Profile 11:"NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH"

Beginners Group - Silent Reading GE 0-3.9

Additional Profile 11 information from the research

In addition to testing the reading skills of ABE learners, the ARCS researchers administered a lengthy questionnaire, so we can give you more information about the people in Profile 11.

• One hundred (100) percent are Non-native Speakers of English (NNSE).
• The average age is 36.
• The average number of grades completed is 8.4.

Summary of Self-Reported Reading Problems

Trouble With Reading, K-12	Trouble Learning to Read, K-3	Received Academic Help, K-12
30%	19%	32% of Profile 11 Members:   18% = Tutoring or Chapter 1   7% = Special Classes   7% = Tutoring or Chapter 1 AND Special Classes   32% = TOTAL

Word Meaning (Vocabulary)

Expressive word meanings (as measured by the DAR Word Meaning subtest): The average GE on the DAR Word Meaning test, "Tell me what X means," is extremely low. In order to be better able to formulate and express a word's meaning, these non-native speakers need to know more words and have instruction and practice with the task so that they can see how well they know a word.

Phonology

• Are they able to manipulate sounds? No.
• Phonemic Awareness (PA) (sound deletion as measured by the Test of Auditory Analysis Skills [TAAS])
  Group average on the TAAS, 7 correct out of 13 tasks (7/13), indicates only first level competence with phoneme deletion tasks. None is successful with all 13 consonant deletion tasks. Many cannot consistently delete the first and last consonant of a word, e.g., responding with gay when asked to, "Say game. Now say it again, but don't say /m/." (A letter within bars, e.g., /m/, denotes the sound of the letter "mmm," not the name "em.") Profile 11 scores on the TAAS range from 2 to 11 out of 13.
• Do they know the 21 consonant sounds? No.
  Only 7% know all consonant sounds. The average for the group is 15 out of the 21. Consonant sounds should be practiced to automaticity, not just mastery.
• Can they apply phonics rules when decoding? Perhaps.
  • Decoding pseudo-words (as measured by the Word Attack subtest of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test [WRMT])
    Group average standard score on the WRMT word attack assessment (pseudo-words) is "moderately low" (74) with scores ranging from "extremely low" to "low average." Even though the Non-native Speakers of English (NNSE) in Profile 11 are able to read significantly more letter combinations than the Native Speakers of English (NSE) in Profile 10 (WRMT of 58) who are also reading at GE 0-3.9, they are not able to recognize more real words on the DAR Word Recognition subtest; both groups have similar scores on the DAR Word Recognition subtest.

Why is the Silent Reading Comprehension GE 0-3.9 group separated according to native language, English (Profile 10) and Not English (Profile 11)?

Because each group has distinctive strengths and needs that should drive their instruction. The following table shows the reading/learning disability pattern of low Print Skills (Alphabetics) in Profile 10 (NSE) and the greater development of those abilities in Profile 11 (NNSE). Profile 10 learners have a long history of reading failure of undocumented origin, but the problem evident at present is their inability to link sounds and symbols reliably enough to decode words. Vocabulary measures are low for both groups, but the difference between Print Skills (Alphabetics) and Meaning Skills are significantly greater for Profile 11.

Word attack and phonological abilities for Profile 11 learners are developed sufficiently so that, with further instruction and exposure to English words, they will raise their Word Recognition levels. Lack of sufficient vocabulary is holding them back from reading more advanced text and has also affected their Word Recognition progress.

Differences in some test scores, Profiles 10 and 11

* significant difference between NSE and NNSE on word attack, Phonemic Awareness, listening vocabulary, and Word Meaning.
¹Standard scores between 70 and 85 are in the moderately low range. Scores below 70 are in the "extremely low" range.

Learner questionnaire

Finding out about the language history and literacy practices of NNSE learners will help judge the extent of instruction and practice different learners may need. Questions such as the following will be of great help in thinking about your learners and planning the curriculum. (You can read more about the Learner Questionnaire used in the ARCS.)

Can they read and write their native language? Is it an alphabetic language?

Most (66%) of Profile 11 learners are literate in an alphabetic language. Seventeen (17)percent are literate in a non-alphabetic language. Seventeen (17) percent are not literate in either an alphabetic or non-alphabetic native language. This means that, more than the others, 34% of Profile 11 learners will need systematic instruction and practice in Phonemic Awareness and phonics. Those literate in a non-alphabetic language will have to re-orient their attention to decoding according to a sound-to-symbol system. Those not literate in any language, but who report having attended school as children, may be reading or learning disabled and will need approaches similar to those recommended for dyslexic native speakers.

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