Effects of unfamiliar diverse names on elementary students’ passage comprehension.

Abstract

Elementary school multicultural reading curricula include characters with diverse proper names, which are often unfamiliar and differ phonetically from students’ native language. These names could impact reading outcomes by increasing students’ cognitive load and/or creating cognitive disfluency. In Study 1, students in grades 1 through 2 read a standard passage including common names and a matched passage including unfamiliar names of Russian origin. A paired samples t test indicated unfamiliar diverse names in grade-level passages significantly reduced students’ reading comprehension. Study 2 was designed to determine if preteaching diverse names would mitigate their adverse effects on reading comprehension. Results indicated second-grade students who received preteaching comprehended significantly more of the passage than those who did not receive preteaching. Discussion focuses on the need for research clarifying the relationship between multicultural learning materials and academic outcomes and validating efficient methods for familiarizing students with difficult, phonetically unfamiliar words.

Linguistic Citizenship in the EFL Classroom: Granting the Local a Voice Through English

“…In their study of multicultural curriculum materials used in the United States that include diverse names, Taylor et al. (2020) conclude that unfamiliar and phonetically different names hinder reading development. Whether the impact of unfamiliar (and phonetically different) names on the reading development of EFL learners is significant is a question for future research.…”