Sharolyn D. Pollard-Durodola

Effectiveness of an English Intervention for First‐Grade English Language Learners at Risk for Reading Problems

A first‐grade reading and language development intervention for English language learners (Spanish/English) at risk for reading difficulties was examined. The intervention was conducted in the same language as students’ core reading instruction (English). Two hundred sixteen first‐grade students from 14 classrooms in 4 schools from 2 districts were screened in both English and Spanish. Forty‐eight students (22%) did not pass the screening in both languages and were randomly assigned within schools to an intervention or contrast group; after 7 months, 41 students remained in the study. Intervention groups of 3 to 5 students met daily (50 minutes) and were provided systematic and explicit instruction in oral language and reading by trained bilingual reading intervention teachers. Students assigned to the contrast condition received their school’s existing intervention for struggling readers. Intervention students significantly outperformed contrast students on multiple measures of English letter naming, phonological awareness and other language skills, and reading and academic achievement. Differences were less significant for Spanish measures of these domains, though the strongest effects favoring the intervention students were in the areas of phonological awareness and related reading skills.

Effectiveness of Spanish Intervention for First-Grade English Language Learners at Risk for Reading Difficulties

The effectiveness of an explicit, systematic reading intervention for first-grade students whose home language was Spanish and who were at risk for reading difficulties was examined. Participants were 69 students in 20 classrooms in 7 schools from 3 districts who initially did not pass the screening in Spanish and were randomly assigned within schools to a treatment or comparison group; after 7 months, 64 students remained in the study. The intervention matched the language of instruction of their core reading program (Spanish). Treatment groups of 3 to 5 students met daily for 50 min and were provided systematic and explicit instruction in oral language and reading by trained bilingual intervention teachers. Comparison students received the schools standard intervention for struggling readers. Observations during core reading instruction provided information about the reading instruction and language use of the teachers. There were no differences between the treatment and comparison groups in either Spanish or English on any measures at pretest, but there were significant posttest differences in favor of the treatment group for the following outcomes in Spanish: Letter-Sound Identification (d = 0.72), Phonological Awareness composite (d = 0.73), Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery—Revised Oral Language composite (d = 0.35), Word Attack (d = 0.85), Passage Comprehension (d = 0.55), and two measures of reading fluency (d = 0.58—0.75).

Effectiveness of a Spanish Intervention and an English Intervention for English-Language Learners at Risk for Reading Problems

Two studies of Grade 1 reading interventions for English-language (EL) learners at risk for reading problems were conducted. Two samples of EL students were randomly assigned to a treatment or untreated comparison group on the basis of their language of instruction for core reading (i.e., Spanish or English). In all, 91 students completed the English study (43 treatment and 48 comparison), and 80 students completed the Spanish study (35 treatment and 45 comparison). Treatment students received approximately 115 sessions of supplemental reading daily for 50 minutes in groups of 3 to 5. Findings from the English study revealed statistically significant differences in favor of treatment students on English measures of phonological awareness, word attack, word reading, and spelling (effect sizes of 0.35–0.42). Findings from the Spanish study revealed significant differences in favor of treatment students on Spanish measures of phonological awareness, letter-sound and letter-word identification, verbal analogies, word reading fluency, and spelling (effect sizes of 0.33–0.81).

The Effects of an Intensive Shared Book-Reading Intervention for Preschool Children at Risk for Vocabulary Delay

This study examined the effects of an intensive shared book-reading intervention on the vocabulary development of preschool children who were at risk for vocabulary delay. The participants were 125 children, who the researchers stratified by classroom and randomly assigned to one of two shared book-reading conditions (i.e., the experimental, Words of Oral Reading and Language Development [WORLD] intervention; or typical practice). Results on researcher-developed measures showed statistically and practically significant effects for the WORLD intervention with no differential effects for children with higher versus lower entry-level vocabulary knowledge. The researchers detected no statistically significant differences on standardized measures. Results suggest that a combination of instructional factors may be necessary to enhance the efficacy of shared book reading for children with early vocabulary difficulties.

Teacher Characteristics, Classroom Instruction, and Student Literacy and Language Outcomes in Bilingual Kindergartners.

