Strategic Reading Ability - Jimenez 1997

The Strategic Reading Abilities and Potential of Five Low-Literacy Latina/o Readers in Middle
School
Author(s): Robert T. Jimnez
Source: Reading Research Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Jul. - Aug. - Sep., 1997), pp. 224-243
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading Association
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Reading Research Quarterly

Vol. 32, No. 3
July/August/September 1997
?1997 International Reading Association
(pp. 224-243)
Robert T. Jimenez
Universityof Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
The
strategic reading abilities
potential
readers
in
of
five
middle
and
Latina/o
low-literacy
school
oftenexperience
difficulties
with
atina/ostudents
U.S. These students have usually been raised entirely in

the U.S., and they have attended school on a regular basis since their preschool or kindergarten days. However,
many have not received quality instruction due to transience, difficulties, delays, outright misidentification as
students with special needs, or, in some cases, placement in classrooms with teachers who were well meaning but uninformed on issues of second-language
acquisition, literacy learning, and multiculturaleducation
(Figueroa, 1989; Rueda, 1991). These students are usually orally proficient in both English and Spanish but read
at extremely depressed levels-far below expectations
based on age and current grade-level placement.
In addition, these students are often identified as
having some sort of learning disability.These disabilities
are often not well specified, and referralfor evaluation
and placement in a program of special education is instigated and justifiedto a large extent on the basis of a failure to maintain expected grade-level achievement (Coles,
1987; McGill-Franzen,1987). Low levels of literacy development characterizemany students identified as having
learning disabilities (McGill-Franzen,1987, Ruiz, 1995).
Adding to the difficulties of these students, the
knowledge base for teaching literacy to linguistically diverse students is, as yet, still in its formative stages
(Bernhardt, 1991; Garcia, Pearson, & Jimenez, 1994;
Weber, 1991). Furtherexacerbating the problem, middle
school teachers traditionallyhave not viewed literacy instruction as central to their mission (Garcia et al., 1995).
As a consequence, many Latina/o students find that they
do not possess the necessary literacy skills to succeed in
literacyin both English and Spanish because they

must contend with less than optimal learning conditions, such as inadequatelyfunded schools
(Kozol, 1991), segregated schools (Valencia, 1991), and
teachers without trainingin second-language acquisitionor
multiculturaleducation (Berman et al., 1992; Nieto, 1992).
The fact that Latina/ostudents often are not able to
benefit from instructionin either all-Englishgeneral education classrooms or all-Englishspecial education classrooms
is not conceptually difficultto understand(Cummins, 1980;
Troike, 1984). Troike's(1981) straightforwardrationalefor
native-languageinstructionwas that "People are more likely to learn anything, including English, if they understand
what they are being taught"(p. 498).
More problematic, however, is the question of how
to meet the academic learning needs of Latina/o students
with special needs who are learning English as a second
language. Students who are recent immigrantsfrom
poor, rural backgrounds often fit this description
(Hamayan, 1995). These students may not have had opportunities to complete in a sequential fashion, kindergarten through Grade 6. In fact, they may have missed
entirely 2 or more years of schooling. As a result, they
often exhibit extremely low levels of Spanish literacy development. Such a situation would obviously impede
transfer of information to later English-language literacy
learning, a key element of bilingual educational theory
(Cummins, 1979).
Other Latina/o students are not recent immigrants,
but their parents may be relatively recent arrivalsto the
224

ABSTRACT
Thestrategicreadingabilitiesandpotentialoffive low-literacyLatina/oreadersin middleschool

abilithestrategic
THISRESEARCH
literacy
knowledge,
investigated
Latina/ostudentsin middle
ties,andpotentialof fivelow-literacy
in Spanish
andEnglish,
werebilingual
school.Threeof thestudents
in a specialeducaof theirinstruction
andtheyreceivedthemajority
two studentswereselectedfroma
tionclassroom.
Theremaining
andwereSpanishdominant.
Qualitative
bilingualat-riskclassroom
Theseinresearchmethodswereemployedforthisinvestigation.
thinkstudent
andteacherinterviews,
cludedclassroom
observations,
alouddatacollectionsessions,andthe use of a formative
experimentas partof the researchdesign.The formativeexperiment
consistedof eightcognitive
lessons,whichwereaudiotaped
strategy
andlateranalyzed
to determine
students'
cogresponseto intensive
nitivestrategyinstruction.
Thisinstruction
threestrateemphasized
items,asking
gies:resolvingthemeaningsof unknownvocabulary
Students
werealsoencouraged,
questions,andmakinginferences.
such
as appropriate,
to makeuseof theirbilingual
abilities,
language
as searching
forcognatevocabulary,
infortranslating,
transferring
andreflecting
ontextineitherorbothof theirtwolanguages.
mation,
relevant
andfamiliar
textwasusedasthebasisforallof the
Culturally
Withinstructional
instruction.
theparticipating
studentsimsupport,
thefocalstrategies
thatwereemphasized
duringtheforplemented
mativeexperiment.
Forexample,studentsin thespecialeducation
classroom
madeuse of the Spanishlanguagein a numberof ways
thatenhancedtheircomprehension,
suchas searching
forcognate
andreflecting
alsoproduced
on textin Spanish.
Students
vocabulary
extendeddiscoursewhilereadingculturally
familiar
text,andthis
extendeddiscourse
oftenformedthebasisforaccessing
priorknowlof thisresearchinclude
edge andmakinginferences.
Implications
instructional
thelearnrethinking
designandexpectations
concerning
in middleschool.
students
Latina/o
ingof low-literacy
Las babilidadesy elpotencialestratdgicosde lecturade cincolectoreslatinos/asde escuelamedia

con desempenio
bajo.
ESTA
lashabilidades
INVESTIGACION
examin6el conocimiento,
y
el potencialparala lectoescritura
de 5 estudianteslatinos/ascon
a la escuelamedia.Tresde los esbajoqueconcurrian
desempeflo
tudiantes
eranbilingdesen espafiole ingl6sy recibieron
la mayor
en unaclasede educaci6n
partede la ensefianza
especial.Losotros
2 estudiantes
de unaclasebilingtede riesgo
fueronseleccionados
erael espafiol.Paraesteestudiose usaron
y su lenguadominante
de
cualitativa
que incluianobservaciones
metodosde investigaci6n
aula,colecci6nde datosde sesionesde pensaren voz altay el uso
de un experimentoformativocomopartedel diseflode investiformativo
consisti6en 8 leccionesde esgaci6n.Elexperimento
en audioy m.s tardeanaltrategias
cognitivas
quefuerongrabadas
larespuesta
de losestudiantes
izadasparadeterminar
a la ensefianza
intensiva
en estrategias
Estainstrucci6n
enfatiz6tresescognitivas.
de palabras
formuresolverlos significados
desconocidas,
trategias:
larpreguntas
se alent6a losestudiantes
y hacerinferencias.
Tambien
a hacerusode sushabilidades
comolabsquelingitisticas
bilingdes
da de palabras
de significado
similaren ambaslenguas,la traducde informaci6n
ci6n,la transferencia
y lareflexi6nsobreel textoen
ambaslenguas.Se utiliz6textorelevante
comobasepara
y familiar
todala ensefianza.
Conapoyodid.ctico,los estudiantes
implementaronlas estrategias
focalesque fueronenfatizadas
duranteel exPorejemplo,los estudiantes
de laclasede edformativo.
perimento
ucaci6nespecialhicieron
usodelespafiolen unavariedad
de formas
su comprensi6n,
comobuscarvocabulario
relacionaquemejoraron
do en ambaslenguasy reflexionar
sobreel textoen espafiol.Los
estudiantes
discursomientras
leiantextosfatambienprodujeron
miliaresculturalmente
y este discursoa menudoformabala base
Lasimpliparaaccederal conocimiento
previoy hacerinferencias.
canciasde estainvestigaci6n
los disefiosdidactiincluyenrepensar
cos y lasexpectativas
al aprendizaje
de los estudique conciernen
anteslatinos/asde escuelamediacondesempeflo
bajo.
undLesefertigkeiten
an
StrategiscbeLesefdbigkeiten
vonfiinfleistungsscbwacben
Latino-Leserlnnen
einerMiddleSchool
DIESEFORSCHUNG
untersuchtedie strategischenLese- und
beimUbermachen,z.B.bei derSuchenachverwandten
Wortern,
sowie
und
von
der
und
bei
die
Lesebei
der
desTextes
ffinf
setzen,
Schreibfihigkeiten
Sinnerfassung
Sinni'bertragung
Schreibf.higkeiten
ineinerMiddle
Latino-SchOlerInnen
School.Drei
entwederin der einen Spracheoder in ihrenbeidenSprachen.
leistungsschwachen
in Spanisch
derSchOlerInnen
warenbilingual
undEnglisch,
undsie
Verwendet
wurdeein kulturellrelevanter
undvertrauter
Textals
erhielten ihren Unterrichtweitgehend in einem speziellen
fOrdie strategischen
MitUnterstOtzung
Grundlage
Unterweisungen.
Dierestlichen
zweiSchOlerInnen
wurdenaus
des Lehrerserarbeitetensich die teilnehmendenSchOlerdie
Firderungsunterricht.
einerzweisprachigen
Klasseausgewihltund
die wAhrend
des formativen
leistungsschwachen
Lernstrategien,
schwerpunktmgSigen
in derF6rderwarenOberwiegend
Unterbesondersbetontwurden.Die Schtiler
Qualitdtsorientierte
Experiments
Spanischorientiert.
Sie
wurdenbei dieserForschung
von derspanischen
angewandt:
suchungsmethoden
gruppemachtenz.B.Gebrauch
Muttersprache
in derKlasse,Befragungen
von Schtilern in vielfacher
zurVerbesserung
derSinnerfassung,
indemsie
Hinsicht
umfagtenBeobachtungen
undLehrern,
Obermdndliche
unter
nachverwandten
suchtenodersichin Spanisch
mitdem
Aufzeichnungen
Besprechungen,
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Einsatz
einesformativ
alsTeildes
Textauseinandersetzten.
Textes
BeimLesendes kulturell
vertrauten
ausgerichteten
Experimentmodells
Diesesformative
bestandaus8
setztensichdie ScholerausfOihrlich
unddieser
damitauseinander,
Forschungsprogramms.
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waroftdieGrundlage,
die auditiv
Diskurs
umsicheinenZugang
zu
ausffihrliche
Unterweisungen,
kognitivausgerichteten
strategischen
der
undspateranalysiert
schonvorhandenem
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unduminhaltliche
wie
wurden,umdieAntworten
aufgezeichnet
bestimmte
herzustellen.
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aus
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Strategieunterweisungsprachliche
kognitiv
Beziehungen
derLehrmethode
ebenso
genauzu erfassen.DieseUnterweisung
legteWertaufdreistrategi- dieserForschung
legeneinOberdenken
nahewie ein Jberdenken
scheunbekannte
dieTechnik
dergezielten
und
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betreffendden
Wbrter,
Fragestellung
in der
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dieHerstellung
vonBeziehungen.
vonlangsamzu literarisierenden
Latino-Schtilern
zu
MiddleSchool.
fallsm6glich,
von ihrenbilingualen
Gebrauch
Sprachfihigkeitenn
225

