Exploring Sources of Reading Comprehension Difficulties Among Language Minority Learners and Their Classmates in Early Adolescence

2010/01/19 by Nonie K. Lesaux, Michael J. Kieffer · 222 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Comprehension #First language #Fluency #Language proficiency #Linguistics #Mathematics education #Multilingual Education and Policy #Population #Psychology #Reading (process) #Reading and Literacy Development #Reading comprehension #Second Language Acquisition and Learning #Teaching method #Vocabulary #Vocabulary development

paper · doi:10.3102/0002831209355469

published in American Educational Research Journal 47(3), 596-632 (SAGE Publishing)

openalex publication_date 2010/01/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

This study explores the nature of reading comprehension difficulties among early adolescent language minority (LM) learners and native English speakers in urban schools. Sixth-grade students (399 LM learners, 182 native English speakers) were screened for difficulties, using a standardized measure of reading comprehension. Of these, 262 students (201 LM learners, 61 native English speakers) with a score at or below the 35th percentile were administered measures of oral language and reading. More LM learners than their peers were classified as struggling readers (60% vs. 40%, respectively). However, latent class analysis demonstrated that the two populations were evenly distributed among three skill profiles of struggling readers. Despite relative differences in word reading accuracy and fluency, each profile was characterized by low vocabulary knowledge. The majority of struggling readers were found to have developed basic fluency skills. The findings demonstrate the need for middle schools to identify why students are having comprehension difficulties and to target instruction to meet their specific needs, given the wide variation in the struggling reader population. Moreover, they suggest that treating LM learners as a separate group based on their status as second-language learners may not be appropriate.

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• The Comprehension Problems for Second-Language Learners with Poor Reading Comprehension despite Adequate Decoding: A Meta-Analysis. [europepmc]
• Children's Early Decontextualized Talk Predicts Academic Language Proficiency in Midadolescence. [europepmc]
• Separability of Lexical and Morphological Knowledge: Evidence from Language Minority Children. [europepmc]
• Reading Comprehension in Both Spanish and English as a Foreign Language by High School Spanish Students. [europepmc]
• Examining the Reading and Cognitive Profiles of Students With Significant Reading Comprehension Difficulties. [europepmc]
• Examining the Heterogeneous Early Literacy Profiles of First-Grade Students Who Are English Learners. [europepmc]

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