A Common Sense Approach to Demystify Universal Reading Screening with Multilingual Students

The process and purpose seems clear for many children, however in practice it is important to consider the nearly 12 million children who speak a language other than English at home. For these children careful consideration of English language proficiency and the language of reading instruction need to be taken into consideration. English proficiency will influence a child’s ability to understand task directions, the vocabulary used in the test, and the background knowledge necessary to respond appropriately to many test items, especially when measuring vocabulary development. The language of reading instruction will directly impact the development of children’s code-based literacy skills. 

Differentiating Between Language and Literacy Skills

When screening for reading problems, it is important to distinguish between how language and literacy skills are measured. Language skills are learned through everyday interactions across home, community and school settings. Reading skills are most likely formally acquired through instruction and are therefore instructionally dependent. This means that if a child is not instructed to read in a language, a reading screening in that language is unlikely to yield an accurate estimate of their reading ability, even if they are more proficient in that language. 

Home and Community Language Exposure

Children develop language through frequent and regular exposure to that language across naturally occurring routines. Therefore, teachers should ask families to complete a home language survey to gather information about how much each is spoken at home to better understand a child’s current language exposure. At school entry by law, these children are administered an English proficiency test, and teachers should consider the child’s level of English proficiency when interpreting reading screening results. The multilingual child’s score on an English reading screening cannot be interpreted accurately unless the teacher has information about the child’s exposure to English and their English proficiency. 

Language of Instruction

In general, children do not learn to read in a language in which they have never received any reading instruction. For most children school is the primary context in which they formally learn to read. Therefore, when screening multilingual students, information is needed not only about the child’s exposure to their heritage language and English, but also the language of reading instruction. It is no mystery that children learn what they are exposed to and therefore these contextual factors are critical to consider when evaluating the performance of a multilingual student on any reading screening battery.

Two Real Life Scenarios

Trinh is a Kindergartener whose family speaks Vietnamese at home, and she is growing up in a San Francisco neighborhood with many Vietnamese families. She is in in an English-only classroom, and while her English abilities are emerging quickly, she is clearly more dominant in Vietnamese. When Trinh is screened in English for reading problems in October, she scores in a range that is below benchmark. There are no assessments available in Vietnamese. Trinh’s family has completed a language survey and the teacher knows that she is primarily exposed to Vietnamese in her home. The teacher also has access to her English proficiency testing and knows that Trinh is in the emerging stage of English acquisition. Her teacher therefore understands that Trinh should not be considered as having low reading development, but rather as needing more time in English instruction to develop reading skills. Trinh’s teacher can work closely with the specialist who serves English learners to better understand Trinh’s English development and learn strategies to support her comprehension of reading instruction in the classroom. Trinh’s reading development should be monitored to document her rate of growth as she begins the process of formally learning English while also learning how to read in English. 

Now let’s consider Mateo who is in 2nd grade. His family is from El Salvador, and they use more Spanish than English at home. He has been enrolled in a dual language program in Washington D.C. since kindergarten where their goal is to support biliteracy development. There are many assessment options to screen Mateo in both English and Spanish. Reading screening measures are now available in both languages that can accurately identify children who are in need of additional instructional support in either language. Mateo scores within normal limits in Spanish and only slightly below benchmark in English. Given that Mateo’s family speaks more Spanish than English at home and that he is learning to read in both languages there is likely no reason for concern about Mateo’s reading development. Over time in the dual language program, he is likely to balance out in his skill development. 

If Mateo were in an English-only program it would be appropriate to screen Mateo’s literacy skills in English, since he only has received reading instruction in English (e.g. word reading, letter sounds). Screening reading in Spanish in this case would likely not yield accurate estimates of his reading ability since he has never been formally instructed to read in Spanish. However, it remains important for educators to learn about Mateo’s Spanish language development and educators should gather information from families and administer Spanish language measures if possible.

When approaching the task of screening a multilingual student the contextual nuances are important. Multilingual children are different from monolingual children because they are inherently exposed to more than one language. There will be variability in their language proficiency which will impact their performance on any reading assessment. The language of reading instruction will interact with their language proficiency and will impact the literacy skills acquired in that language. Therefore, the teachers need to take common sense approaches to screening multilingual students and interpreting their performance.  The scores cannot be interpreted within a vacuum, but rather within the context of the child’s language ability, exposure to languages at home, and the language of reading instruction. 

Instructional and Policy Implications

Instructionally teachers should implement strategies that scaffold children’s English language development and encourage active engagement in reading instruction. If children are in the process of acquiring English, they will need targeted support to understand the instruction they are receiving. Teachers should review the results of English language proficiency testing and use that information to determine what practices need to be in place for the child to become a successful reader. Educators should also be aware of the importance of the maintenance of native language(s) and implement instructional strategies that leverage the knowledge children have to support English literacy development. 

Policymakers need to be aware of the importance of providing evidence-based guidance for multilingual students when crafting legislation that will drive universal screening. Too often these students are overlooked in legislation, and educators are left to problem solve on their own without clear guidelines. States also often provide a list of approved reading screeners and leadership should also include Spanish measures in their review process so that educators are aware of what measures are available to use with children who are receiving reading instruction in Spanish. 

Republished with permission from the Albert Shanker Institute.