Investigating Linguistically Diverse Adolescents’ Literacy Trajectories Using Latent Transition Modeling

Abstract

This study examined the literacy profiles of students from diverse home‐language backgrounds and tracked those profiles from grade 6 to grade 10. The authors also investigated the predictive relations of students’ immigration background, gender, and participation in two instructional programs. The results from latent class and latent transition analyses suggest that grade 6 literacy profiles are strong predictors of literacy profiles in grade 10. Students from diverse home‐language backgrounds and those who had immigrated to Canada tended to have strong literacy profiles and positive trajectories. The analyses also indicate that students who used very little or no English at home, even those who had a strong literacy skill profile in grade 6, may benefit from additional literacy support in high school. In terms of instructional programming variables, participation in an English as a Second Language program was associated with little change in students’ literacy profiles over time, and career‐oriented streaming showed a strong negative impact on literacy skill development. In terms of language‐in‐education policy and practice, the findings support the idea that, generally speaking, students from multilingual home‐language environments retain strong literacy profiles between elementary and high school. The findings also emphasize the importance of quality instructional programming.

A longitudinal examination of French and English reading comprehension in French immersion programs in Canada

“…Moreover, interdependence is heightened in rich sociocultural contexts, for example, classrooms, that value bilingualism and support acquisition of all spoken languages, such as Canadian FI contexts (Genesee & Fortune, 2014). Fewer studies have examined transfer effects in multilingual children (Bérubé & Marinova-Todd, 2012;Bourgoin & Dicks, 2019;Hipfner-Boucher et al, 2014;Haeni-Hoti et al, 2011;Sinclair et al, 2019;Thibault & Matheson, 2020; for a review, see Prevoo et al, 2016). Subsequently, more empirical evidence is needed to reveal how these relationships develop longitudinally as bilingual and multilingual children further improve their L2 and L3 skills.…”

Change in home language environment and English literacy achievement over time: A multi-group latent growth curve modeling investigation

“…Nonetheless, we acknowledge that this result may have been confounded by students’ socioeconomic status, which was not controlled for in the current study. In fact, Sinclair et al. (2019) pointed out an important sociopolitical factor, Canada’s selective immigration policy, as a plausible explanation of higher achievement among immigrant students.…”

“…During the G3 and G6 EQAO literacy assessment administrations, students were asked to complete a questionnaire that included two questions about home language environment: “In which language(s) do people speak to you at home?” and “Which language(s) do you speak at home?” with options of “only English,” “mostly English,” “another language(s) as often as English,” “mostly another language(s),” or “only another language(s).” To be consistent with the classification and notations used by Jang et al. (2013) and Sinclair et al. (2019), students’ home language status was coded in this paper as language(s) heard at home followed by language(s) spoken at home ; for example, EnEn (English–English) means hearing mostly or only English and speaking mostly or only English, and OtEq (Other–Equal) means hearing mostly or only another language(s) and speaking both English and the other language(s) equally.…”

“…(2013) found that elementary school students who use multiple languages at home transcend early reading achievement gaps and have the most competent reading comprehension skill profile of all home language subgroups (including domestic students) after living in Canada for five years. Findings by Sinclair et al. (2019) also suggested students who use multiple languages at home in grade 6 are likely to have strong literacy profiles and retain those strengths in high school.…”

“…The purpose of this seven-year longitudinal cohort study was threefold: (1) to explore the patterns of changes in students’ home language environment over time; (2) to model longitudinal literacy achievement patterns among multiple subgroups with different home language shifts; and (3) to determine the influence of immigration status and English-as-a-second-language (ESL) program support on the relative literacy achievement pattern of each group. The last set of variables—immigration status (Canadian-born vs. first-generation immigrant) and ESL program support (whether or not the student was receiving ESL instruction at G3)—was included as they have been reported to predict literacy outcomes in the previous studies focusing on multilingual students in Ontario (Jang et al., 2013; Sinclair et al., 2019). The present study, inspired by a complex systems perspective (Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008) and Hammer et al.’s (2009) conceptualization of home language as a dynamic variable, answers the following research questions: How do students and their families change their home language use between grades 3 and 6? How are changes in home language environment associated with students’ relative literacy achievement patterns between grades 3 and 10? Do immigration status and ESL program enrollment in grade 3 predict the relative literacy achievement patterns of students with different home language environments? …”