Reading in Spanish and in English

Moll and Diaz (1993) described research they did in a bilingual program where native Spanish speaking students received instruction in Spanish part of the day and then moved to the classroom next door for instruction in English. The teacher in the second classroom was a monolingual English speaker. Moll and Diaz observed that the students could read with comprehension when Spanish was the language of instruction. However, the students' instruction in reading English emphasized decoding and the students seemed to have difficulty operating at the comprehension level when reading in English. However, when the researchers questioned students in Spanish about what they had read in English, students demonstrated a more complex understanding of the material than they were able to display in English. Building on this experience, Moll and Diaz (1993, p. 73) asked "How could we reorganize the instructional procedures to take advantage of their Spanish reading competence to advance their English reading?"

Using grade-level textbooks, the researchers asked the students to concentrate on understanding what they were reading, thus shifting the focus from decoding. They also decided that they (as the temporary teachers) and the students could use Spanish as needed to clarify the meaning of what was being read. Moll and Diaz (1993) reported:

We started the lessons by reading the story to the students, removing all potential decoding constraints from the students concentrating on comprehension. After the reading, we sought to clarify the meaning of the text, by finding out how much the students understood and by clarifying aspects of the text. By the third lesson, the students were able, with our bilingual assistance, to answer comprehension questions required of English monolingual readers at grade level. We should also mention that by the third lesson we no longer read to the students, we had transferred the responsibility for decoding to them (p. 73).

The researchers indicate that they do not claim that the students became fully competent English readers as a result of their short intervention. However, they do claim "that reading and communicative resources can be strategically combined or mixed to provide the children with the support necessary to participate profitably in reading lessons" (p. 73).

Relevant CIP Cultural Question

3.2.3 Programs for English Language Learners