Grant Closed

Growth in Literacy, Language, and Cognition in Children with Reading Disabilities who are English Language Learners

NCSER
Program: Special Education Research Grants
Program topic(s): Cognition and Student Learning in Special Education
Award amount: $1,438,691
Principal investigator: H. Lee Swanson
Awardee:
University of California, Riverside
Year: 2009
Project type:
Exploration
Award number: R324A090092

Purpose

A growing number of children enter school in the United States with Spanish as their first language. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 2005 indicated that only 15% of Hispanic students in fourth grade read at or above the proficient levels compared to 40% of White or Asian American students. Currently, approaches to the assessment and identification of children for special education services who have limited English proficiency are not consistent. For English Language Learner (ELL) children experiencing learning difficulties, it is unclear whether limited language proficiency in English is interfering with learning or is masking a learning disability, or is leading to underperformance on assessments used for identification.

Project Activities

Approximately 400 students (160 in 1st grade, 120 in 2nd grade, and 120 in 3rd grade) who are English language learners will be administered a cognitive, reading, and language test battery. One-half of the children will be at risk for a reading disability. Children at risk for a reading disability must score between the 25th and 90th percentile on a nonverbal intelligence measure, below the 10th percentile on the Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey word recognition and word attack subtest in both English and Spanish, and above the 25th percentile in math on the district wide test. Children will be tested annually over a three-year period and testing will be done both individually and in small groups. Classroom observations of each child during reading instruction will be conducted three times each year over the project period. Data will be gathered on the instructional format as well as the reading instruction content. Differences in English and Spanish reading, language, and cognitive measures for children at risk and not at risk for a reading disability will be explored. Also, the relationship between classroom instructional reading/ language activities, cognition, oral language, and phonological processing on student outcomes in reading will be examined.

Structured Abstract

Setting

Participating students will be from California.

Sample

Approximately 400 students (160 in 1st grade, 120 in 2nd grade, and 120 in 3rd grade) who are English language learners will participate. One-half of the children will be at risk for a reading disability. Children at risk for a reading disability must score between the 25th and 90th percentile on a nonverbal intelligence measure, below the 10th percentile on the Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey word recognition and word attack subtest in both English and Spanish, and above the 25th percentile in math on the district wide test. Average-achieving children will be tested from each classroom in which children at risk for a disability are drawn. These children must score above the 35th percentile in word recognition and word attack and score above the 25th percentile on a nonverbal IQ measure.
Intervention
Not applicable.

Research design and methods

A cohort sequential design will be utilized in order to make comparisons across three age groups to assess developmental growth curves, as well as to assess the stability of cognitive, language and reading functions. A battery of cognitive, language and reading tests in English and Spanish will be administered each year over a three-year period. In addition, classroom observations of reading instructional activities for each participating classroom will be conducted in the fall, winter and spring over three years.

Control condition

Not applicable.

Key measures

Reading skills will be evaluated using commercial and non-commercial measures. Classification measures include Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey— Revised (WMLS-R), Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Test de Vocabulario en Imagenes, and Raven Colored Progressive Matrices. Commercial outcome measures include the Blending subtest of the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, Word Identification and Passage Comprehension subtest of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised, Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test, and the Morphological Closure subtest from the Illinois Test of Psycho-linguistic Ability III. Non-commercial outcome measures include a word segmentation test, rhyming task, semantic association task, pseudo-word reading task, and a visual sequencing task. Other measures include observational assessments of reading instruction.

Data analytic strategy

Data will be analyzed using a variety of methods. Hierarchical linear growth curve modeling will be used to address the relationship between classroom instructional effects (intensity and duration), language and cognition, and growth in reading. The instructional, cognitive and language variables that best moderate growth in reading will be explored. For example, the analysis will address the question of whether growth in cognitive processes (memory) is related to growth in reading as well as whether ability groups vary in their rate of growth.

People and institutions involved

IES program contact(s)

Katherine Taylor

Education Research Analyst
NCSER

Products and publications

Products: The expected outcomes from this study include published reports and presentations on the identification of accurate and stable assessment tools for the identification of reading disability in children who are English language learners and documentation of the rate of cognitive, language and reading growth as a function of instructional practice.

Book chapter

Orosco, M.J., and O’Connor, R. (2011). Cultural Aspects of Teaching Reading With Latino English Language Learners (Chapter 15). In R. O’Connor, and P. Vadasy (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Interventions (pp. 356-380). New York: Guilford Press.

Swanson, H. L. & Orosco, M. (2011) Dynamic assessment, working memory and reading growth in children with reading disabilities. In T.E. Scruggs and M.A. Mastropieri (Eds.), Assessment and intervention: Advances in learning and behavioral disabilities (vol. 24). Bingley, UK: Emerald.