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a portesurles competences
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en lecstrategiques
les savoir-faire
et le potentielde cinqelevesde colture-ecriture,
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legelatino-americains.
espagnol-anglais
et avaientete scolarisesessentiellement
dansl'enseignement
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cialise.Lesdeuxautreseleves
' provenaient
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a risqueet etaient dominante
hispanophone.
des
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'
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aucollege.
226

Low-literacy Latina/o readers

Grades 6 through 8, or middle school (Smith, 1995;
Williams, Reese, Campbell, Mazzeo, & Phillips, 1994).
The dilemma of how to provide these students
with the literacy experiences and tools necessary for academic success in middle school and beyond challenges
even the most dedicated and experienced of educators.
In this research project, I investigated various ways of
meeting the needs of Latina/o readers who for reasons
already discussed, or for others unknown, have not successfully acquired literacy in either Spanish or English.
Toward a research-based instructional program for
low-literacy bilingual Latina/o students
While the knowledge base for what constitutes optimal literacy instruction for culturally and linguistically
diverse students is incomplete, research is beginning to
identify and explore the knowledge, abilities, and potential of bilingual students. For example, Jimenez, Garcia,
and Pearson (1996) found that successful bilingual readers understand the relationship between the Spanishand English-language literacy systems. Of particularimportance is these students' capability of transferringor
applying their literacy knowledge and abilities from one
language to the other. They strategically implement this
knowledge in a timely manner while reading, and they
have well-defined strategies for confronting unknown
words or unfamiliar expressions in English.
Less successful bilingual readers view their two
languages as separate and unrelated, and they often see
their non-English language backgrounds as detrimental.
Finding ways to help low-literacy Latina/o students think
and behave more like successful bilingual readers, rather
than pushing them to emulate monolingual Anglo students, seems to make sense. To accomplish this task,
low-performing Latina/o readers may need to develop a
bilingual literacy schema. Potential components and the
means for acquiring this proposed schema are discussed
in the following sections.
Metacognitive awareness of reading strategies.
Many students, both mainstream and language minority,
who are experiencing difficulties with reading comprehension have erroneous or naive conceptions concerning the purpose of reading. For example, low-achieving
students from language-minority backgrounds often pursue finishing the task as their primary objective and believe that reading is synonymous with decoding and
pronunciation of isolated words, regardless of whether
they process text in an oral or silent modality (Jim6nez,
1992; Jimenez, Garcia, & Pearson, 1995, 1996). The same
misconception is typically observed in the reading behavior of low-performing or low-literacy students (Harris
& Pressley, 1991).
227
Research on reading strategy instruction indicates

that it can improve the reading performance of students
with learning disabilities (Bos & Anders, 1990; Harris&
Pressley, 1991; Palincsar & Klenk, 1992). Essentially,
strategies used by successful readers are explicitly taught
to students with learning disabilities. Explicit instruction
of strategic reading processes, including how to access
what bilingual students know in their primary language,
appears to be a promising direction.
Strategies that successful bilingual readers share
with successful monolingual readers include the making
of inferences or drawing of conclusions; integrating prior
knowledge, information, and experience into ongoing
meaning construction; and asking questions when comprehension breaks down (Garner, 1987;Jimenez et al.,
1995, 1996; Langer,Bartolome, Vaisquez,& Lucas, 1990;
Palincsar & Brown, 1984). In combination, these strategies appear to have great potential for promoting the
reading comprehension of bilingual Latina/o students.
In addition, some strategies have been identified
within the think-aloud protocols of proficient bilingual
readers and may be indicative of an as yet unspecified
bilingual schema for reading. For example, searching for
cognate vocabulary is a reading strategy that draws on
the native-language strength of Spanish-Englishbilingual
students (Garcia & Nagy, 1993). In essence, when students are confronted with vocabulary items with which
they are unfamiliar,they check to see whether they
know a related word in their other language. If they
think they have located a potential candidate, they
quickly test the item to see if it makes sense.
Student:Likecarnivorous,carnivoro.OK,some words,
like I know what they are in Spanish.Some
words I go, what does thatmean in Spanish?
(Jimenezet al., 1995,p. 79).
Related bilingual reading strategies include translating, transferring information across languages, and reflecting on text in either Spanish or English. These
strategies provide low-performing or low-literacy bilingual students with unique opportunities for improving
their comprehension abilities. They also appear to be indicators of a fairly well-developed Spanish-Englishbilingual schema for reading (Jimenez et al., 1995, 1996).
Instructional use of quality children's and young
adult literature. To promote comprehension, a strategic
approach may be enhanced when appealing children's
or young adult literatureis used to introduce it.
Research, as well as the testimony of countless teachers
and parents, suggests that children and young adults appreciate interesting reading material that makes sense to
them (Au, 1993; Harris, 1993). Ideally, such material
would provide students with multiple opportunities to

228
READING RESEARCHQUARTERLY July/August/September
create links between their prior knowledge and ideas

and concepts found in stories. Garcia et al. (1994) noted
that students who are not provided with familiar, predictable, and motivating materials may be denied equal
opportunity for developing the metacognitive insights,
understanding, and strategic approaches to text that are
characteristicof successful and proficient readers.
Elley and Mangubhai (1983) demonstrated some
positive effects of providing students learning English as
a second language with an abundance of high-interest
story books. Students' progress in reading and listening
comprehension increased at almost twice the rate of students who received more traditionalEnglish as a second
language (ESL)instruction. Recent research (Saunders,
O'Brien, Lennon, & McLean,in press) has shown that
the reading comprehension of Latina/o students making
the transition to mostly English instruction can be improved through the use of high-quality children's literature. In addition, Goldstein (1995) showed how the use
of children's literaturecan provide Latina/o students who
have special needs with opportunities to make connections between their lived experiences and the classroom.
Thus, there is theoretical and empirical support for providing students who are learning English as a second
language with comprehensible, highly motivating books.
Role of word recognition and reading fluency. A
thorny issue within the fields of both reading instruction
and reading research is the relationship between quick
and accurate word identification and overall reading fluency to reading comprehension. Some have claimed that
these abilities are prerequisites to reading comprehension (Adams, 1990; Stanovich, 1980, 1986). Others view
them as the outcome of reading large quantities of text,
or at least the concomitant result of wide reading
(Goodman, 1984; Smith, 1978).
Whichever view one adopts, it seems that all agree
that quick and accurate word identification abilities and
overall reading fluency almost always characterize successful and proficient readers, especially intermediate
and middle school students (Golinkoff, 1975-1976;
Kleiman, 1982). Perhaps most important, however, was
the conclusion reached by Spiro and Myers (1984) that
these abilities, while necessary for leading comprehension success, are not sufficient to ensure its occurrence.
But whether these abilities are a prerequisite, a
symptom, or an outcome, intermediate level and middle
school students who exhibit very low levels of word
recognition and reading fluency are a concern to their
teachers who are responsible for their overall academic
achievement. These students often find themselves in
special education programs or other at-risk types of situations (McGill-Franzen,1987).
1997
32/3
The possibility that word recognition and reading

fluency can be improved within the context of a program that emphasizes reading comprehension and the
use of strategic reading processes was pursued for this
research project. In fact, it may be necessary, especially
for older students, to discover, discuss, and thoroughly
explore the overall purpose of reading while simultaneously developing their print-relatedabilities. Such activity
would then form the basis for developing more sophisticated schemata for reading. These schemata might assist
readers to attend more carefully to print in the quest for
information. Creation of instructional contexts that promote the development of the schemata proposed in this
research might in turn assist students to apply whatever
print-relatedskills they possess.
Based on the preceding review of the literature,a
research study was developed and refined, part of which
was an instructionalprogram that included the following
components: (a) use of culturallyrelevant and familiar
text, (b) a focus on comprehension that stressed key
reading strategies, and (c) provision of opportunities to
build reading fluency. The necessity of helping language
minority students access their native-language strengths
was emphasized during all phases of the research project.
Framework for the study: Use of formative
experiments
This study was conceptualized as a qualitative
study of the literacy knowledge, abilities, and learning
potential of low-performing or low-literacy Latina/o students. Thus, there was a desire to go beyond the typical
qualitative research foci of observation, interviews, and
document analysis. The use of formative experiments is
an option available to qualitative researchers as a component of research design. Qualitative researchers can
use formative experiments to become more actively involved with the participantsand institutions involved in
their research. Jacob (1992) described the use of formative experiments as follows:
[S]uchstudiesare explicitlyconcernedwith improvinginstruction.To achievetheirgoals, researcherscombine
qualitativemethodsof investigationwith interventionsin
learningsituations.Traditionalexperimentslack ecological validityand descriptive/observational
studiesoften tell
readersaboutthe way thingsare but fail to providea vision of the way thingscould be. Researchershave a specific educationalgoal in mind and they modifymaterials
or social organizationto bringabout a desiredgoal.
(pp. 321-322)
The formative experiment designed for this research study consisted of a series of cognitive strategy
lessons. The intent was to document the potential of


