Building Bridges for Understanding: Reading Success for English Language Learners Maria S. Carlo, University of Miami Diane August, Center for Applied Linguistics
Empirical and Theoretical Background: Considerable previous work (García, 1991; Nagy, 1997; National Reading Panel, 2000; Verhoeven, 1990) suggests that one major determinant of poor reading comprehension, for Latino children and for other lagging readers, is low vocabulary. Lack of knowledge of the middle and lower frequency 'academic' words encountered in middle and secondary school texts impedes comprehension of those texts, which in turn impedes the natural process of learning new word meanings from exposure during reading (Stanovich, 1986).
Continued… One strategy believed to be successful in promoting the rapid acquisition of vocabulary by ELLs involves teaching children about the morphological structure of words. Researchers believe that it is beneficial for ELLs if instruction on the structural analysis of words includes making students aware of the cross-linguistic morphological relationships between words in their two languages (García & Nagy, 1993; Nagy, García, Durgunoglu, & Hancin-Bhatt,1993; Jiménez et al., 1996; Nation 2001). This involves making students aware of words that are cognates (words that are spelt alike and have similar meanings in two languages), and making them aware of similarities between derivational morphemes in the two languages (e.g, motiva ción - motiva tion ).
Subjects The subjects were 81 fourth grade children in Success for All schools in El Paso, Chicago, and Boston. Fifty-nine of the children had received initial reading instruction in Spanish. Of these 42 had been transitioned into English Instruction at the time of assessment. Twenty-two of the children had been in English reading instruction since kindergarten.
Researcher Developed Measures : Cognate Awareness Test Test developed to find out if Native Spanish Speaker children recognize the meaning of English words better if these words have a corresponding sound or spelling in Spanish
Researcher Developed Measures : Cognate Awareness Test Example: edifice building committee island congress
Cognates Awareness Test: Item Characteristics High Spanish Low English Frequency & Low Frequency English Frequency 25. converse 26. jest speak with someone defend fight with someone bend include someone joke leave out someone observe
Researcher Developed Measures: Extract the Base Measures children’s knowledge of derivational morphology (their awareness of the rules by which words change from one part of speech to another). Example: recognition > recognize (Test adapted from Carlisle, 1988)
Researcher Developed Measures: Extract the Base 1. publicity 1. The _______________ was happy with the show. 2. sensitive 2. Animals often ____________ storms before they come. 3. breathe 3. Sometimes you can see your ___________.
Extract the Base: Item Characteristics Morphological Definition Example Transformation Orthographic Spelling changes emptiness > empty Phonological Pronunciation cleanliness > clean changes Both Spelling & recognition > Pronunciation recognize changes No Change No Change farmer > farm
Extract the Base: Scoring • score of 0 --Incorrect response associated with copying the derived form, providing a translation or a random letter string • score of 1 --partially correct indicating an attempt to extract a base or transform the word in some way but resulting in a letter string that was not viable either phonologically or orthographically . • score of 2 --partially correct extraction of the base expressed through a phonologically or orthographically viable letter string. • score of 3 --completely correct base
Standardized Tests: Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery Spanish and English: Letter-word ID Picture-Word Vocabulary Listening Comprehension Passage Comprehension
Research Questions Is there transfer of knowledge about word meanings for English words that have cognate status in Spanish? Is performance on cognates and non cognates differentially predicted by Spanish & English composite constructs that include measures of orthographic knowledge, breadth of vocabulary knowledge, and derivational morphology knowledge?
Means and standard deviations for performance of Spanish-English bilinguals on the English cognates task Non-cognates Cognates Spanish- 7.44 (2.96) 9.77 (4.66) Instructed English- 8.26 (3.25) 6.94 (2.71) Instructed
Analyses English Picture Vocabulary and English Extract the Base used to predict Cognate and Noncognate subtest performance. SPAN (a composite of the three Picture Vocabulary, Extract the Base and Letter word ID) used to predict Cognate and Noncognates.
Regression paths ALL GROUPS Dependent Spanish Extract the Base Picture Variable construct English Vocabulary English Cognates 0.299** 0.215 0.269* Non- 0.072 0.054 0.541* cognates **Significant regression paths (p<0.01). *Significant regression paths (p<0.05).
R-Square Dependent All Spanish English All English Variable & Spanish Cognates 0.307 0.411 0.740 Non-cognates 0.329 0.248 0.268
Descriptive Summary ALL SPANISH GROUP (n = 25) Spanish Extract the Base Picture construct English Vocabulary English 2.507, -0.185, -1.221, Mean (2.497) (-0.205) (-1.241) 0.820, 0.962, Variance 1.008, (1.000) (1.000) (1.000) Note: Unstandardized solution is reported first, followed by the fully standardized solution in parentheses.
BOTH ENGLISH AND SPANISH GROUP (n = 32) Spanish Extract the Base - Picture construct English Vocabulary - Eng 1.100, -0.065, -0.073, Mean (1.001) (-0.091) (-0.118) 1.207, 0.516, 0.383, Variance (1.000) (1.000) (1.000) Note: Unstandardized solution is reported first, followed by the fully standardized solution in parentheses.
ALL ENGLISH GROUP (n = 54) Spanish Extract the Base Picture construct English Vocabulary English -2.622, 0.473, 0.762, Mean (-1.278) (0.703) (1.615) 4.208, 0.452, 0.223, Variance (1.000) (1.000) (1.000) Note: Unstandardized solution is reported first, followed by the fully standardized solution in parentheses.
Conclusions Results suggest that 4 th graders ability to correctly identify low frequency English words that are cognates to Spanish is predicted by the Spanish construct consisting of WLPB Letter-word, picture vocabulary, and Extract the Base. This relationship holds for all groups of Spanish- speaking ELLs regardless of language of instruction. This Spanish construct does not predict performance on the low frequency English noncognates.
Second Research Question Can an intervention developed to teach cognate awareness to Spanish English bilingual 3 rd grades improve their learning of English words that have cognate status in Spanish?
Subjects 3 rd grade students in two schools have been randomly assigned (using stratified assignment) to one of two conditions Cognate Awareness After School Intervention (4 groups in each school) FCAT preparation After School Course (4 groups in each school) All students were ELLs who varied in ESOL classifications 1-5 All students received Spanish instruction twice a week.
Instruction In both conditions students received 23 lessons of one hour In both conditions students met 4 times a week after school In both conditions teachers received 8 hours of training Treatment teachers were observed for fidelity of implementation on two occasions.
Assessments Pre Post WLPB Spanish letter WLPB English letter word, picture-word and word, picture-word and passage passage comprehension comprehension WLPB English letter Word Association Test word, picture-word and English Extract The passage Base comprehension Sentence Verification Word Association Test Technique English & Spanish Extract The Base
Curriculum 3 Units on topic of Exploration Antarctica Coral Reef Space Each unit consisted of: Pre-teaching of Vocabulary using activities that build depth Interactive Reading of Passage Instruction on Word Polysemy Instruction on analysis of word structure
Identification of Letter & Sound Differences Direct students to the Letter Difference activity in their Student Materials for the day. On the left hand side, we have listed the Spanish cognates of the words from the passage. Write the English cognate for each Spanish cognate given. Students will have the Spanish cognate provided for them. Have them write the English cognate next to each one. Review with the students to be sure that the words have been spelled correctly in English.
Once the English cognate has been written, indicate which letters are different between the cognates by circling the letters. Alternate between having them call out differences with the teacher circling and occasionally having students come up and circle the differences themselves. Follow by asking students to circle the letters that are different between both English and Spanish cognates. (The letters that are different are highlighted below.)
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