English Reading Effects of Small‐Group Intensive Intervention in Spanish for K–1 English Learners

Abstract

In this article we report small, but statistically significant, effects of brief supplemental instruction on English reading by Spanish-speaking kindergartners (N = 37) who performed poorly on a bilingual battery of phonological-processing tasks. Intervention design was compatible with the Reading First initiative and with research on use of multitiered intervention strategies for preventing reading failure among young monolingual students (e.g., L. S. Fuchs & Vaughn, 2003). We describe a Core Intervention Model (CIM) comprised of specific instructional behaviors that teachers might easily learn and employ regardless of curriculum, and discuss implications of our findings for building multitiered preventative instruction for young English learners.

Effects of a phonological awareness program on English reading and spelling among Hong Kong Chinese ESL children

“…The current findings are generally consistent with past studies of phonological awareness instruction delivered to ESL children (e.g., Gerber et al, 2004; Leafstedt, Richards, & Gerber, 2004) to enhance beginning word reading skills. Given that this was, to the best of our knowledge, the first training study to target kindergarten-aged Chinese ESL children and that most related studies have examined intensive and small group instructional programs (e.g., Gerber et al, 2004), the findings contribute to the empirical literature that short-term phonological awareness instruction provided by class teachers is beneficial to the acquisition of L2 word reading of children learning non-alphabetic L1.…”

“…Given that this was, to the best of our knowledge, the first training study to target kindergarten-aged Chinese ESL children and that most related studies have examined intensive and small group instructional programs (e.g., Gerber et al, 2004), the findings contribute to the empirical literature that short-term phonological awareness instruction provided by class teachers is beneficial to the acquisition of L2 word reading of children learning non-alphabetic L1. Nevertheless, it has to be acknowledged that the effect size on reading and spelling was relatively small.…”

Effects of immigrant background on text comprehension, vocabulary, and reading motivation: A longitudinal study

“…Aikens & Barbarin, 2008;Molfese et al, 2003). Adequate training needs to be offered to inhibit the consolidation of these socially caused differences in ability upon school entry (for positively evaluated interventions see e.g., Gerber et al, 2004;Stanat et al, 2012). In summary, the results of the analyses clearly demonstrate that there is a need for intense high-quality reading training for elementary school students with immigrant backgrounds that is focusing on both text comprehension and vocabulary to prevent the development of poor reading skills.…”

The Gap Between Spanish Speakers’ Word Reading and Word Knowledge: A Longitudinal Study

“…Four studies conducted with Spanish‐speaking LM learners in the United States begin to shed light on their word reading and oral language skills. Gerber et al. (2004) found patterns of development in word reading skills from kindergarten through first grade among Spanish‐speaking children from low‐income homes, instructed in English, to be linear.…”