Role of narrative skills on reading comprehension: Spanish-English and Cantonese-English Dual Language Learner

Abstract

This longitudinal study examined the role of narrative skills in English reading comprehension, after controlling for vocabulary and decoding, with a sample of 112 dual language learners (DLLs), including both Spanish-English and Cantonese-English children. Decoding, vocabulary, and narrative samples were collected in the winter of first grade and reading comprehension skills were assessed on the same children one year later in second grade. Spanish-English DLLs had significantly lower English receptive vocabulary but higher L1 receptive vocabulary than their Cantonese peers. At the same time, Spanish-English DLLs scored lower than Cantonese-English DLLs on English reading comprehension. There were no differences in English reading comprehension between DLL children in bilingual programs and those in mainstream English programs after controlling for L1. Multiple regression results show that English decoding and English vocabulary explain a significant portion of the variance in English reading comprehension. Regression results also revealed a significant, albeit small, effect of narrative quality (both within- and cross-language) on English reading comprehension one year later, after controlling for English decoding and English vocabulary. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords: decoding; dual language learners; narrative skills; reading comprehension; vocabulary.

Figure 1.

Plot of interaction between NSS and Decoding by Native Language Group. HI is defined as scoring at the 75^th percentile, while LO is defined as scoring at the 25^th percentile. For this Figure, home language L1 NSS is used; but L2 English NSS yields similar results.