Invited Colloquia AAAL2008

Learning to read in a first and a second language
Fred Genesee, McGill University

Research findings with respect to issues related to the following topics will be considered: majority and minority language learners; first and second language reading acquisition; kindergarten level and older students; and word decoding and comprehension skills.

 

WHAT DOES THE BEST EVIDENCE SAY ABOUT READING ACQUISITION IN MAJORITY LANGUAGE LEARNERS?

Robert Savage, & Louise Deault, Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, McGill University

There has been extensive research on reading acquisition and instruction for majority language learners. This research has been subjected to systematic review and statistical meta-analysis techniques that explicitly consider the methodological quality of individual studies. This presentation summarizes and discusses the findings that have emerged from these reviews.

 

PREDICTORS OF READING AND LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENT IN MAJORITY LANGUAGE SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS
 Caroline Erdos & Fred Genesee, Psychology McGill University

This presentation reports on results from a longitudinal study of individual differences in L2 reading acquisition among English-speaking students in French immersion programs in Canada. It focuses on predictors of L2 reading development in these learners and, in particular, on learners who may be at risk for oral or written language impairment.

 

DEVELOPING LITERACY IN MINORITY LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Nonie Lesaux, Harvard University

This presentation will summarize and discuss findings on the development of literacy in language minority children and youth from a recent synthesis on this topic. The synthesis was conducted by the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth, a panel constituted and funded by the US Department of Education.

 

INVESTIGATING SECOND LANGUAGE READERS WITH LOW NATIVE LANGUAGE LITERACY
Elaine Klein & Gita Martohardjono, Queens College, CUNY; CUNY Graduate Center

In this paper, we report the results of case studies and ongoing longitudinal research of 100 adolescents who have entered New York City schools with weak native language literacy skills and academic knowledge, having had very poor or interrupted formal education in their home countries.

 

ASSESSING READING COMPREHENSION IN FIRST- AND IN SECOND-LANGUAGE READERS
Catherine Snow, Michael Kieffer, & Paola Uccelli, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Analysis of widely used reading comprehension assessments reveals widely varying operational definitions of ‘comprehension.’ In many cases vocabulary and background knowledge contribute to outcomes more than reading skills. Data from a novel comprehension assessment designed to be sensitive to second-language readers central process skills will be presented.