I Read It, But I Don’t Understand It: The Etiology of Reading Comprehension of English Language Learners

Nonie K. Lesaux

Despite low academic achievement among English language learners (ELLs) in the US, particularly with increased years of schooling, few studies have investigated the nature of reading comprehension development of this population. The purpose of this study is to examine, both concurrently and longitudinally, the relationship between oral language and literacy skills as they relate to reading comprehension performance for a group of native Spanish-speakers developing literacy skills in English. The proposed study will examine the degree to which Spanish and English oral language and word reading skills predict specific aspects of English reading comprehension performance in the middle elementary years. The participants of the study are Spanish-speaking fourth graders enrolled in an urban, public school district in the southwest U.S., and who have completed a transitional bilingual education program. The children will be assessed using a battery of language and literacy measures in Spanish and English in the spring of third and fourth grades. The analyses conducted will examine the relationships among, and relative influence of, English and Spanish language and literacy skills to English reading comprehension. Findings will inform intervention efforts for ELLs who are beyond the primary grades, and for whom reading comprehension is central to academic achievement.

About Nonie K. Lesaux

Nonie K. Lesaux is Assistant Professor, Human Development and Psychology, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her research focuses on the reading development, and the developmental health, of children who are at-risk for learning difficulties. These children include children from language minority backgrounds, children from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and children with difficulties in language processing and other skills that influence reading development. Her doctoral research reported on the findings of a 5-year longitudinal study that examined the development of reading, from kindergarten through grade 4, of language minority learners who entered mainstream classrooms with little or no proficiency in English, as compared to their native speaking peers. Her current research projects are designed to continue to develop an understanding of reading development of language minority learners (funded by National Institute for Child Health and Human Development), as well as to examine the relationship between demographic, health, language and reading-related variables in at-risk populations (funded by Canadian Institutes for Health Research). During her graduate studies, Lesaux held doctoral fellowships from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. In 2003, she was a finalist in the International Reading Association Outstanding Dissertation Competition. Dr. Lesaux has published her work in Developmental Psychology and Journal of Learning Disabilities, and is a member of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities, Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, and Society for Research in Child Development.