low-literacy Latina/o students to benefit from comprehension-based instruction by systematically recording
their responses to the cognitive strategy lessons. These
responses were then used to shape and modify the experiment in various ways so as to best promote students'
comprehension of text (D. Reinking, personal commmunication, October 21, 1996).
Research questions
This study was designed to address the needs of
low-literacy Latina/o students, whether they were recent
arrivalsor long-term residents in the U.S. An important
question that is frequently asked by teachers and other
educators about these students is What can teachers do
that will not stigmatize these students or deprive them of
needed services but instead meet their multiple needs?
Specific research questions include: What do lowliteracyLatina/o students in middle school know about
reading?What strengths do they possess that might facilitate their literacylearning?How do they respond to
instructionthat employs culturallyrelevant text, emphasizes strategicprocessing, and acknowledges their duallanguage abilities or their second-language learning needs?
Method
Researchers' backgrounds
My role in the study was primarilythat of as a university researcher. My training in the fields of bilingual
education and cognitive approaches to understanding literacy provided the essential experiences and information
that I used to conceptualize this study. In addition, I
found that my experience as a bilingual teacher was
valuable for working in the school, interacting with district administrators,and communicating with the participating teachers. However, my ethnolinguistic
background, Latino and bilingual in Spanish and English,
has also motivated me to seek solutions to the current
overall low levels of academic achievement among
Latina/o students (Smith, 1995; Waggoner, 1991). In
essence, my background and experience led me to believe that well-designed instruction tailored to the specific literacy needs of the participants, and grounded in
students' culture and language, could provide important
information for the purpose of creating more effective
instructional programs.
I was assisted during the cognitive strategy portion
of the research study by a graduate student. He was finishing his master's degree in bilingual education and
preparing to take his first teaching job as a high school
teacher. He was also Latino and fluent in both Spanish
and English. On occasion, he modeled the use of certain
229
cognitive strategies for the student participants, particularly that of integrating prior knowledge with textual
information.
Participants
This study focused on five Latina/o middle school
students who were reading up to four grade levels below their current Grade 7 placement when the study began in November of 1994. Students' low levels of
reading ability held true regardless of whether their
dominant language was English or Spanish. The students
were drawn from two classrooms, a self-contained special education classroom and a self-contained at-risk
bilingual education classroom. Parent permission was
obtained by describing the research project in a letter
written in both Spanish and English. Parents were asked
to accept or decline participation on the part of their
children by signing the letter.
All of the students in this study attended a school
with a predominantly minority student enrollment. Of
819 students, 533 were students of color, the majorityof
whom (407) were Latina/o. All of the students in the two
classes who were included in this research project received free or reduced-price lunches.
Participating studentsfrom the special education
classroom. Three students were identified as having
learning disabilities and received instruction in a designated special education classroom. These students were
chosen to participate after I described the proposed project to the building principal. The principal read the research proposal and suggested that I observe and speak
with Molly Holden (all names are pseudonyms), a special education teacher.
All of the students in the special education classroom were Latina/o; they had all been born in the
United States and had varying degrees of Spanish and
English proficiency. These students received all of their
academic instruction in English. A Spanish-speaking
teacher aide was available in their classroom who could
translate or respond to student comments in Spanish. I
requested that the teacher identify those students who
were experiencing the most difficulty with Englishlanguage literacy. She identified a group of students
from which three were chosen. These three were agreed
upon after I described the research project to the
teacher. They became the focal students for classroom
observations and interviews, and later participated in the
cognitive strategy instruction.
All three of the participatingstudents from the special education classroom had experienced multiple disruptions in their school histories. Although they had
completed all of their primary schooling within one district, each of them had been placed in at least five differ-

230
ent schools between kindergarten and Grade 7. These

disruptions were caused by assessment and referralprocedures to the various classroom settings of general education, special education, and bilingual education
programs. This is a common problem for language-minority students with special needs (Gersten &
Woodward, 1994).
The teacher in this classroom, Molly Holden, had
accepted her position at the request of the school district. Her training was in the area of special education.
Holden was a fluent speaker of English, but she did not
speak Spanish. She believed that because the students in
her classroom had been raised in the U.S., the use of
Spanish for instructional purposes was not absolutely
necessary.
Instruction in the special education classroom was,
by and large, of a traditionalnature. Both the teacher
and students took turns reading orally during those periods designated as reading instruction. Discussions followed the familiarI-R-E pattern with the teacher
initiating a prompt or question, a student responding,
and the teacher evaluating the student response
(Cazden, 1988). Students were also observed copying
and then correcting grammaticallyincorrect sentences
from the chalkboard. Students then discussed the reasons why the sentences were grammaticallyincorrect.
These activities have been discussed and critiqued by
special education teachers with respect to their effectiveness for students with special needs and/or learning disabilities (Bos & Vaughn, 1988; Gersten, Brengelman, &
Jimenez, 1994).
Each of the three students from the special education classroom are described below. Their unique characteristics, along with some descriptive information, are
included to provide the reader with a sense of how I saw
these students, a bit of what their teachers thought of
them, and, whenever possible, how they saw themselves.
Addn. Addn was an extremely quiet and selfeffacing person. He spoke so softly that it was often difficult to hear what he was saying. At the same time, he
most often provided the impression of being cooperative. His teacher's statement that he always had the answers to her questions indicated that she appreciated his
presence in the classroom.
Aden scored 77 out a possible 223 on the Total
Reading Batteryfor the MetropolitanAchievement Test
(MAT6, Form L, 1986), a group-administeredEnglishlanguage test. Aden completed the test in Februaryof
1994, approximately7 months before this study began.
He received a grade-equivalentscore of 3.2 in Englishlanguage reading. Adin was also tested individuallyby a
bilingual psychologist using the Woodcock Spanish
Psycho-educational Battery(Form A, 1986) in September
1997
32/3
of 1995, about 4 months after data were collected for this

study. He scored a grade equivalent of 4.6 on the Reading
Achievement Clusteron this Spanish-languagetest.
Addn's language abilities in Spanish and English
were tested using the Receptive and Expressive OneWord Picture Vocabulary Tests (ROWPVT,EOWPVT-R).
He scored a language age of 7 years-8 months on the
English version of ROWPVT(1985), while in Spanish
(1987) his score was considerably higher at 11-2. His
English expressive vocabulary was estimated at 8-2
English EOWPVT-R(1990), and his Spanish expressive
vocabulary at 8-0 Spanish EOWPVT-R(1990). Adin's
language proficiency scores exhibited depressed and uneven language development, a not uncommon occurrence for a language-minority student with a learning
disability.
Aden began school in a bilingual general education
preschool classroom and moved into a bilingual kindergarten class. After kindergarten, he was referred to what
the districtcalled a bilingual developmental first-grade
classroom. Children referred to these classrooms are
considered to be at risk for referralto special education.
Adin then completed first grade in a bilingual classroom,
and he was referred for a psychological evaluation while
in second grade. He began to receive special education
services toward the end of his Grade 2 year (March
1990). The psychologist determined that Adin suffered
from significant weaknesses in oral-language ability.
English-language reading was singled out as an area
where Addn's performance was borderline. He has remained in a self-contained bilingual special education
ever since.
Sara. Sara'steacher stated that Sara had a very difficult time with reading. Sara herself described reading as
her least favorite subject. Sara'sTotal Reading Battery
score on the MetropolitanAchievement Test (MAT)was
67 out a possible 223. Her grade-equivalent score was
3.0 (test date, February 1994). Sara also completed the
Woodcock Psycho-educational Battery (Form A, 1986) in
Spanish, and scored a grade equivalent of 2.4 on the
Reading Achievement Cluster (test date, May 1994). The
psychologist who administered this test concluded that
Sarawas 4 years below current grade placement.
Sara received a receptive English-language age
score of 10-2 and an expressive English-language age of
9-6. Her receptive Spanish language age was 11-8, and
her expressive Spanish language age was 6-6 (test date,
May 1994). In other words, Sara'soral-Englishand
English-language comprehension skills were a bit lower
than would be expected for students her age. Sara's
Spanish-language proficiency was stronger in the area of
listening comprehension than in speaking; not uncom-


