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The present study examined the effect of children's enrollment in U.S. dual-language immersion (DLI) programs in first grade on English development across five years, using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2011 (ECLS-K:2011) database. Propensity score matching was used to create comparable groups of DLI and non-DLI students based on students' kindergarten reading performance and a series of student-, family-, and school-level characteristics. Growth curve models demonstrate that first-grade DLI enrollment had a positive effect on children's English reading growth from Grade 1 to 5. Children who enrolled in DLI experienced greater improvements by Grade 5. We also found that first-grade teacher judgment was related to children's initial reading performance but not their reading growth. Implications related to DLI programs, teacher practices, and bilingual educational policies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study examined cross-language transfer of word reading accuracy and word reading fluency in Spanish-English and Chinese-English bilinguals. Participants included 51 Spanish-English and 64 Chinese-English bilinguals. Both groups of children completed parallel measures of phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, word reading accuracy, and word reading fluency in their first language (LI) and in English, their second language (L2) in Grade 1. Word reading accuracy and word reading fluency were assessed in LI and L2 again in Grade 2. Cross-language transfer of word reading accuracy was found only in the Spanish-English bilinguals. In contrast, cross-language transfer of word reading fluency was found in both the Spanish-English bilinguals and the Chinese-English bilinguals. Our results suggest transfer of word reading accuracy is based on the structural similarities between the LI and L2 scripts. By contrast, word reading fluency operates largely as a script-universal process. Implications for reading theory and for assessment and instruction of bilingual children are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined cross-language transfer of morphological awareness in Chinese-English bilingual children. One hundred and thirty-seven first to fourth graders participated in the study. The children were tested on parallel measures of compound awareness, vocabulary, word reading and reading comprehension in Chinese and English. They also received measures of English derivational awareness, English phonological awareness and nonverbal reasoning. Structural equation modelling was used to compare a baseline model with only within-language paths to a model with cross-language paths. The cross-language model fit significantly better than the within-language model, suggesting transfer of morphological awareness between English and Chinese. In particular, we observed a bidirectional relationship between English compound awareness and Chinese vocabulary. Furthermore, English compound awareness was a significant predictor of Chinese reading comprehension. The conditions that support transfer of morphological awareness and the impact of transfer on literacy development in Chinese and English are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]