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Factors that influence comprehension of connectives among language minority children from Spanish-speaking backgrounds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2008

AMY C. CROSSON ,
NONIE K. LESAUX  and
MARIA MARTINIELLO
AMY C. CROSSON
Affiliation:
Harvard Graduate School of Education
NONIE K. LESAUX*
Affiliation:
Harvard Graduate School of Education
MARIA MARTINIELLO
Affiliation:
Educational Testing Service
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Nonie K. Lesaux, Department of Human Development and Psychology, 319 Larsen Hall, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge, MA 02138. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This study explores factors influencing the degree to which language minority (LM) children from Spanish-dominant homes understand how connectives, such as in contrast and because, signal relationships between text propositions. Standardized tasks of vocabulary, listening comprehension, word reading, and a researcher-designed text cohesion task were administered to 90 fourth-grade LM students. Understanding of connectives was influenced by vocabulary knowledge and listening comprehension. The degree of challenge that specific connectives posed to LM students was predicted by the difficulty that connectives presented as vocabulary items and also by the type of semantic relationship between clauses they signaled. The findings point to factors that may present sources of difficulty underlying reading comprehension, in particular the critical role of oral language competencies.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , October 2008 , pp. 603 - 625
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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