Assessing reading in second language learners: Development, validity, and educational considerations

Abstract

The overall objective of this chapter is to provide educational professionals with an overview of theory and research findings about the field of second language (L2) reading development in typically developing learners and those with reading difficulties. We also intend to inform readers of the implications of this research for the development of culturally and linguistically sensitive, reliable, and valid strategies for the assessment of L2 learners who may have a reading difficulty. For both monolinguals and L2 learners, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and working memory are significant early predictors of reading comprehension and reading fluency later on. L2 learners in early grades can develop word reading skills at a level that approximates their monolingual peers even when their oral language proficiency is still developing. Oral language proficiency becomes the most prominent predictor of reading comprehension and reading fluency around fourth grade when the text becomes more cognitively demanding. Therefore, early cognitive skills measured in the first language can be used reliably to merit a diagnosis of reading disability in the L2. Whenword reading and text reading of L2 learners is persistently dysfluent in comparison with other students with similar linguistic and educational backgrounds, the reading difficulties cannot be attributed to their L2 status and may reflect underlying cognitive deficits.