in bilingual programs and those in mainstream English programs after controlling for L1. Multiple regression results show that English decoding and English vocabulary explain a significant portion of the variance in English reading comprehension. Regression results also revealed a significant, albeit small, effect of narrative quality (both within- and cross-language) on English reading comprehension 1 year later, after controlling for English decoding and English vocabulary. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords

Dual language learners Narrative skills Reading comprehension Vocabulary Decoding 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by the Foundation for Child Development and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Grant R01HD078351.

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© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.School of EducationUniversity of California at DavisDavisUSA
  2. 2.Human Development and Family Studies, Department of Human EcologyUniversity of CaliforniaDavisUSA

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