Reading Strategy Intervention and Reading Comprehension Success in Bilingual Readers
Abstract
Previous research has found that specific reading strategies predict reading comprehension success in bilingual readers (Frid & Friesen, 2020; Friesen & Frid, 2021). Yet, the pattern in which readers recruit these strategies has not been investigated. In the first study, the patterns of strategy recruitment used by skilled vs. poor bilingual readers was analyzed with previously collected think-aloud data. Results showed that skilled bilingual readers recruit a variety of strategies, they pair necessary inferences with other strategies and utilize comprehension monitoring strategies. In contrast, poor readers perseverate on specific strategies, recruit fewer strategies in total and make more incorrect statements. Based on these findings, a strategy flowchart was designed to capture skilled reading behaviours (i.e., “because statements”, making connections). Participants in Study 2 and Study 3 were bilingual English-French adults and children respectively. Participants read stories, conducted think-alouds and answered reading comprehension questions. Half of the participants were randomly assigned to the intervention group (i.e, strategy flowchart) and the other half were in the control group. This research investigated whether teaching bilingual readers to recruit specific strategies improves comprehension. The findings of these studies did not support reading comprehension gains but did demonstrate reading behaviour changes from pre-test to post-test. Implications for French immersion and second-language educators are discussed as well as limitations and next steps for this area of research.