mon for students from language-minority communities
living in the U.S.
Sarabegan school in an all-English,general education kindergartenclass. LikeAden, after kindergartenshe
was referredto what the districtcalled a bilingual developmental first-gradeclassroom. In fact, she was referred
for a full evaluation while in this setting. Placement in
special education was not recommended at that time. Sara
continued in general bilingual classrooms during Grades 2
and 3, at which time she was referredfor another evaluation. She was diagnosed as having a reading and writing
learning disabilitywhile in Grade 3, and she was placed
in a self-contained bilingual special education classroom
the following year during Grade 4. She remained in a selfcontained bilingual special education classroom from
Grade 4 until the completion of this study.
Victor.Victor was one of the more endearing students who participated in this project. He could be
charming when he wanted to be. He could also be difficult to work with. His teacher described him as a perpetual motion machine. She went on to say that he had lots
of energy that he did not use productively. I would concur, but I would also add that he responded well to instruction in a small-group setting when prompted to stay
on task.
Victor was also probably the most voluble of any
of the students. In some respects he demonstrated a willingness early on to think aloud that the other students
did not. When we first met, for example, Victor provided
a 138-word answer to my question as to how he learned
to read when other students' answers ranged between
20 and 70 words.
Victor's reading test scores were at about the same
level as those of the other two students, however. He received a score of 69 out of a possible 223 on the Total
Reading Battery of the MetropolitanAchievement Test
(MAT6, Form L, 1986). His grade-equivalent score in
English reading was 3.1 (test date, February 1994).
Victor's parents did not respond to requests for release
of his special education evaluation records. It was, therefore, not possible to report his test scores of expressive
and receptive Spanish-Englishlanguage abilities, nor was
it possible to report his Spanish-language reading test
scores.
Victor began school in a bilingual kindergarten.His
teacher recommended that he repeat kindergarten,which
he did in another bilingual kindergarten.He was referred
for testing for possible placement in a special education
classroom during his second year in kindergarten.He
was then placed in a bilingual special education classroom for first grade, and he remained in a comparable
setting during Grades 2-6 until the time of this study.
231
Participating studentsfrom the at-risk bilingual

classroom.The remaining two students who participated
in this research received their instructionin a selfcontained at-riskbilingual classroom. They had been
identified by school personnel as at risk for referralto
special education. The teacher and the Title VII director
described them as having low levels of Spanish literacy.
They also mentioned that they came from rural,low socioeconomic backgrounds in Mexico. LauraEstrada,the
teacher of the bilingual classroom, believed that these two
students were among those strugglingthe most with
Spanish literacy.These students participatedas the focal
students during classroom observations, initialthink-aloud
data collection, and the cognitive strategyinstruction.One
of the students had been in the U.S. for approximately6
months and the other for close to 10 months.
These two students received all of their academic
instruction in Spanish because they were recent arrivals
to the U.S. They also received ESLinstruction for approximately 45 minutes to an hour a day. I originally
worked with three students in this classroom, but one
student moved as the instructional portion of the study
was about to begin and was unable to continue.
Students in the at-risk bilingual classroom also had
odd schooling histories. Because few school records accompanied these students to their new school in the
U.S., it is not entirely clear what transpired while they attended school in Mexico, but there are indicationsbased on comments made by the parents during
registration-that these students may have missed between 2 and 3 years of primary schooling.
Estradawas a fluent speaker of both English and
Spanish. She had been raised in both the U.S. and
Puerto Rico. She held a transitionalbilingual teaching
certificate. Her undergraduate university training was in
the area of libraryscience and, at the time of the study,
she was completing coursework required by the state for
approval of bilingual teachers.
Instructionin the bilingual at-riskclassroom included some forms of more recent conceptualizations of literacy. For example, the teacher designed literacy lessons
that emphasized story grammarand some cognitive strategy instruction. Students also worked in cooperative
learning groups in which they jointly determined answers
to questions about texts they had read. The teacher
worked hard to collect Spanish-language texts of Mexican
origin for her students. In addition, Estradaincluded
some English-language literacy instruction during her ESL
class. During these times she interacted intensively with
her students while they worked to determine pronunciations and meanings of the English-languagewords.
For example, during one ESLlesson, students were
called upon to orally read the English names of articles

232
of clothing such as belt, blouse,jacket, and raincoat.

This was a challenging activity for these students but one
in which most of those chosen engaged enthusiastically,
perhaps indicating a desire to learn the language. Gabi,
however, responded by initially declining Estrada'sinvitation to orally read these words.
Gabi:
No puedo. (I can't.)
Ms.Estrada:Yo le ayudo coraz6n,vengase Gabiy despues Felix.(I'llhelp you, sweetheart,come
on over Gabiand then Felix.)[Gabistood
next to her teacher,who put her arm
aroundher. Gabithen slowly workedher
way throughthe 50 words. She smiled
broadlywhen she finished.]
Estradademonstrated patience and an expectation
that Gabi could succeed. She physically approached
Gabi and spoke kindly to her, even using a term of endearment. She aided Gabi, who surprisinglyperformed
successfully-no small feat for a student who was just
barely literate in Spanish.
The students from the bilingual at-risk classroom
are described individually below. As with the students in
the special education classroom, an attempt has been
made to present the students from the perspectives of
the researcher, teacher, and the students themselves.
Gabi. Gabi was quite reluctant initiallyto get activeinvolved
in the research project. Upon reflection,
ly
this
though,
seeming recalcitrancemay simply have been
a desire to hide or deflect closer examination of her low
level of literacy ability. Her teacher described her as a
country girl who was very naive and incredibly shy. She
stated that she had to work hard to instill confidence in
Gabi. She also added that some teachers in the school
thought Gabi might have cognitive disabilities. Although
she disagreed with this assessment, she expressed frustration with Gabi's extremely depressed levels of academic
achievement, especially her reading and writing abilities.
More than the other students, Gabi seemed to especially dislike involvement in the project. Her discomfort was most evident early in the project when I initially
interviewed her and asked her to engage in the thinkaloud procedure. However, by the end of the project,
she had warmed up and was willing to think aloud.
Gabi took the Spanish-language academic achievement test, La Prueba Riverside de Realizaci6n en
Espafiol, Form A, Level 12, in February 1994. She received a score of 7 out of a possible 30. This placed her
at a national percentile of 3.
Felix. Felix, like Victor, was a talkative student. His
teacher found him appealing and spoke to him in ways
similar to those Latinamothers use with their children,
including terms like cariio, or sweetheart. She felt that
1997
32/3
his academic performance was like that of a child in first

grade. Felix was not yet in the U.S. when the Spanishlanguage academic achievement test was administered.
Felix readily engaged in discussions in his classroom that called for independent thinking or the drawing of conclusions. Although his teacher believed that
Felix had made progress in literacy during the past year,
she still thought that he was experiencing more difficulties in this area than many of her other students, all of
whom were performing below grade-level expectations.
Observations indicated that he was willing and capable of working on teacher-given assignments under
certain conditions. When provided with structureand
asked to produce a clearly defined product, Felix persevered in his work. He worked better when he was
paired with his best friend, Javier, than with two of the
girls in his classroom. Regardless, he was as content to
look for answers in a text for the purpose of filling out a
worksheet as he was to let others do the work for him.
Occasionally, he tuned out of an assignment and simply
daydreamed.
Procedure
The procedure followed for this research is listed
in the order that items occurred. The teacher interviews
were an exception in that they were conducted before,
during, and after the other procedures.
Classroom observations. Data collection included
four in-depth qualitative observations of participating
students in their classroom environments. Handwritten
field notes were used to record classroom activities.
These observations were conducted over a period of 6
months, and each observation lasted between 1 1/2 to 2
hours. As much as possible, the observations were focused on the participatingstudents, and an emphasis
was placed on capturing their responses, both verbal
and otherwise, to literacy learning events. Information
was recorded that situated observed literacy events within specific contexts. In addition, the types of literacy
tasks students were asked to engage in were recorded
for evidence concerning the language or languages used
by the students, the overall level of success and challenge students experienced, or the instructionalsupport
they received while engaging in these tasks.
The observations helped me to understand the
characterof the instruction provided to the students.
These observations also gave me a sense of the ways that
the focal students interacted during instruction,especially
with their peers. In addition, they provided glimpses of
the students' performance that would have been difficult
to observe or learn about in small-group settings or individual interviews. Most specifically, these observations
provided informationuseful for answering the major re-