Swanson, H.L., and Orosco, M. (2011). Predictive Validity of Dynamic Testing and Working Memory as it Relates to Reading Growth in Children With Reading Disabilities. In T.E. Scruggs, and M.A. Mastropieri (Eds.), Assessment and Intervention: Advances in Learning and Behavioral Disabilities, Volume 24 (pp. 1-30). Bingley, UK: Emerald.

Swanson, H.L., and Orosco, M.J. (2013). Comprehension Interventions for Learning Disabled Students. In J. Hattie, and E.M. Anderman (Eds.), International Guide to Student Achievement (pp. 448-451). UK: Routledge.

Journal article, monograph, or newsletter

Guzman-Orth, D., Grimm, D., Gerber, M., Orosco, M., and Swanson, H.L. (in press). Extending the Validity Framework in the the Classroom: Psychometric Properties of the Working Memory Rating Scale for Spanish Speaking English Language Learners. Educational Testing Service: Research and Development.

Guzman-Orth, D., Grimm, R., Gerber, M., Orosco, M., Lussier, C. and Swanson, H.L. (2015). Psychometric Properties of the Working Memory Rating Scale for Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 33(6): 555-567. doi:10.1177/0734282914558710

Orosco, M. J., and O’Connor, R. (2013). Culturally Responsive Instruction for English Language Learners With Learning Disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities. doi:10.1177/0022219413476553

Orosco, M., Swanson, H.L., O’Connor, R., and Lussier, C. (2013). The Effects of Dynamic Strategic Math on English Language Learners' Word Problem Solving. Journal of Special Education, 47(2): 96-107. doi:10.1177/0022466911416248 Full text

Orosco, M.J. (2014). Word Problem Strategy for Latino English Language Learners at Risk for Math Disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 37(1): 45-53 . doi:10.1177/0731948713504206

Orosco, M.J. (2013). The Development of a Math Strategy in Spanish for Latino English Language Learners at Risk for Math Disabilities. International Journal for Research in Learning Disabilities, 1(2): 86-109.

Orosco, M.J. (2014). A Math Intervention for Third Grade Latino English Language Learners at Risk for Math Disabilities. Exceptionality, 22(4): 205-225. doi:10.1080/09362835.2013.865535

Swanson H.L , Orosco, M., and Kudo, M. (in press). Does Growth in the Executive System of Working Memory Underlie Growth in Literacy for Bilingual Children With and Without Reading Disabilities? Journal of Learning Disabilities.

Swanson, H. L, Orosco, M. and Kudo, M. (2017). Do Specific Classroom Reading Activities Predict English Language Learners' Later Reading Achievement?. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 33(3): 199-210. doi:10.1080/10573569.2016.1145563 Full text

Swanson, H. L., Kudo, M., and Guzman-Orth, D. (2016). Cognition and Literacy in English Language Learners at Risk for Reading Disabilities: A Latent Transition Analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(6): 830-856. doi:10.1037/edu0000102

Swanson, H.L. (2012). Cognitive Profile of Adolescents With Math Disabilities: Are the Profiles Different From Those With Reading Disabilities? Child Neuropsychology, 18(2): 125-143. doi:10.1080/09297049.2011.589377

Swanson, H.L. (2014). Growth in Working Memory and Inhibition Predicts Literacy in English Language Learners: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Study. Memory: 1-26. doi:10.1080/09658211.2014.927504

Swanson, H.L., Orosco, M., and Lussier, C. (2012). Cognition and Literacy in English Language Learners at Risk for Reading Disabilities. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104: 302-320. doi:10.1037/a0026225

Swanson, H.L., Orosco, M., and Lussier, C.M. (2015). Growth in Literacy, Cognition and Working Memory in English Language Learners. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 132: 155-188. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2015.01.001

Swanson, H.L., Orosco, M., Lussier, C., Gerber, M., and Guzman-Orth, D. (2011). The Influence of Working Memory and Phonological Processing on English Language Learner Children's Bilingual Reading and Language Processing. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(4): 838-856. doi:10.1037/a0024578

Uppal, H. and Swanson, H.L. (2016). Teachers' Ratings of Working Memory in English Language Learners: Do Laboratory Measures Predict Classroom Analogues? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 30(6): 871-884. doi:10.1002/acp.3273

Zheng, X., Swanson, H.L, and Marcoulides, G.A. (2011). Working Memory Components as Predictors of Children's Mathematical Word Problem Solving. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 110(4): 481-498. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2011.06.001

Supplemental information

The purpose of this study is to identify the measures and processes that accurately identify children with a reading disability who are English language learners. Researchers are identifying those cognitive and reading measures that separate children with a reading disability from children who are having difficulty acquiring English as a second language. The relationship between reading instruction and rate of cognitive and language growth on reading outcomes for children at risk for a reading disability will also be explored.

Questions about this project?

To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.

 

Questions about this project?

To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.

 

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