Reading and the Bilingual Student

In November of 2013 an article entitled Bilinguals Reading in Their Second Language Do Not Predict Upcoming Words as Native Readers Do, Clara Martin looked at the difference of monolingual readers and bilingual readers in their ability to predict words to follow and predict the outcome of stories.  According to their research, monolingual students were more able to predict words to follow rather than student who are reading in their second language.

With this evidence, it is shown that for bilingual students, difficulty predicting the end of sentence can be a reason as to why their reading skills are slower, not as fluent, and not as strong as those reading in their first language.

Upon studying reading skills for those learning English as a second language there are ways to help.  You can give students more vocabulary practice, using cluster charts showing similarities between words, while reading the students will learn to be able to predict the next word to come in a sentence.  Also to group students together, weaker second language students together with stronger students to be able to learn from.

The English language is difficult to learn, and the idea of learning English alongside content and curriculum for school can seem daunting and difficult for students.  As their educators we need to remember to remain patient with them, and to walk with them step by step to help their educational process.