search question of how teachers attempt to teach reading
and writing to low-literacy Latina/o students.
Think-alouds. Think-aloud data were collected prior to the instructional component of the study. The
think-aloud procedure consists of presenting a text to a
participant, asking the participantto read each line of
the text silently, and, finally, asking the participantto describe and explain in as much detail as possible what
she or he is thinking about during and after reading each
line of text. My choice of language, as researcher, was
predominantly Spanish during the initial phases of the
project. I chose Spanish to develop rapport with the students. Students, however, were frequently encouraged to
use whatever language they were most comfortable using. These sessions were taped, transcribed, and later analyzed for evidence of strategic reading processes.
I met once with all of the students in January as a
group to explain the purpose of the investigation.
Students were invited to ask questions, provided with a
demonstration of the think-aloud procedure, and allowed to practice the technique with a partner. Later,I
met with each student individually between February
and the middle of March of 1995. These sessions lasted
for about an hour. Students were asked to choose materials that they believed were easy to read. Surprisingly,
only one of the five students was able to comply with
this request. The other four could not successfully read
the materials they brought to the sessions. To deal with
this possibility, I made a variety of materials available to
the students from which they could choose for reading
and thinking aloud. These materials included trade
books in Spanish or English, some bilingual trade books
(text was in both Spanish and English), and excerpts
from books that contained culturally familiar material.
The purpose of the think-alouds was to construct
an impression of students' preintervention strategic reading competence. The think-aloud data provided a
glimpse into the ways students approached text, the
strategies they used for understanding text, and some information about their fluency and accuracy when reading. The think-aloud data provided information that was
useful for beginning to consider answers to the research
questions of what low-literacy Latina/o students know
about reading, the potential literacy strengths that they
might possess, and a sense of how they would respond
to culturally relevant text. Because the think-aloud
method of data collection is a type of interview technique, students also provided an early impression of
their language preferences for thinking and reading.
Teacher interviews. Interviews of the two participating teachers were also conducted. The teachers were
asked to share their approaches to designing instruction
and rationales for choice of reading materials. One semi-
233
structuredinterview was conducted with each of the
teachers during January, and informal interviewing occurred throughout the research project. These interviews
also provided insight useful for the interpretationof the
classroom observations and for determining teachers' understanding of participatingstudents and their literacy
abilities. In essence, the interview data provided some
clues as to ways that these teachers approached literacy
instruction for low-literacy Latina/o students. This information was useful for considering the main research
question: What can teachers do that will not stigmatize
these students or deprive them of needed services but
instead meet their multiple needs?
Cognitivestrategyinstruction.The graduateassistant
and I taught eight lessons designed to increase students'
use of cognitive strategiesto the five participatingstudents.
A total of eight lessons was chosen to provide sufficientinteractionbetween the participatingstudents and me for
purposes of continuity.By meeting with the students over
a period of 2 weeks, I was able to document student response to instructionin an ongoing fashion to a series of
lessons. These lessons were taped and transcribedin their
entirety,and the transcriptsof these lessons formed the
core of the data that were analyzed later.
The three students from the special education
classroom met with my research assistant and me for approximately 1 hour during each session. We used mostly
English while working with this group, but we also used
Spanish. We especially made use of Spanish when
demonstrating the strategy of searching for cognate vocabulary. Then we met with the students from the bilingual classroom for the same amount of time. We used
mostly Spanish while working with this group.
An overall unit of instruction formed the basis for
the formative experiment. Materialsthat were used included three children's books and a language experience
text. The three books all fit into a Mexican cuisine
theme. More specifically, they all dealt in some way or
form with the Mexican staple food, corn. The books
were TheDay It Snowed Tortillas:TalesFrom Spanish
New Mexico (Hayes, 1985), A Quetzalc6atl Tale of Corn
(Parke & Panik, 1992), and Aztec, Inca and Maya
(Baquedano, 1993).
Use of a language experience text was conceptualized as an important means for introducing cognitive
strategy instruction. It was chosen to demonstrate to students how their prior knowledge and lived experience
are not only important and necessary components of the
comprehension process, but also can form the basis of a
text. Because students themselves created the text, multiple opportunities were created for probing and eliciting
more extended discourse from the students.

234
The actual language experience text was created as

follows: I brought in two ears of corn, some packages of
tortillas, and a sack of corn flour. I engaged students in
discussion of these items and then produced computergenerated copies of their oral texts.
The goal of the formative experiment was to help
the students develop a strategic approach to interacting
with text. Three key reading strategies were emphasized:
how to approach unknown vocabulary, how to integrate
prior knowledge with textual information, and how to
formulate questions. All strategies were modeled or
demonstrated within an overall context of language sensitivity;that is, students were encouraged to draw information from their two languages and to speak in
Spanish, English, or both.
One day was devoted to instruction and demonstration of each strategy. In essence, students were
taught how to engage in the think-aloud procedure.
They were asked to read pertinent text one line at a time
and then describe their thinking. They were encouraged
to implement the focal strategy for the day. On subsequent days, strategies were reviewed and demonstrated
yet again, and students were asked to practice thinking
aloud while making use of the strategies. Instruction and
student practice were iterative;that is, my assistant and I
would model the strategies on a regular basis for the students. A metacognitive component accompanied most
demonstrations of the three strategies, such as in the following excerpt:
[W]easkedlots of questionswhile we were reading.
Questionsreallyhelp you understandwhat you'rereading.
You ask themto yourselfand then you find the answers.
Emphasis was also placed on building student
reading fluency. Because the classroom observations, interviews with the teachers, and initial think-aloud data
collection had indicated that students experienced significant problems in this area, they were always asked to
first read portions of the texts silently before engaging in
any other activities. To facilitate students' understanding
of the relationship between attention to print and comprehension, on occasion students were asked to reread
the same portions of the text orally, occasionally two or
three times, before thinking aloud.
Qualitative analysis of data
Data were analyzed using qualitativeanalysis techniques described by Glesne and Peshkin (1992), Patton
(1990), and Taylor and Bogdan (1984). The process of
qualitative data analysis began during data collection itself, during which time I kept a reflective journal of my
experiences in the field. During the next step, all observation, interview, and instructionaldata were transcribed.
1997
32/3
I then put all data pertaining to each of the five focal students into a separate file. These data included
school records and background information, classroom
observations, teacher comments, initial think-alouds and
student interviews, and all of the data specific to each
student from the instructionalcomponent of the study.
This initial cut of the data then served as the basis for
continued analysis. All data were also maintained in their
raw form for reference as necessary, and the raw data
were frequently consulted.
Data were then examined for evidence of student
strengths and weaknesses in the area of literacy. A preliminary framework for analyzing the data began to
emerge. Some of the early categories used for coding
were classroom context, student background information, reading fluency/word recognition, strategic reading
processes, and students' understanding of literacy. At this
stage of analysis, I read and reread the data, going back
and forth between the original data transcriptions,and
simultaneously examining them in the context of the
emerging analytical framework. This stage of data analysis was best characterized by Glaser and Strauss's(1967)
constant comparative method.
The next stage of analysis resulted in a refinement
and narrowing of the lens through which data were
viewed. The most salient, representative, and compelling
examples were identified and used as the basis for writing detailed student profiles. These profiles were
lengthy, analytical critiques and discussions (approximately 15 pages per student). In essence, these profiles
were syntheses of all relevant data sources. Thematic
trends and the major issues associated with each individual participantbegan to emerge and were tentatively
identified at this point.
All of the completed student profiles were then
read several times in an effort to identify the themes that
best captured the knowledge, experiences, and literacylearning potential of all the students as a group.
Information from the five student profiles was synthesized into an integrated account. Emerging themes were
then refined by asking three outside readers for their
comments and feedback. These outside readers were researchers in the fields of bilingual education, special education, and urban education. They had written on
issues of assessment, instruction, and teacher training for
working with students from culturallyand linguistically
diverse backgrounds. Finally, after refining the thematic
development of the research, I continued to consult the
raw data as a check on the fit of the resultant framework
and presentation.
These themes and emerging trends were summarized as propositional statements and used as descriptive
headings in the results and discussion section. A more


explicit statement of the theme follows the subhead and
is italicized for emphasis. The format followed was to
look for a statement made by one of the participants, either students or teachers, that captured the essence of
the thematic findings. This statement, a reflection of an
emic perspective or participant perspective, was then
followed by analytical discussion accompanied by sufficient examples for purposes of explanation.
Results and discussion

Reading is something special: Student perceptions
of literacy prior to cognitive strategy instruction
Surprisingly,these five students could think of little
to say in response to questions designed to elicit their
understanding of reading. Their overall perceptions of
literacy were that reading is an almost complete mystery.
Their initial comments seldom even described isolated
facets of reading. Other researchers (McNeil, 1984; Myers
& Paris, 1978; Paris & Myers, 1981) have reported that
less successful or novice readers often describe reading
in terms of its audible, visible characteristicsand social
manifestations. For example, younger, less experienced
readers often describe classroom instructional procedures or decoding operations.
In contrast, the five readers included in this research
project made the following statements concerning reading
when interviewed in Februaryand Marchof 1995:
Felix: Es algo muy especial paraleer. (It is something
very specialto be able to read.)
Gabi: Que es interesanteparapoder ayudarsea leer?
(Thatit is interestingto be able to help yourselfto
read?)
Ada.n: I don'tknow what readingis.
Sara: Readingis somethingyou have to learn.
Victor:Readingis the sounds and the words they make,
and that'sall.
These statements capture well the essence of the
students' thinking about reading prior to the instructional
component of this research. The students did seem to
understand that learning to read requires effort (Sara)
and that the ability to read is a desirable goal (Gabi and
Felix), but their comments also suggest that they viewed
reading as a rather mysterious process. Perhaps Ad.n's
statement that he really did not know what reading was
best captured the generality, vagueness, and perhaps
confusion about what appeared to be a genuine mystery
to these middle school students. Only Sara and Victor
seemed to have an understanding of reading that approached that of readers such as Catalina(Jiminez et al.,
1995, 1996), an average bilingual Latinareader in Grade
235
6, who described a good reader as someone who paid

careful attention to punctuation.
With some prompting, Adin and Gabi seemed to
approximate Catalina'sconceptualization of reading.
Adn mentioned that reading to him meant doing homework, reading some books, and doing worksheets, while
Gabi remembered that she had learned to read with the
aid of the alphabet.
These statements differ substantially from comments made by successful bilingual Latina/o readers of
English, who stated that reading was a means to learning
new information or a possible form of recreation
(Jimenez et al., 1995, 1996). These more successful bilingual readers also described how Spanish and English
reading were similar, and they could describe various
strategies they implemented to construct meaning.
The vagueness and lack of awareness concerning
the nature of reading seemed to carry over when these
participatingstudents were asked questions specifically
dealing with Spanish-language reading. For example,
Victor added that to be a good Spanish reader, one
needed to know both the sounds and one needed "to do
it fast,"whereas Sara stated that knowledge of the
Spanish alphabet was necessary. Adin believed that one
needed to "reada lot" to become a good Spanish reader.
While Ad.n's answer seems reasonable, Victor's
and Sara'sanswers implied radical differences between
the Spanish and English orthographies. Their answers
hint at the view of reading stated more explicitly by less
proficient bilingual Latina/o readers who said that the
Spanish and English written languages were more different than they were similar and that knowledge of one
caused confusion when trying to gain competence in the
other (Jimenez et al., 1996).
Reading is hard; it's something you have to learn:
Potential literacy strengths
All of the students involved in this research project
were selected because of the difficulties they were facing
with respect to literacy. Although these students were
clearly performing below grade-level expectations, I still
knew little about what they could actually do. In this
section, I will provide a discussion of selected potential
literacy strengths of the participatingstudents. In
essence, these students provided numerous subtle indications ofpotential literacy ability.
Indications of students' literacy knowledge and
abilities surfaced from the data collected during classroom observations, initial think-alouds, and interviews.
Identifying what students can and cannot do, rather than
simply comparing them to their peers on a rank-ordered
basis, seems a reasonable approach for developing more

