Language preference and its relationship with reading skills in English and Spanish |
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| Authors: | Michele H Brenneman Robin D Morris Marlyne Israelian |
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| Institution: | 1. Georgia State University;2. Georgia State UniversityOffice of the Vice President for Research, P.O. Box 3999, Atlanta, GA 30302‐3999 |
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| Abstract: | A dearth of research has investigated the language preference of bilingual childhood populations and its subsequent relationship to reading skills. The current study evaluated how a sequential bilingual student's choice of language, in a particular environmental context, predicted reading ability in English and Spanish. The participants were Latino children ranging in age from 7 years, 5 months, to 11 years, 6 months, with 43% born in the United States. Results showed a relationship between a child's higher English language preference for media and for communication with others outside the family and better reading skills in English. Language preference differences predicted reading abilities better for English than for Spanish. Results suggested that sequential bilingual children's language preference may be a useful marker of English language (second language L2]) facility and use that is related to their reading proficiency or influences the development of English reading skills in such bilingual children in the United States. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 171–181, 2007. |
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