The Interdependence Continuum: A Perspective on the Nature of Spanish-English Bilingual Reading Comprehension

Briana GualtieriTessa Biskup

Introduction

● Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis: ○ Well developed L1 skills will transfer to a learner’s L2 which improves

educational outcomes for ELL (Cummins 1979, 1991; Dressler & Kamil, 2006; Genessee & Geva, 2016)

○ Cross-Linguistic Transfer■ Vocabulary-concept knowledge ■ Metalinguistic insight■ Decontextualized language

Purpose

● Researching holistic models of bilingual reading comprehension that combine the Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis and Cross-Linguistic Transfer

■ And incorporate language and literacy variables in the L1 and L2 to model bilingual reading comprehension

Cummins Interdependence HypothesisStudy of Linguistic Interdependence

If an L1 student has:

1) Vocabulary Concept Knowledgea) Use language to represent an

understanding of various concepts

2) Metalinguistic Insighta) Grasp the notion that print has

meaning and that writing differs from speech

3) Decontextualized languagea) Able to use and understand

language to represent abstract concepts, thoughts, and ideas

Predicting Spanish and English Reading Comprehension

● Spanish and English are orthographically and typologically comparable○ Increased likelihood for

cross-linguistic transfer

Discussion Question

Do you believe that having strong vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension in your L1 aids your acquisition of those skills in your L2?

In other words, what do you think of the aforementioned hypothesis?

Studies thus farInterlinguistic Studies tend to focus on Problem Spaces (the degree of learning challenge)

● Small Problem Space○ Alphabetic and word-level knowledge

■ Spanish and English are geologically comparable and cross-linguistic transfers are evident● Large Problem Space

○ Oral language/vocabulary knowledge■ Negative correlation between L1 and L2 because of large variability in vocabulary

○ Reading comprehension■ As L2 language improves, the reader is more easily able to employ cross linguistic strategies

developed in the L1

Methods

● Participants○ 91 Spanish-English bilingual fourth-grade students○ 3 Large elementary schools

■ Boston, MA■ Chicago, IL■ El Paso, TX

○ Cross-sectional research study ○ Native Spanish Speakers

■ Displayed a biliterate profile (could read and write in Spanish) due to Éxito Para Todos curriculum

Spanish and English Alphabetic Knowledge

● Computer administered pseudoword recognition ○ altering one letter in each real word

● Say the word into a microphone using the orthographic conventions of either English or Spanish

● Spanish-dominant students had higher alphabetic knowledge in Spanish

ResultsMeasures

Spanish and English Vocabulary Knowledge

● Woodcock Picture Vocabulary ○ Name familiar and unfamiliar

pictured objects

Spanish-dominant students had higher vocabulary skills in Spanish

ResultsMeasures

Spanish and English Listening Comprehension

● Woodcock Listening Comprehension○ Cloze assessment

■ Listen to tape recorded passages■ Produce a response to an

unfinished sentence

● Spanish-dominant students had higher listening comprehension skills in Spanish

● Strong correlation between listening comprehension and vocabulary knowledge in both Spanish and English

ResultsMeasures

Spanish and English Reading Comprehension

● Woodcock Passage Comprehension○ Silently read passages○ Orally respond to unfinished

sentences

● The average results on reading comprehension did not differ between English and Spanish

● Strong correlation between listening comprehension and vocabulary knowledge in both Spanish and English

ResultsMeasures

Correlation between Spanish & English Variables

● Cross-linguistic correlation between Spanish and English alphabetic knowledge was not as high as expected but was still significant

● Cross-linguistic correlation between Spanish alphabetic knowledge and English comprehension was absent

Spanish-English Decoding Factor

Table 5 shows that the Spanish–English decoding factor correlated positively but mildly with oral language in both languages and moderately with reading comprehension in both languages.

Structural Equation ModelingExplanation

● Shows the degree of cross-linguistic relationships among variables that were consistent with the interdependence continuum

● Spanish-English alphabetic knowledge predicted Spanish and English reading comprehension

Discussions

● Alphabetic knowledge & cross-linguistic decoding○ Predicted reading comprehension in English and Spanish

● English reading comprehension was strongly associated with Spanish reading comprehension

● The effect was weaker than for Spanish-English decoding● There was a link between Spanish oral-language skills and English

reading comprehension

Conclusions

This study intended to

1. Provide a reliable definition of transfer2. Predict when transfer is positive vs negative3. Predict when it would be strong versus weak

They succeeded in creating an explanation for strong versus weak links but could not provide a reliable definition of transfer or predict when it was positive or negative. They presented a model of linguistic interdependence that can be applied psycholinguistically.

Questions?

Discussion Question

Based on what you have heard thus far, how would this impact your

classroom instruction?

Discussion Question

What further research should be done on transfer to determine whether it is

positive or negative?