236
accurate depictions of student literacy knowledge and

potential.
Early in the project, before the cognitive strategy
instructional component, several students indicated that
culturally relevant and familiartexts provided opportunities for them to interact with text in more meaningful
ways (February-March,1995). For example, Gabi, one of
the lowest performing participatingstudents, provided
intriguing commentary on the Spanish text "Making
Tamales,"found in the book, Family Pictures by Carmen
Lomas Garza (1990).
The making of tamales is a well-known event for
young people from traditionalMexican families. Gabi's
comments about the text demonstrated familiaritywith
this somewhat ritualized procedure. The text is a highly
abbreviated explanation of the artwork and, as such, text
and art are tightly connected. As a result, the overall context is rich and supportive. Gabi seemed to be especially
intrigued by male-female relationships and family relationships. These were topics she was willing to discuss.
Gabi: Que es muy bien los papas, los sefiores,ponerse
a ayudara las mamasa hacerlos tamales.En mi
casa no nos ayudanmi papa y mis hermanos.
(Thatit is very good for the fathers,the gentlemen, to set aboutto help the mothersto make
tamales.In my house, my fatherand brothersdo
not help us.)
Likewise, Sara chose a text to read that she found
difficult but whose message she seemed to appreciate.
This text, written by Cisneros (1983) and taken from her
book TheHouse on Mango Street,describes a Chicana
girl living in the midwestern U.S. and her feelings toward
her Spanish-language name. I believe particularaspects
of this text resonated especially with Sara. For example,
in the following interaction, she demonstrated her understanding of a line in the text that discussed Mexican
music.
Researcher:Whatdoes it makeyou thinkabout?
Sara:
Aboutlove. Makesyou want to cry.
Researcher:Why?
Sara:
Becausethey talkabout[a]love thatwould
come back or somethinglike that.
Victor's comments too hinted at the possibility that
particularaspects of literacy were highly meaningful to
him but, perhaps, that he was frustratedby his inability
to read and comprehend to the degree necessary to succeed with these tasks. He responded with the following
comment after being asked what one needs to do to be
a good reader:
Victor:Whensomebodyasks you to reada paper,to
readit for him;or when they send some papersto
1997
32/3
you, you need to readthem, 'causesome papers

are importantand you don't even know. They're
importantand you don'tknow how to read.
Victor may have been discussing his role at home
as translatorof documents for his parents. It is easy to
imagine him becoming very frustratedwhen asked to
read and interpretdocuments of a technical nature such
as rental agreements or income tax forms.
In summary, these students provided indications
that in a supportive context, with culturallyfamiliartext,
they could discuss printed materials in ways similar to
more successful readers. For example, they integrated
their prior knowledge of topics with textual information,
drew conclusions, and discussed literacy in terms of its
real-world functions.
You can't approach their spirit if you don't know
their background: The role of Spanish in the
literacy learning of these students
The fact that the Spanish-dominant students, Gabi
and Felix, appreciated the instructionaluse of Spanish
would seem to be obvious. Both of these students were
just beginning to learn English to the degree necessary
to communicate basic ideas (Cummins, 1980). Felix, on
one occasion, did mention, however, that he appreciated
the fact that his teacher here in the U.S. could speak
Spanish and that she used it to make sure he understood
instruction. Estradaexplained to us the calming and reassuring effect that speaking in Spanish had on recent
arrivalsto her classroom.
I was surprised, though, by the degree to which
the students in the special education classroom appreciated the chance to use and hear Spanish. These students
had been raised in the midwestern U.S. either from the
time of their birth or shortly thereafter.Yet, all three of
them provided indications not only that they appreciated
Spanish, but also that itfacilitated their comprehension
and learning.
Sara, for example, initially proved to be one of the
more difficult students to engage in strategic thinking.
She repeatedly refused invitations to think aloud. The
first break came on the second day of the formative experiment after I gently pressured Saraby telling her I
would not leave her alone until she got involved. My
prompt was in Spanish, and it was interesting that Sara
responded in English with what was for her substantial
information. Sara'steacher said that she had been told
that Sarawas stronger academically in Spanish than in
English. I found it interesting that when Sara did get involved in her learning, she most often used English but
there were Spanish-language prompts or supports present in the immediate conversational environment.


Te voy a seguirmolestandohastaque me
Researcher:
hables.(I'mgoing to keep botheringyou until
you talkto me.)
Sara:
OK,I thinkof music and people are dancing
aroundand they are eating,and that'sit.
(5/17/95)
Aden differed from Sara and Victor in that he used
a
only very few reading strategies during the course of
this study. The use of these strategies did not come easily to Adin. He struggled with them. He required considerable prompting and instruction to implement them. In
the following example, he used Spanish to answer a direct question I posed to the students in an attempt to
prompt their prior knowledge of ants on the fifth day of
the formative experiment. Ants were the antagonists in
the book A Quetzalc6atl Tale of Corn (Parke & Panik,
1992). Notice that Adainprovided one of his most extensive utterances entirely in Spanish.
Researcher:
Whatwould they do?Do they bite soft?Is it
going to be nice?
Cuandopongo el dedo, me pican y cuando
Aden:
no sientes nada que ni pican, te muerden.
(WhenI put my finger,they sting me and
when you don'tfeel anythingthen they don't
sting,they bite you. (5/23/95)
The following two examples deal with Ad.n's interaction with vocabulary items. His terse, taciturn nature
is revealed somewhat in these exchanges. In the first example, which occurred on the eighth day of the experiment, Aden reacts to my question requesting more
information by translatinghis thinking. Individuals learning a second language often expand on their thoughts
by making use of their stronger language if such an option is available (Lee, 1986; Moll, Estrada,Diaz, & L6pes,
1980). Ad in was reading the story TheDay It Snowed
Tortillas:Talesfrom Spanish New Mexico (Hayes, 1985).
In this story, the protagonist, a poor and dull woodcutter, finds three leather bags full of gold, which prompts
his wife to concoct an elaborate scheme to maintain possession of the newfound riches.
Researcher:Whatkind of bags are they?
Adin:
Leather.
Researcher:Leather.What'sleather?
Como piel de animal.(05/26/95)
Aden:
In the second example (seventh day), Ad.n correctly identified a Spanish-language cognate item for an
unknown English word while reading the story A
Quetzalcd6atlTale of Corn
Researcher:Yeah, how can we figureit out?OK,do we
know a word in Spanishlike supplemented?
Suplemento.(5/25/95)
Aden:
237
Victor, too, appreciated and took advantage of opportunities to use both Spanish and English when discussing a portion of the language experience text he and
the other students created (third day). LimitingVictor's
choice of language for discussion may have served as an
impediment to his motivation, and perhaps his ability to
engage in higher level cognitive activities. The following
is an example of his use of the two languages:
Estosdias comemoscon tios, primos,her[Text]
manos y amigos,y comemos diferentescomidas. (These days we eat with uncles, cousins,
brothers,and friends,and we eat different
foods.)
Researcher:?Quepiensas?(Whatare you thinking?)
Victor:
Likewhen some of my familieshave come to
visit us, acabade Ilegaralguiencomo mi tio
de nuestrafamiliay preparamosalgo especial
paraque este feliz. (...when someone firstarrives like my uncle in our familyand we prepare somethingso that he will be happy.)
(5/18/95)
Unhappily, the classroom where these students
spent most of their time was characterized by contradictory views on the use of Spanish. For example, the
teacher aide, who was both Latinaand bilingual, insisted
that all of the students in her classroom possessed low
levels of both Spanish- and English-language proficiency.
This was information she communicated freely to the
teacher, perhaps influencing her views. The aide also
claimed that one could not communicate with these students without using a combination of both English and
Spanish. In an apparent contradiction, however, she believed that only English should be used "so as not to
confuse the students."The teacher agreed by saying: "all
of these students have been here since they were born
so it is not necessary to be as close to the Spanish as it
might be with another class." The students themselves,
though, freely used both Spanish and English when talking among themselves.
Can we take this story home? Student response to
cognitive strategy instruction
By and large, the students' response to the cognitive
strategy instruction was positive, as demonstrated by their
willingness to try out the various cognitive strategies.
Some of the more exciting changes in the students' behavior were exemplified by Sara. Sara'swillingness to
engage in strategic reading processes such as asking
questions and making inferences increased markedly
during the final three sessions. On several occasions, she
asked questions and made inferences that were relevant
to the portion of the text she was reading. These questions and inferences, made in response to the instruction

