Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Martha Winn

Publication Date

5-9-1975

Abstract

It was hypothesized that reading strategies used by children from Spanish-speaking backgrounds reading in English are influenced by the facility in English of those children. Maturational levels of English structures used by two such children, one estimated by the teacher to be reading above grade level and one estimated by the teacher to be reading below grade level, were measured by transformational analysis. The use and effectiveness of reading strategies including sound/graphic systems, grammar, and meaning were determined for each reader. It was found that the linguistic structures in the speech samples of both readers were typical of those used by much younger native speakers of English. Both readers were found to be comprehending about one-third of the meaning of the materials they read. The reader estimated to be below grade level used less advanced linguistic structures. The reader estimated to be above grade level used more advanced linguistic structures and used standard English grammar to the near exclusion of meaning in reading. The examiner concluded that the level of grammatical structures employed by children from Spanish-speaking backgrounds may restrict their ability to use English grammar as a reading strategy. Those children from Spanish linguistic environments who appear to be able to use standard English grammar both in speech and as an effective reading strategy may be found to score lower in reading comprehension than in word recognition.

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

Elementary Education

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy

First Committee Member (Chair)

Miles Vernon Zintz

Second Committee Member

Herman Enoch Warsh

Third Committee Member

Richard D. Van Dongen

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