Placement in the prekindergarten bilingual and English as a second language programs as a predictor of reading achievement of 3rd grade students.

At the beginning of the 21st century, few challenges for educators compared to that of meeting the academic needs of the growing number of limited English proficient (LEP) students. Divergent views on whether those needs were best met through instruction in the student's first language and English, known as bilingual education, or instruction solely in English, compounded the challenge and led to varied language support programs. The present study looked at the prekindergarten (preK) language support program as a predictor of 3rd grade reading achievement of students with the intention of helping educators understand how best to serve LEP students. The study included an analysis of 3rd grade reading achievement for four groups of students with a primary home language of Spanish who attended bilingual or ESL prekindergarten. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) followed by descriptive discriminant analysis (DDA) was used to analyze scores from the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) reading test and the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) reading test. No statistically significant difference in 3rd grade reading achievement was found among the four groups at the .05 level. There was, however, a small-to-medium effect size. The MANOVA indicated that the group to which the students belonged accounted for 5.5% of the variance in their scores. The DDA revealed the ITBS explained most of the difference in the group performance. The findings suggest that ESL instruction is a viable option to bilingual instruction for LEP preK students.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of North Texas

Year dc:date

2004

Author dc:creator

• Vannoy, Martha

Contributors dc:contributor

• Huffman, Jane B.
• Henson, Robin K.
• Adkison, Judith A.

• Reading.
• Education, Bilingual.
• English language -- Study and teaching (Preschool) -- Foreign speakers.
• Prediction of scholastic success.
• Limited English proficient
• LEP
• bilingual programs
• prekindergarten
• ESL
• MANOVA

Statement dc:rights

• Public
• Copyright
• Vannoy, Martha
• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

oclc: 58652092
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4680/
ark: ark:/67531/metadc4680

OAI identifier oai:identifier

info:ark/67531/metadc4680