238
READINGRESEARCHQUARTERLY July/August/September
and overall learning environment created by the research

project, strongly suggested that Sarawas actively comprehending the text at hand. Sara asked a pertinent
question in the first example (eighth day) while reading
how the woodcutter's wife successfully duped her husband into believing that tortillas had snowed from the
sky (Hayes, 1985).
Researcher:So what do you thinkis going to happen?
Whatare you thinkingSara?
Whatis she going to do with all thatdough?
Sara:
(5/26/95)
In the second example (eighth day), she successfully inferred how the woodcutter would feel when
made to attend first grade:
Researcher:How does he feel, Sara?
Weird.
Sara:
Researcher:Why?You'reright,why does he feel weird?
Sara:
Becausehe doesn'tfit in the chairand the
kids are gonna look at him. (5/26/95)
Victor also improved in his ability to discuss relevant prior knowledge rather than related but unhelpful
information. During our initial interview, when Victor
discussed the three brothers in the book TheInvisible
Hunters: Los cazadores invisibles (Rohmer, Chow, &
Vidaure, 1987), it was difficult to see how his comments
were relevant to information found in the text. This story
is a Nicaraguan folk tale about the dangers that follow
abandonment of traditionalnative values. In contrast,
when reading the language experience text created by
the Spanish-dominant students (third day) [Text:La familia platica de eso], he made the following statement.
Whenmy friendis talkingaboutsomething
Victor:
importantabouta car, or they are going to
bringsomeone fromthe familyto the United
States,they are in Mexico,or somethingelse.
And everybodyhas to give some money so
they can bringhim. (5/18/95)
With prompting and substantial instruction, Victor
was able, on occasion, to implement the cognitive reading strategies of asking questions, resolving the meanings of unknown vocabulary items, invoking relevant
prior knowledge and making inferences, and visualizing.
In the following example, while reading TheDay It
Snowed Tortillas:Talesfrom Spanish New Mexico (Hayes,
1985), Victor's question indicated that he was monitoring
his comprehension (eighth day). The resolution of his
question would provide important information about the
plot of the story because it probed the motives of the
woodcutter's wife. The question signals that he was
reading for meaning:
1997
32/3
Researcher:All right.Now what are you guys thinking?

Whatis she gonna throwthe tortillasonto the
Victor:
groundfor?(5/26/95)
Aden also indicated on four or five occasions that
he could draw conclusions or make inferences from
available information in a text and his prior knowledge.
Again, he found this difficult to accomplish and at times
he was unsuccessful. I think part of the difficultywas that
Aden had a difficult time expressing himself in English or
even in Spanish. He was simply not very verbal.
I sensed that Aden developed a fairly good grasp
of TheDay It Snowed Tortillas,judging from a statement
he made, "so that he can't tell no one." His inference
struck at the heart of this story involving an intelligent
woman who was married to a rather slow-thinking man.
He seemed to understand why the woodcutter's wife deceived her husband by making it appear as though tortillas had fallen from the sky. However, even though
Aden was on track with his thinking, he had a difficult
time verbalizing his understanding.
In contrast, Gabi could and often did connect textual information with her background knowledge. When
she read the language experience text (second day), I
appreciated her reminiscence of her father and brothers
working the land in Mexico and the visual portraitthis
created:
Gabi:
Que eso es muy bonito, cuandoandantodos

los hombressembrandomaiz,que se ven todos juntos,andanalegressembrandomaiz
paracomer.(Thatit is very beautiful,when
all of the men are sowing corn, when you
see all of themtogether,they go abouthappily sowing corn to eat. (5/17/95)
Gabi also seemed to have understood and implemented my instructionon self-questioning. Use of strategic
reading processes appeared to be a new activityfor Gabi;
one which she approached cautiously, but which she
slowly began to embrace. She began to succeed in asking
herself questions (second day). One of these follows:
Se preparancuandono se come came, por
[Text]
eso la gente come chiles rellenosy tambien
se comen pescadosy pollos. (These are preparedwhen meat is not eaten, thatis why
people eat stuffedchili peppersand also why
they eat fish and chicken.)
Gabi:
[Afterthe prompt"doyou have any questions?"she asks herselfiYo me pregunto,asi
todaviadonde yo vivia,si siguen comiendo
la mismacomida?(I ask myself,if where I
used to live, if they stillkeep on eatingthe
same food?)(5/17/95)


A little of Gabi's thinking was made visible when
she dealt with an unknown vocabulary item. Two of the
students, including Gabi, mentioned use of the dictionary
as an aid to dealing with unknown vocabulary. Gabi also
indicated what I suspect might have been her preferred
method for dealing with unknown vocabulary, that of
simply skipping over the words. Such a strategy would
seldom promote comprehension, even though, at times,
it might be somewhat useful, especially if the reader kept
in mind the word in question until furtherinformation
was available. Again, though, the think-aloud data supported my suspicions that Gabi and some of her friends
were content to simply move on through a text.
Felix was probably one of the most interesting students with respect to his ability to verbalize connections
to prior knowledge. Felix was especially voluble when
discussing the topics of religion and growing corn (second day). Felix's descriptions were rich with detail, and
they were extensive. Felix could draw from an array of
experiences gained while living in Mexico. For example,
he appeared to describe a gila monster while reading the
language experience text:
[Text]
Limpiabamosla milpaparaque crecierael
elote. (We would weed the cornfieldso that
the corn would grow.)
Felix:
Me hace pensaren un dia cuando
limpiabamosla milpay estabaun animal.
Son como lagartospues, pero son negras,
pero son pintas,tienen la cabeza larga.Son
muy malas,si una muerdea alguienmuere
en ese mismorato.Tienenpintitosde colores, verdes, negros.(It makesme thinkof
one day when we were weeding the cornfield and therewas an animal.They are like
lizards,well, but they are black,but they
have colors,they have a big head. They are
very bad; if one is bittenhe will die right
then. They have severalcolors, greens,
blacks.)(5/17/95)
Reading was hard but now it makes a little more
sense: Metacognitive development of low-literacy
Latina/o students
Some of the most interesting data produced by the
student participantsduring this project were their
metacognitive comments. Although relatively few in number, the comments ofa metacognitive nature made by the
students indicate some rather important shifts in their
thinking about reading and literacy. The very basic insight that reading requires thinking was verbalized by
both Gabi and Sara. Gabi arrived at her understanding
when asked what she would do if she came upon a
word she did not know and a dictionary were not avail-
239
able. She was just beginning to consider the possibility
that her mental efforts could aid her comprehension. Sara
also understood that thinking could be useful (fifth day).
Researcher:Whatdo you do when you have a problem?
Sara:
You solve it.
Researcher:Yeah, and how do you solve a problem?
Sara:
You think.(5/23/95)
Going one step further, students on occasion explicitly labeled their strategy use. Felix, for example,
named the strategy of questioning, which he then implemented (fourth day). Naming of strategies may be an important preliminarystage for low-literacy students before
they independently implement reading strategies without
prompting.
Felix:
Una pregunta.(A question.)
Researcher:Si, acual?(Yes, which?)
Felix:
iQue, c6mo fue que Quetzalc6atlse convirti6
en la serpienteemplumada?(That,how was
it that Quetzalc6atlwas able to change into a
featheredserpent?)(5/19/95)
The naming of strategies, such as in Felix's example, was especially encouraging when students spontaneously named and described strategies for different
purposes (seventh day). Victor and Sara named and described the strategies of approaching unknown vocabulary and asking questions.
Researcher:Whatelse do you need to do when you're
reading?
Sara:
Picturethingsin your head.
Researcher:Yeah,you get a picturein your head and you
have to do what else?
Sara:
Tryand look for clues for words you don't
know.
Researcher:Lookfor clues.
Sara:
Trythe words out in Spanish.
Researcher:Tryit in Spanish,yeah, that'sreallysmart.
Whatelse, Victor?Whatdo you do to become a good reader?
Victor:
Imagineit and ask yourselfquestions.
Researcher:They ask questions,they make picturesin
theirhead, and they do what...
Victor:
Mixwhat we know...[withwhat they'rereading about...].(5/24/95)
I was especially impressed by Sara'sseeming
change of heart concerning reading itself (eighth day).
Her comments on how she viewed reading as an activity
were quite fascinating.
Researcher:YesterdaySarawas tellingme thatshe used
to thinkaboutreadinglike what?
Sara:
I didn'tlike it.
Researcher:Whatdidn'tyou like about it?Whatwas it
thatyou didn'tlike?Becauseit was...

