Developing Reading and Writing in Second-Language Learners Lessons From the Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language- Minority Children and Youth

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Edited by MARGARET HAWKINS
University of Wisconsin

Developing Reading and Writing in Second-Language Learners:
Lessons From the Report of the National Literacy Panel on LanguageMinority Children and Youth.
Diane August and Timothy Shanahan(Eds.). New York: Routledge;
Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics; Newark, DE:
International Reading Association, 2008. Pp. vii–321.

Ⅲ Children who have yet to acquire English continue to enter schools
across the United States. The individual states, responsible for schooling
as they are, have formulated policy, developed tests, organized programs,
and prepared teachers in order to fulfill the commitment the nation has
made to teaching all children to be literate in English. Through the years,
the practical experience of educators has shaped instruction largely in
accord with favored ways of teaching native speakers. But in these times,
it is evidence from solid research on learning to read and write that is
being called on. This book ambitiously brings together the results of relevant research in recent years, seeking trustworthy generalizations to
guide our understanding—and reveal our ignorance—of children’s
achievements in reading and writing in a second language.
No one interested in carrying out research on schooling for English
language learners can overlook this work. It is, in fact, a reduced version
of a massive report prepared by a panel of highly accomplished scholars
in response to a charge by the Institute for Educational Sciences of the
U.S. Department of Education to identify, evaluate, and synthesize
research on language-minority children’s attainment in literacy (August
& Shanahan, 2006). Concentrating on literacy, it deepens a recent synthesis of research on literacy and broader educational attainments of

English language learners (Genesee, Lindholm-Leary, Saunders, &
Christian, 2006). To shape the original report into a more manageable
volume, the editors have maintained the basic organization of the areas

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of research addressed in the original report but have condensed multiple
chapters in each area to single chapters.
The perspective on what counts as valued research methods and findings is presented with clarity and vigor. A full chapter is given to the methodology of the review, followed by a brief demographic overview of the
American multilingual condition. Members of the panel articulated a set
of research questions to frame their inquiry into each of five areas, seeking general trends and uncovering gaps. With few exceptions, only rigorous studies that yielded quantitative measures of progress in reading and
writing and appeared in peer-reviewed journals from 1980–2005 were
considered. (Relevant studies from outside the United States were
included, especially from Canada, a country well represented on the
panel.) When appropriate, these outcome measures were then analyzed
through the technique of meta-analysis, but if the number of studies on a
given question was too limited, the results were analyzed through systematic examination. Qualitative studies in some areas were considered and
incorporated into the narrative.
The five areas of concern addressed by subcommittees of the panel
encapsulate much of the complexity of becoming literate in English as a
second language. At the same time, they highlight the challenge of validly
capturing children’s literate achievements across languages, school settings, and social conditions. The first area, “Developmental Perspective,”
concerns the path of development among English language learners as
they advance in mastery. In this area, a variety of measures, including some
as abstract as phonological memory, are related to learning second language reading skills at the word level and at the text level. The second area,
“The Role of First Language Oral Proficiency and Literacy in Second
Language Development,” takes up the connection between learners’ spoken and written language accomplishments in their first language and

their literacy attainments in English as a second language. This connection
is explored especially with respect to the notion of transfer from one language to another. The third area, “The Influence of Sociocultural Variables,”
addresses how a small set of sociocultural factors, such as recent immigration, may influence literacy achievement. In this case, the panel expressed
much skepticism regarding the nature of evidence from relevant studies.
The fourth area, “Classroom and School Factors,” is the most extensive,
bringing together findings on educational matters such as the language of
instruction, the organization of instruction, and teachers’ preparation for
instruction for English language learners. The evidence in this section,
though, defies generalization from one research topic to the next, even as
it confirms longstanding findings, for instance, the moderate evidence
that instruction in children’s first language contributes to their attainment
in reading and writing English. An important topic in this area concerns
learning English by children identified as in need of special education.
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The fifth area, “Assessment,” takes up the measures of assessment used
in the research examined for this report as well as the purposes, nature,
and quality of widely adopted tests used to classify English language learners in schools. From this overview, the meager amount of research on
assessment is evident.
In line with the charge to synthesize the research, each chapter includes
a summary of the empirical findings in the specific area. In some cases,
furthermore, detailed appendices ground the narrative report in tables
presenting, for instance, the instructional components of intervention
studies. In line with the charge to evaluate the scope and trustworthiness
of the research, each chapter also includes a section on methodological
issues, discussing the strengths and the shortcomings of the research at
hand. Each chapter ends with recommendations for further rigorous

studies into unanswered questions. A concluding chapter by Catherine
Snow, a senior advisor to the panel of scholars, sketches crosscutting
themes, contrasting the research we have and the research we need.
Readers will note that this report, given the concentration on the measurable attainment of literacy, leaves little room for recognizing the texture of children’s development in a second language. With respect to the
importance of phonemic awareness and phonics in early reading and
writing, for instance, it hardly touches on how children might become
aware of sounds when their own English pronunciation is only emerging.
It barely mentions the asymmetries between comprehension and production or notes differences in form and function between spoken and written language that may come into play as children construct their linguistic
knowledge. It appears to be stuck in a limited perspective on the nature
of second language acquisition, ignoring recent theoretical shifts that
view it as a linguistic, a psychological, and a social enterprise embedded
in the variety of classroom and community practices prevalent in American
life. This quest for meaningful generalizations about learning literacy in
English through the recent research literature, while offering findings,
begs readers to review their stance, assumptions, and experience.
REFERENCES
August, D., & Shanahan, T. (2006). Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report
of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. Mahwah, NJ:
Erlbaum; Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.
Genesee, F., Lindholm-Leary, K., Saunders, W. M., & Christian, D. (2006). Educating
English language learners: A synthesis of research evidence. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
ROSE-MARIE WEBER
University at Albany, State University of New York
Albany, New York, United States
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