Language minority learners in the United States

Description

Rapid growth in the language minority (LM) population has increased the likelihood that teachers across the nation will have LM students in their classrooms. Unfortunately, few teachers have sufficient knowledge or training to teach LM students and the research base to inform effective literacy instruction remains underdeveloped. In an effort to address the scarcity of knowledge on teacher quality and its relationship to LM learners' reading as well as knowledge of other predictors of literacy outcomes for their achievement, this thesis applied an ecological framework to identify factors that influence reading in LM students. First, a descriptive study that (1) reports on LM student demographics at a national level, (2) compares LM and non-LM students' teacher characteristics, and (3) describes teachers' feelings of adequacy in being trained to teach LM students is presented. Using multiple regression, a second study focuses on student-, teacher-, and setting-level factors associated with reading proficiency in kindergarten, first, third, and fifth grade. Finally, a third study presents results from multi-level growth models that estimated differences in the reading trajectories of LM, special education (SE), and LM in special education (LMSE) students from kindergarten to fifth grade. LM students experienced disadvantages on multiple levels due to low SES, living in urban settings, and low quality teachers. The results also demonstrated that for disadvantaged LM students, teacher experience, certification, education level, and specialized coursework (reading & ESL) were more predictive of reading outcomes than were student age, gender, and disability in third and fifth grade. Finally, LM student reading levels were not significantly different from non-LM student reading levels at kindergarten entry, however by fifth grade, LM students were significantly behind non-LM students in reading. Also, the initial pre-reading skills of LMSE students were significantly below those of non-LMSE students at kindergarten entry, suggesting that LMSE students were distinguishable from their non-LMSE peers in kindergarten. These findings make important contributions to the existing body of knowledge about predictors of reading outcomes for LM students and have research, policy, and practice implications. These include the need for (1) policies and funding that address the disadvantage that LM students face at home and in school, (2) more empirical research on the content of LM teachers' coursework and training, and (3) more support for teachers to promote early identification of language minority students at-risk for special education placement.

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