240
Hard.
Sara:
Researcher:Hard,it was very hardfor you to read,OK.
How aboutnow?
I kind of like it.
Sara:
Researcher:How come?
Becauseit makesa littlemore sense, sort of,
Sara:
and I can readbetter.(5/26/95)
Limitations of the study
This study was designed to shed light on the major
question of how teachers might profitably teach low-literacy Latina/o students. I specifically wanted to know
more about how these students might respond to instruction that emphasized a strategic approach to interacting with text and that made use of culturally relevant
children's literature.An exploratory in-depth approach to
research design was adopted for this purpose. Such an
approach did not provide information of a comparative
nature--that is, between competing instructionalapproaches. In addition, sample sizes were purposefully
small so as to be able to collect large amounts of data
from each of the student participants.The findings of
this study are suggestive, and I hope convincing, of
some different possibilities for the instruction and learning of low-literacy Latina/o students.
Other limitations involve the think-aloud method,
the materials presented to the students, and the instruction they were provided. The think-aloud method allows
the researcher to make inferences about comprehension
processes on the basis of comments made by the student
participants.Low-performingstudents are known to
have difficulty verbalizing their thoughts while engaged
in cognitive activities such as reading (Garner, 1987).
The possibility exists that students involved in this research underreported their thinking. In addition, the materials used for this research may not have provided
students with sufficient opportunities for thinking aloud.
While this research provided a starting point for
considering the effects that culturallyfamiliartext has on
the cognitive processes of low-literacy Latina/o students,
more work needs to be done to more completely determine the influence of a wide range of materials.
Instruction, also, may not have provided students with
optimal assistance for engaging in strategic behavior.
Future inclusion of a broader arrayof instructionalapproaches should help sort out this issue.
Conclusions
An encouraging aspect of this research is that it has
resulted in a more detailed, finely grained portraitof
low-literacy Latina/o students in middle school. Both
groups of students, those in the special education class-
1997
32/3
room and those in the bilingual at-risk classroom, provided indications that they wanted to improve their literacy abilities. They did so by trying out the reading
strategies that were modeled for them. They demonstrated their desire by describing some of the reading strategies and by persistently staying with a task that some of
them had described in interviews as their least favorite
school subject. The primaryresearch question for this
study was "Whatcan teachers do that will not stigmatize
these students or deprive them of needed services but
instead meet their multiple needs?"This question may be
partiallyanswered by the recommendation of an instructional approach that provides students with cognitive
strategy instruction, interaction with culturallyfamiliar
text, and abundant opportunities to improve their reading fluency.
Described by one of their teachers as students other teachers did not want in their classrooms, the students
in the bilingual at-risk classroom provided evidence that,
under the right circumstances, they could be motivated
to become better readers. In other words, the theme of
student response to cognitive strategy instruction as expressed by one of the students, "Canwe take this story
home?"was essentially positive as judged by the amount
of extended discourse they produced when interacting
with text. Gabi and Felix also made multiple attempts to
implement the cognitive strategies that had been modeled for them.
All five of the students, however, were cooperative,
respectful, and willing to work hard to improve their literacy abilities. A few of them were shy and, especially
when the project first began, a bit apprehensive about
being involved. With instruction, encouragement, and
patience, however, all five students began to implement
strategies and verbalize understanding of reading that resembled that of more successful bilingual readers. The
students provided indications of metacognitive development, one of the themes of this study. Saraexpressed
this best when she said that reading was hard but now it
makes more sense. This statement stands in stark contrast to some of the initial perceptions of literacy made
by the participatingstudents. The view of reading as a
mystery received support from statements made by each
of the five participants.
These research findings support proposals for providing teachers with usable, specific, and concrete applications of multiculturaleducation and second-language
acquisition research findings (Berman et al., 1992;
Gersten et al., 1994). This work expands the knowledge
base on literacy instruction for low-literacy Latina/o students. The instructionalapproach adopted for this research emphasized comprehension; provided students
with high-quality, culturallyrelevant children's literature;


and was language sensitive. Some promising results
were documented in terms of student production of discourse, encouraging levels of student involvement in
learning, and student implementation of important reading strategies. It remains to be seen how and in what
ways such an approach might translate into more traditional indicators of student learning, such as reading
comprehension test scores.
It seems safe to conclude, though, that these students provided indications that they were able to profit
from instruction, activities, and experiences with print
that led to the development of more sophisticated conceptualizations concerning literacy. They were also able
to begin implementation of particularstrategic processes
that resembled those used by successful bilingual readers (Jimenez et al., 1995, 1996).
Capitalizing on student strengths
Data collected before the instructional component
of the study indicated that there were domains in which
these students could and did perform in competent
ways. This was encouraging because the early classroom
observations had revealed that the students, both those
in the special education classroom and those in the bilingual at-risk classroom, struggled whenever they were
asked to read. Later,however, even though the students
were incapable of describing literacy and reading in any
depth, there were clear indications that when they found
a story interesting because of the inclusion of certain elements such as family relationships, they could discuss
that information in ways that approximated those of
more successful readers. Contexts, tasks, and available
instructional supports clearly influenced students' performance (Lipson & Wixson, 1986; Ruiz, 1995). Information
provided by the student participantswas useful for beginning to consider answers to the research questions of
what low-literacy Latina/o students in middle school
know about reading, and what strengths they possess
that might facilitate their literacy learning.
The use of quality children's literaturealso appeared to facilitate students' integration of prior knowledge with textual information. While debate rages on the
implications of expanding the literarycanon to include
multiculturalliterature(Godina, 1996), this research provides suggestive illustrationsof how students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds make
connections between text and their own lives.
The links that students made between culturally
relevant text and their own backgrounds created opportunities for making inferences and asking questions.
These strategic activities, in turn, provided the participating students with further opportunities for developing
their metacognitive awareness of reading. It appears that
241
support exists for Garcia et al.'s (1994) claim that culturally relevant and understandable text may be an important component for providing an optimal environment
for such development.
Views on the role of Spanish in learning
Teachers' views of Spanish, and its incorporation
or banishment as a part of the curriculum,also emerged
as an influential element in how instruction was designed and delivered. The comments of the teacher and
the aide in the special education classroom suggested a
lack of understanding concerning the role that the
Spanish language can play in the literacy learning of
Latina/o students.
There was no compelling reason, however, to ascribe students' difficulties with literacy to their ethnolinguistic background. A damaging understanding of
Latina/o students that emerged could be summed up as
a view of language-minority students as languageimpaired students. Such a view needs to be challenged
with information, and through advocacy for students
(Cummins, 1986). More specifically, teachers need training in second-language acquisition and multiculturaleducation to work effectively with Latina/o students.
A concrete instantiation of acknowledging students
Spanish-language abilities was to emphasize and work
toward the development of bilingual Spanish-English
reading schema. Those students with English- and
Spanish-language proficiency appeared to appreciate
and take advantage of opportunities to search for cognate vocabulary (Jimenez et al., 1995, 1996). They also
reflected on and discussed English-language text in
Spanish (Moll, 1988). The aforementioned strategic activities form the nucleus of an answer to the research question of how students respond to instruction designed to
acknowledge their dual-language abilities or their
second-language learning needs.
For those students beginning to learn English, a reasonable hypothesis is that a strategic approach to comprehension instructioncould eventually result in more
complete and thorough transferof abilities to their second language when necessary. Transfer,in its most basic
sense, refers to carryingsomething over from one person,
place, or situation to another. This definition of transfer
provides an apt metaphor for considering what successful
bilingual readers do while reading. The bilingual strategies of translating,transferring,and reflecting on text in
one's stronger language might be seen as the vehicles of
that information.The combination of a strategic approach
leading toward the development of a bilingual schemaspecifically strategies that combine declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge-might have potential for

242
maximizing the effectiveness of native-language instruction (Paris, Lipson, & Wixson, 1983).
Benefits of including a formative experiment as a
component in qualitative research
Finally, the instructional component of the study
allowed me to view a variety of student responses to instruction that would have been impossible if the study
had been limited entirely to a naturallyoccurring situation (Jacob, 1992). Adding the formative experiment
component to the research design illustratedand illuminated student potential to learn important cognitive
strategies in a more compelling manner.
Students demonstrated a willingness to work hard
during this portion of the research. Their appreciation of
goal-directed instructionundergirded by high expectations was evident when they were informed that the project was finished and they wanted to know when I
would be coming back. Their response was gratifying
and unusual given the fact that these students initially approached participationin the project with hesitation and
skepticism. Again, this informationwas useful for answering the research question of how low-literacy Latina/o
students respond to instructionthat employs culturally
relevant text and emphasizes strategic processing.
Yet to be explored is the question of how this approach to instruction for low-literacy Latina/o students in
middle school might be used with entire classrooms.
Such an approach will require the use of an expanded
curriculum that, in all probability, will be best developed
in a collaborative researcher-teacherrelationship. Other
important questions involve the following: What instructional methods most actively engage low-literacy
Latina/o students when reading a wide variety of texts?
What instructional methods best facilitate the transition
from reading culturallyfamiliartext to less culturallyfamiliar text? And, finally, how can monolingual English
speaking teachers most effectively promote the comprehension abilities of low-literacy Latina/o students?I hope
to add to the discussion on these matters with information gained from current and future work.
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AUTHOR NOTE
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Received June 17, 1996
Revision received October 25, 1996
Accepted October 29, 1996


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The Strategic Reading Abilities and Potential of Five Low-Literacy Latina/o Readers in Middle

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Reading Research Quarterly

strategic reading abilities

U.S. These students have usually been raised entirely in

literacyin both English and Spanish because they

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Thestrategicreadingabilitiesandpotentialoffive low-literacyLatina/oreadersin middleschool

Las babilidadesy elpotencialestratdgicosde lecturade cincolectoreslatinos/asde escuelamedia

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stratigiquesen lectureetpotentielde cinq INveslatino-amfricain(e)sau colUge

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Low-literacy Latina/o readers

Research on reading strategy instruction indicates

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READING RESEARCHQUARTERLY July/August/September

create links between their prior knowledge and ideas

The possibility that word recognition and reading

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Low-literacy Latina/o readers

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READING RESEARCHQUARTERLY July/August/September

ent schools between kindergarten and Grade 7. These

of 1995, about 4 months after data were collected for this

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Low-literacy Latina/o readers

Participating studentsfrom the at-risk bilingual

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READING RESEARCHQUARTERLY July/August/September

of clothing such as belt, blouse,jacket, and raincoat.

his academic performance was like that of a child in first

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Low-literacy Latina/o readers

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READING RESEARCHQUARTERLY July/August/September

The actual language experience text was created as

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Low-literacy Latina/o readers

Results and discussion

6, who described a good reader as someone who paid

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READING RESEARCHQUARTERLY July/August/September

accurate depictions of student literacy knowledge and

you, you need to readthem, 'causesome papers

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Low-literacy Latina/o readers

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and overall learning environment created by the research

Researcher:All right.Now what are you guys thinking?

Que eso es muy bonito, cuandoandantodos

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Low-literacy Latina/o readers

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Low-literacy Latina/o readers

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edge. In T.E. Scruggs & B.Y.L.Wong (Eds.), Intervention research in

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Low-literacy Latina/o readers

SAUNDERS,W., O'BRIEN,G., LENNON,D., & MCLEAN,J. (in

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