This study investigated the relation of teacher characteristics, including ratings of teacher quality, to classroom instructional variables and to bilingual students’ literacy and oral language outcomes at the end of the kindergarten year. Teacher characteristics included observational measures of oral language proficiency, quality, and classroom activity structure, as well as surveys of knowledge of reading‐related skills. Student outcomes in both languages included letter naming, word reading, and phonological awareness and oral language composites. The study involved 141 teachers from a multisite project who were observed up to 3 times at the beginning, middle, and end of the year during their reading/language arts block while teaching English language learners to read in their primary language (Spanish) and/or in English. Teacher quality, but not teacher knowledge, was related positively to student engagement and negatively to time spent in noninstructional activities. Initial student and classroom performance, language of instruction and of outcomes, and teacher oral language proficiency in both Spanish and English predicted outcomes, whereas teacher quality was less related, and teacher content knowledge was consistently not related to student outcomes.

Developing Low-Income Preschoolers’ Social Studies and Science Vocabulary Knowledge Through Content-Focused Shared Book Reading

Abstract This study evaluated the effects of integrating science and social studies vocabulary instruction into shared book reading with low-income preschool children. Twenty-one preschool teachers and 148 children from their classrooms were randomly assigned at the class level to either the Words of Oral Reading and Language Development (WORLD) intervention or a practice-as-usual condition. Children were screened and selected to approximate three vocabulary levels (15th, 30th, and 50th). WORLD teachers implemented the intervention in small groups of 5 to 6 students, 5 days per week, 20 minutes per session, for 18 weeks. Findings from multilevel models indicated statistically and practically significant effects of the WORLD intervention on standardized measures of receptive vocabulary (δT = 0.93) and on researcher-developed measures of expressive (δT = 1.01) and receptive vocabulary (δT = 1.41). The WORLD intervention had an overall main effect, regardless of entry-level vocabulary, a finding that speaks to its potential applicability in preschool classrooms.

Wesley Elementary A Beacon of Hope for At-Risk Students

Academic success of at-risk, African American students in inner-city environments is not due to chance but is the result of a culmination of factors. This study describes the characteristics of Wesley Elementary that are supported by research on effective schools. The researcher, formerly a Title I Coordinator/Reading Specialist at Wesley, interviewed three teachers who had taught at Wesley along with the former principal, Dr. Thaddeus Lott. An educational consultant who assisted teachers in the writing process from 1991-1992 was also interviewed to verify the perspectives of those interviewed that the schools success was due to specific factors. Implications for future research, instructional practice, and professional development are also discussed.

The Role of Oracy in Developing Comprehension in Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners.

Components of first-grade intervention programs that addressed oral language and listening comprehension instruction within an intensive literacy intervention for native Spanish-speaking students struggling with reading difficulties are described. Findings for the intervention are based on 4 large-scale experimental studies (published elsewhere) in which the intervention was provided to struggling first-grade English language learners (ELLs) in the same language as the core reading instruction (Spanish or English). Interventions taught children the alphabetic principle with letter–sound correspondences and how to read words quickly and accurately as well as providing practices that enhanced the language skills needed to understand word and text meaning. Thus, explicit instruction was provided in oral language, phonemic awareness, alphabetic knowledge, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension strategies. The essential features of the intervention that addressed oral language were a shared storybook reading routine in addition to enhanced language acquisition instruction. Findings indicate that students in the intervention made progress in the areas of phonological awareness, letter–sound identification, word attack, and comprehension skills. Our intervention studies empirically informs us on the instructional components of effective reading and oral language interventions for Spanish-speaking ELLs who are at risk for reading difficulties.

Using Knowledge Networks to Develop Preschoolers’ Content Vocabulary

Research shows that children accrue vocabulary knowledge by understanding relationships between new words and their connected concepts. This article describes three research-based principles that preschool teachers can use to design shared book reading lessons that accelerate content vocabulary knowledge by helping young children to talk about important connections between words and related science and social studies concepts. These three principles guide teachers in building networks of content vocabulary knowledge in preschool children by making connections between words and world knowledge via informational and narrative texts.

Linguistic Units and Instructional Strategies that Facilitate Word Recognition for Latino Kindergarteners Learning to Read in Spanish.

Abstract This article describes the usage of linguistic units and instructional strategies that facilitate word recognition for Latino kindergarten students who are beginning to read in Spanish. This case study was based on coding videotaped reading and language arts instruction of two bilingual kindergarten teachers at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year using the Elements of Word Identification Instruction (Denton, Mathes, & Anthony, 2002), in addition to classroom field notes, narrative descriptions of instructional methods, and an end-of-the-year semistructured interview with the teachers. Results show that although Spanish has consistent letter–sound mappings, beginning reading instruction may focus on instruction at the word level, with phonemes playing a role in error correction, writing and spelling, phonemic awareness, and remediation for struggling readers who cannot read words fluently. This article concludes with implications for further research and discusses the significance of scaffolding word-recognition instruction at the phoneme level.