Relationships Among Early Spanish Reading Skills and English Reading for Multilingual Learners (Poster 40)

• In Event: Saturday Poster Sessions 7:45 am
  In Poster Session: Research in Reading and Literacy Poster Session 2

Abstract

The present study investigated the utility of the interdependence continuum and a set of exploratory questions to investigate Spanish/English cross-linguistic transfer across reading and language domains and potential moderation by English oral language. Using the Woodcock-Munoz in both Spanish and English, 106 multilingual learners in grades K-2 were tested at the beginning of the school year. The main conclusions were: (a) there was partial support for the interdependence continuum - there was a significant relationship between Spanish and English decoding, but not between Spanish/English reading comprehension or oral language; (b) there were significant cross-linguistic relationships involving Spanish decoding across reading and language domains; and (c) there was no moderating effect of English oral language on transfer relationships.

Authors

• Steven J. Amendum, University of Delaware

• Jonathan M. Kittle, University of Delaware

• Alexus Ramirez, University of Delaware

• Leslie M. Babinski, Duke University

• Madeline M. Carrig, Duke University

• Steven Knotek, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Marta Sánchez, University of North Carolina - Wilmington