A literacy profile of majority-language dual-immersion participants

This thesis establishes a numerical profile of native English-speaking students' literacy in a Spanish-English two-way dual language immersion program, based on state assessment data (STAAR). This is a relevant area for research because such programs are increasingly common, and yet there are relatively few investigations focusing on this group's literacy. The subjects are third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students in a Central Texas school district. A two-way immersion (TWI) program is a type of bilingual education program that integrates children from diverse language backgrounds and provides academic instruction in two languages. In this case, the curriculum is taught in Spanish and English. Approximately half of the students in these TWI programs is classified as English Language Learners/Limited English Proficient (ELL/LEP), which indicates that their primary language is one other than English and that through norm-referenced tests they demonstrate to not have acquired English language abilities commensurate with their age or grade level. The other half of the students participating in this TWI program is non-ELL/LEP, meaning that their home language is English (also known as majority language speakers). I analyze the non-ELL/LEP students' scores on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading tests, and compare with ELL/LEP students in the same program, as well as grade-level peers in monolingual (English-only) settings. I also investigate data trends related to socioeconomic status.