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The simple view of reading describes reading as the product of decoding (D) and listening comprehension (LC). However, the simple view of reading has been challenged, and evidence has proved it to be too simple to explain the complexities of reading comprehension in the elementary school years. Hypotheses have been advanced that there are cognitive-linguistic factors that underlie the common variance between D and LC, which are malleable, although there is no clarity at this point regarding what these are. We propose that one such group of malleable cognitive factors is executive function (EF) skills. Further, we posit that EF skills play equally strong roles in explaining reading comprehension variance in emergent bilinguals and English monolinguals. We used multigroup structural equation modeling to determine the contribution of these constructs (D, LC, and EF) to reading comprehension in 425 emergent bilinguals and 302 English monolinguals in grades 2–4. The shared variance between D and LC was explained by direct and indirect effects in the models tested, with strong indirect effects for the EFs of cognitive flexibility and working memory through D and LC, respectively, for both language groups. The indirect effect of cognitive flexibility through LC on reading comprehension was considerably larger for emergent bilinguals than for English monolinguals. Considerations for a more nuanced view of the simple view of reading and its implications for practice are discussed.

Syntax, or sentence structure, plays a role in reading comprehension, but how students draw on their awareness of syntax in their reading remains unclear; the mechanism is even more ambiguous in bilingual students. In this study, we evaluated the direct and indirect contributions of syntactic awareness on first-language Chinese and second-language English reading comprehension among 227 Hong Kong Chinese–English bilingual fourth graders. We designed language-shared and language-unique tasks of syntactic awareness, assessed reading comprehension in both Chinese and English, and took other reading-related cognitive and metalinguistic measures. We found a statistically significant direct effect of syntactic awareness on reading comprehension within both first-language Chinese and second-language English, along with indirect effects via word reading. Moreover, in their reading comprehension within both English and Chinese, students drew on awareness of syntactic features that are shared between English and Chinese more than those unique to either language. Students were also generally more accurate with language-shared than language-unique items, further pointing to the possibility of transfer. Our findings clarify dual roles for syntactic awareness in reading comprehension in Chinese and English, as well as transfer of awareness of syntactic structures in the two typologically distinct languages. We discuss these results in relation to theories of both reading comprehension and transfer.

Socioemotional constructs have been receiving increased attention as contributors to individuals’ literacy development. However, in comparison with positive socioemotional constructs, negative socioemotional constructs have been understudied with respect to their role in reading achievement in both emergent bilinguals (EBs) and English monolinguals (EMs). In the present study, we addressed this gap by examining reading anxiety in 339 EBs, who primarily spoke Spanish as their first language, and 178 EMs in grades 3–5, using a latent variable approach. We used structural equation modeling to form latent variables for reading anxiety, reading engagement, and reading achievement; compare latent variable means for EBs and EMs; and examine relations among the three focal constructs across the two language groups. The EBs and EMs showed similar levels of reading engagement, whereas the EBs showed a trend toward greater reading anxiety and statistically significantly lower reading achievement. Further, for both EBs and EMs, reading anxiety related negatively to reading achievement, both directly and indirectly through reading engagement, controlling for grade level. However, both the direct and indirect effects were greater for EBs than EMs. We interpret these results in the context of theoretical views of potential mechanisms linking reading anxiety and achievement, giving attention especially to the multidimensional nature of reading engagement. Based on the current findings and those of other research, we conclude by contending that reading anxiety merits increased scrutiny by researchers and educators endeavoring to understand and strengthen students’ reading achievement and socioemotional development during the elementary school years.

Young students who speak a different language at home than that spoken in school (i.e., a minority home-language) appear to exhibit a biased reading self-concept. Importantly, this biased reading self-concept may correspond with altered causal pathways between reading self-concept and achievement in minority home-language students. To test this idea, the authors examined cross-lagged links between reading self-concept and reading achievement in a large multiple-group longitudinal study in Germany. Students with German (n = 885), Turkish (n = 193), or another (n = 550) home language were tested yearly in grades 1-4 on measures of reading and reading self-concept. Despite showing lower reading achievement, students speaking a minority home language exhibited a higher reading self-concept. Cross-lagged paths revealed reciprocal effects between reading achievement and reading self-concept from grade 1 to grade 2, particularly for students with German as a home language. Minority home-language students showed significantly lower effects of reading achievement on their subsequent reading self-concept from grade 1 to grade 2. From grade 2 onward, reading achievement predicted reading self-concept, but not vice versa. (ZPID).

In this randomized trial study, the authors examined the efficacy of a practitioner partnership language intervention addressing oral language learning (expressive and receptive) in young language-minority learners from multiple-language groups in Norway. Resource teachers in 16 elementary schools implemented the intervention in the first and second grades, delivering a total of 64 thirty-minute sessions over eight consecutive weeks. With a mean age of 6 years 3.34 months, 137 students were randomly allocated to an intervention group or a waiting-list control group, with the latter group receiving the intervention after posttest 1. Five assessments of oral language skills were conducted before the intervention, immediately following it, and four months later. The intervention group showed significant improvements in various oral language skills compared with the waiting-list control group. There were no significant differences between the groups at the four-month follow-up when the waiting-list control group received the intervention. The program was successful in enhancing oral language skills in young language-minority learners.