Journal Article

Dialect Variation and Reading: Is Change in Nonmainstream American English Use Related to Reading Achievement in First and Second Grades?

Connor, Carol McDonald, Terry, Nicole Patton, Petscher, Yaacov, Conlin, Catherine Ross

2012

Overview

Purpose: In this study, we examined (a) whether children who spoke Nonmainstream American English (NMAE) frequently in school at the beginning of 1st grade increased their use of Mainstream American English (MAE) through the end of 2nd grade, and whether increasing MAE use was associated with (b) language and reading skills and school context and (c) greater gains in reading skills. Method: A longitudinal design was implemented with 49 children who spoke NMAE moderately to strongly. Spoken production of NMAE forms, word reading, and reading comprehension were measured at the beginning, middle, and end of 1st and 2nd grades. Various oral language skills were also measured at the beginning of 1st grade. Results: Results indicate that most children increased their MAE production during 1st grade and maintained these levels in 2nd grade. Increasing MAE use was predicted by children's expressive vocabulary and nonword repetition skills at the beginning of 1st grade. Finally, the more children increased their MAE production, the greater were their reading gains from 1st grade through 2nd grade. Conclusions: The findings extend previous reports of a significant association between NMAE use and specific reading skills among young children and have implications for theory, educational practice, and future research.

• Publisher: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA),American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
• Subject: Academic achievement / African American Children / American English / Basic English / Child / Child Language / Children / Children & youth / Comprehension / Correlation / Dialects / Early Reading / Educational Practices / Educational research / Educational Status / Elementary Education / Elementary School Students / Emergent Literacy / English (Second Language) / Female / Grade 1 / Grade 2 / Humans / Interpersonal communication in children / Kindergarten / Language Development / Language disorders / Language proficiency / Language Skills / Language Usage / Learning environment / Literacy / Longitudinal Studies / Male / North American English / Oral Language / Production / Psycholinguistics / Reading / Reading Ability / Reading Achievement / Reading Comprehension / Reading Failure / Reading Skills / Reading Tests / Repetition / Skills / Social Environment / Spoken language / Studies / Verbal Behavior / Verbal Learning / Vocabulary