The Spanish-Speaking Language-Minority Learners’ Academic Conundrum: Low Student Performance Despite High Parent and Student Aspirations

• In Event: Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: The Development of Vocabulary and Comprehension in Spanish-Speaking English Learners

Abstract

Objectives. This 10-year study—from early childhood through early adolescence—investigated Latino language minority (LM) learners’ developmental trajectories of Spanish and English word reading, oral language, and reading comprehension, and salient predictors of reading comprehension growth. To enrich conclusions drawn from these longitudinal developmental data collected using standardized measures, we employed interviews to explore parents’ and students’ perceptions of academic achievement, schooling, and future educational prospects.

Theoretical Framework. Children raised in Spanish-speaking, low-income households are both a fast growing population and at significant risk of low academic achievement (August & Shanahan, 2006). Designing instruction that promotes LM learners’ reading development requires a nuanced understanding of how reading—and its component skills—develops over time. This study provides a unique opportunity to identify patterns of language and reading development, and also offers insight into the context of families’ beliefs regarding current and future educational achievement.

Methods. Participants were 181 Spanish-speaking LM learners, followed from ages 4.5 to 14.5. At nine time points, students were administered standardized measures of English and Spanish word reading, expressive vocabulary, and verbal short-term language comprehension; beginning at age 11, reading comprehension was measured. In the study’s final year, a random subsample of 48 child-parent dyads participated in individual semi-structured interviews (n=96 total) exploring parent and student perceptions of students’ academic achievement, schooling, and future educational prospects. Individual growth modeling, latent curve modeling, and longitudinal structural equation models of latent growth curves were employed to determine developmental trajectories and rates of growth, as well as the influence of oral language and word-reading skills on reading comprehension growth. Interview transcripts were analyzed following the grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1997) as a means to shed light on meaningful patterns across participants’ responses and develop data-based hypotheses.

Results. On average, word reading achievement was at or near the national average range, but vocabulary development remained an area of concern; development in both skills slowed over time. Students’ reading comprehension development also slowed over time, remaining consistently two grade levels below the norm throughout the middle school years. Findings drawn from the interviews suggest that students’ academic achievement is perceived as generally satisfactory and that parents and their children have high educational and career aspirations; however, they appear to lack specific information about the mechanisms and processes to leverage such aspirations.

Significance. Empirical research conducted with monolingual English-speaking children has advanced the field’s understanding of reading development and its instruction, but this knowledge base has limited applicability to inform instruction for LM learners from Spanish-speaking homes. Results from this study underscore the need for theoretical models of comprehension to account for LM learners’ skill profiles and abilities, particularly the role of language development. The qualitative data reinforce the important relationship between parents’ knowledge vis-à-vis navigating the educational system and children’s achievement, shedding light on a missed opportunity for educators to partner with families around the shared goal of advancing students’ educational achievement.

Authors

• Nonie K. Lesaux, Harvard University

• Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez, University of California - Irvine