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Article
Bilingual Spanish/English speaking children’s sentence reading comprehension
Perspectives on communication disorders and sciences in culturally and linguistic diverse populations (2012)
  • S. Levey
  • Henriette W. Langdon, San Jose State University
  • D. Rhein
Abstract

A number of factors were examined to determine which were associated with 40 bilingual Spanish/English–speaking children’s sentence reading comprehension (SRC). In our study, 40 bilingual Spanish/English–speaking children, age ranged from 8.07 to 14.96 years, completed nonword repetition, spoken language, receptive vocabulary, single word reading (SWR), and novel word discrimination tests, with all language and reading tests administered in English. Parents’ occupations, the report of the language used in interaction with friends (English vs. Spanish), age, and academic grade were also considered as possible factors for SRC. Our results found that receptive vocabulary and SWR accounted for intact SRC. Findings revealed that 13 of the 40 bilingual children (32.5%) presented with SRC difficulties. However, only 2 of these 13 children were identified with reading difficulties prior to their participation in this study, suggesting that early screening is essential to prevent later literacy difficulties.

Publication Date
May, 2012
Citation Information
S. Levey, Henriette W. Langdon and D. Rhein. "Bilingual Spanish/English speaking children’s sentence reading comprehension" Perspectives on communication disorders and sciences in culturally and linguistic diverse populations Vol. 19 (2012)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/henriette_langdon/2/