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Poster #95 - Dual Language Learners’ Classroom Language Use and Their Reading Comprehension

Fri, March 22, 7:45 to 9:15am, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

Introduction. Dual language learners (DLLs; children learning two languages) are a growing group of students in U.S. public schools (Child Trends, 2014). DLLs are also often characterized as underachieving in English language-related outcomes, including reading comprehension (NCES, 2018). Research demonstrates that opportunities for oral language use benefit DLLs’ language learning (Gámez & Shimpi, 2016). In line with Halliday’s (1994; 2003) language-based theory of learning, children learn different language forms and create multiple meanings through using language for different purposes. 

Yet, meta-analyses of classroom discussion practices reveal that the quantity of language use does not necessarily predict students’ increased text comprehension (Murphy et al., 2009). This finding suggests that the quality of language use promotes students’ comprehension. Indeed, high-quality language use, characterized by its syntactic complexity, distinguishes bilingual children with different levels of reading achievement (Gutierrez-Clellen, 2012). Taking an interdisciplinary perspective that combines theory and methodological techniques from linguistics and education, this study examined how sixth-grade Spanish-speaking DLLs’ amount and quality of language use related to their reading comprehension.

Method. Participants were 161 sixth-grade DLLs (M age = 12.18 years old; SD = 0.353; 67 males; 92 females; 2 unknown) from a predominately Spanish-speaking Latino community. Most participants spoke Spanish and English equally at home (46%), with 27.9% speaking mostly or only English, 19.9% speaking mostly or only Spanish, and 6.2% unknown.

Students’ reading comprehension was measured using the Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (GRADE; Williams, 2001) passage comprehension subtest, which consists of 30 multiple-choice questions. The quantity and quality of students’ language use was assessed through audio-recordings of their English Language Arts classes. Twenty-minute audio-recordings were transcribed using the CHAT (Codes for Human Analysis of Transcriptions) system of CHILDES (Child Language Data Exchange System; MacWhinney 2014). Each student utterance (i.e., spoken phrase bounded by pauses) in the transcript was coded for syntactic complexity as a measure of high-quality language use. Specifically, utterances containing two or more clauses were coded as complex utterances (Huttenlocher et al., 2002). The proportion of complex utterances was derived by dividing the number of complex utterances by total utterances. Quantity of language was calculated as the total number student utterances in the transcript. 

Results. As Table 1 demonstrates, there was substantial variability in students’ quantity and quality of language use as well as reading comprehension skills. Multiple regression analyses examined the relation between the quantity and quality of language use and reading comprehension. As Table 2 shows, there was a significant and positive relation between quality of language use and reading comprehension (B = 5.377, p < 0.05). Yet, quantity of language use and reading comprehension were not related (B = 0.016, p > 0.05). Our findings converge with studies that implicate the critical role of high-quality language use, instead of quantity, in promoting students’ language-related outcomes (Rowe, 2012), including reading comprehension (Murphy et. al, 2009). These findings suggest that educators should encourage students’ high-quality language use, rather than simply increasing the quantity of language used (Dickinson & Porche, 2011), to promote improved reading comprehension.

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