The effects of first language literacy skills on second language literacy skills for native Spanish and native English speakers

Abstract

It has long been believed that how well one reads and writes in his/her first language will help a learner when trying to read and write in a second language. In an attempt to explore this issue more thoroughly, the researcher administered the Spanish Idea Proficiency Test (IPT) and the English Idea Proficiency Test form 3B, along with a questionnaire obtaining specific demographic data (first semester second language grade, grade point average, gender, grade in school, number of semesters studied the second/foreign language, and the number of languages the student had studied) to 96 Kansas high school students (48 Native Spanish speakers learning English in an English as a second language environment; 48 Native English speakers learning Spanish in a foreign language setting). First, the researcher wanted to determine if first language literacy skills, along with demographic data, predicted second language proficiency scores. Using the 5 reading subscales and the 3 writing subscales from the IPT, as well as the 6 variables from the demographic data, a multiple linear regression was run, along with regressions for each subgroup. It was determined that the 14 variables accounted for 83% of the variance. Second, the researcher wanted to determine the nature of the relationship between first language literacy skills and second language literacy skills. To this end, several Pearson’s r were figured. While a negative relationship for the first and second language proficiency scores was found, a slight positive relationship was found between the first and second language scores for the two subgroups. Additionally, a significantly positive relationship was found for first and second language reading and writing proficiency scores for the native Spanish speakers. Also, a significant positive relationship was found for first semester second language grade and second language reading scores for native English speakers. Third, the researcher wanted to determine if there was a difference between the two subgroups’ second language proficiency scores when controlling for the length of time studied. When an ANCOVA was conducted, there was found to a significant difference between the proficiency scores of the two subgroups, with the native Spanish speakers having a higher mean.