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Examining the role of vocabulary depth, cross-linguistic transfer, and types of reading measures on the reading comprehension of Latino bilinguals in elementary school

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Abstract

Given the increase of bilingual students in the K-12 public school system, understanding reading comprehension performance, especially among this population, has been a major focal point in the research literature. This study explores the nature of reading comprehension among a sample of 123 Spanish–English bilingual elementary students. We add to the existing knowledge base regarding reading comprehension in two significant ways: (1) augmenting the Simple View of Reading by testing the role of both vocabulary depth contribution and dual-linguistic ability in English reading comprehension; and (2) questioning the manner through which reading comprehension is understood through measurement and conceptualization. Specifically, we build a comprehensive model of reading comprehension that tests the effects for vocabulary depth, Spanish oral language, and biliteracy. In line with previous research that suggests different reading measures tap different abilities, we test our model for three different measures of reading comprehension: a cloze exercise, a passage and multiple choice based test, and a timed silent sentence reading judgment task. Our findings converge with previous research on the role of vocabulary depth in reading comprehension and also challenge prior work which has compared different reading measures. Implications for theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding reading comprehension, specifically among Spanish–English bilingual students, are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The research reported here was funded by a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, to the University of Maryland (No. R305A090152). The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the institute or the U.S. Department of Education.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Teacher Education, Special Education, and Curriculum & Instruction, Lynch School of Education, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, MA, 02467, USA

    Christine Montecillo Leider & C. Patrick Proctor

  2. Department of Special Education, University of Maryland, 7950 Baltimore Ave., College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Rebecca D. Silverman

  3. Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, 7950 Baltimore Ave., College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Jeffrey R. Harring

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  1. Christine Montecillo Leider
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Correspondence to Christine Montecillo Leider.

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Leider, C.M., Proctor, C.P., Silverman, R.D. et al. Examining the role of vocabulary depth, cross-linguistic transfer, and types of reading measures on the reading comprehension of Latino bilinguals in elementary school. Read Writ 26, 1459–1485 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-013-9427-6

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