Bilingual Phonological Awareness: Construct Validation in Grade 1 Spanish‐Speaking English Learners

Abstract

This study investigated the dimensionality of bilingual phonological awareness (PA) in English and Spanish by replicating a kindergarten model in Grade 1, and presents alternatives to modeling clustered data. English and Spanish tasks were analyzed from previously collected samples totaling 1,586 first grade Spanish‐speaking English learners. Four distinct approaches to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models were examined: (a) uncentered student‐level data, (b) student‐level data centered at the classroom means, (c) classroom‐level data, and (d) multilevel CFA. Results indicated that while the multilevel CFA provided the most comprehensive view of the data, the multi‐level student‐level estimates were not appreciably different from estimates based on student‐level data centered at the classroom means, and multi‐level classroom‐level estimates were comparable to estimates based on the analysis of classroom means. Importantly, English and Spanish PA were statistically separable at the student‐level, but minimally distinct (r = .86) and slightly less correlated than what has been reported for kindergarten (r = .93). At the classroom level, the correlation was moderate (r = .51), and substantially reduced compared to kindergarten (r = .83). The distinction at the classroom‐level between kindergarten and Grade 1 implies that instruction differentiates the abilities across languages at the classroom‐level, but less so at the student‐level.

Relationships Between Phonological Awareness and Reading in Spanish: A Meta‐Analysis

“…Studies by Bialystok, Majumder, and Martin (2003), Branum‐Martin et al. (2006), Bursztyn (1999), Durgunoglu (1998), Durgunoglu, Nagy, and Hancin‐Bhatt (1993), Khalaf, Santi, Kulesz, Bunta, and Francis (2019), Kovelman, Baker, and Pettito (2008), and Quiroga, Lemos‐Britton, Mostafapour, Abbott, and Berninger (2002) showed that bilingual children tend to overlap and transfer the phonological abilities that they have acquired in one language to another language when learning to read.…”

Characterization of English and Spanish language proficiency among middle school English learners with reading difficulties

“…In the present study, we addressed the potential effects of clustering on the covariance structure by fitting the model with and without centering and compared results across the two approaches. (See Khalaf, Santi, Kulesz, Bunta & Francis, 2019 for more information on these issues. )…”

The dimensionality of phonological awareness among Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children: a longitudinal study

“…We have no knowledge of other studies that have conducted a comprehensive investigation of phonological awareness dimensionality in Brazilian Portuguese like this one. Theoretically, it is important to have data on the dimensionality of phonological awareness in different languages because this can clarify whether phonological awareness is a general metalinguistic ability that underlies the acquisition of literacy in any alphabetical language (Khalaf, Santi, Kulesz, Bunta, and Francis, 2019). From a more practical point of view, it is essential to evaluate the dimensionality of phonological awareness because it has implications for test building and psychological assessment in terms of the kind of items employed in phonological awareness' tasks and their interpretation.…”