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Second-Language Issues in 

Early Literacy and Instruction 

 

by 


 

Elizabeth S. Pang and Michael L. Kamil 

 

Stanford University 



 

2004 


Publication Series No. 1 

 

 



 

 

 



 

 

 



 

 

 



 

 

 



[Editor’s note: A version of this report is scheduled to be published as a chapter in the 

forthcoming volume Language Policy and Early Literacy Education, edited by Olivia N. Saracho 

and Bernard Spodek, being published by Information Age of Greenwich, CT.]

 

 



 

 

 



 

 

 



The work reported here is supported in part by the Institute for Education Sciences of the U.S. 

Department of Education through a contract to the Laboratory for Student Success (LSS) 

established at the Temple University Center for Research in Human Development and Education. 

The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the position of the supporting agencies, and no 

official endorsement should be inferred. 



 

 

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Second Language Issues in 

Early Literacy and Instruction 

 

Elizabeth S. Pang and Michael L. Kamil 

 

 

Demographic trends indicate that in the 21st century, second-language issues in early 



literacy development will remain a pressing concern. According to the 1990 U.S. census, over 6.3 

million children between the ages of 5 and 17 spoke a language other than English at home 

(Crawford, 2001). This number has grown to over 9.7 million as estimated from data reported in 

the 2000 U.S. Census (Crawford, 2001; U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). In terms of school 

enrollment data reported by the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education (NCBE), in the 

decade 1990–2000, the number of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students is projected to have 

grown 104.3% compared to the projected growth of 13.6% in overall K–12 student enrollment 

(NCBE, 1999). The importance of learning English and of being literate in English is not the 

issue. What is at stake is how we educate students who do not speak English natively beyond the 

submersion approach that has characterized much of the educational experience of language 

minorities in this country. The combination of changing demographics and limited funding for 

bilingual education and ESL (English as a Second Language) programs means that mainstream 

teachers need to be informed about second-language (L2) issues in reading development. This 

publication seeks to assess the state of current research on L2 reading instruction and teacher 

preparation, and to determine the implications for instruction, teacher education, and future 

research. 



 

Differences Between L2 and ESL 

Learning to read in a second language can mean different things in different situations 

and settings. For instance, the situation of a bilingual child learning to read English as a second 

language is qualitatively different from that of a college student learning to read a second 

language in a foreign language class, or that of an adult ESL learner learning to read English for 



 

 

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academic purposes. The instructional strategies to be used in these settings are, not surprisingly

different as well. When we speak of L2 reading, conceptually, we are referring to literacy in any 

second language, not just English. In this publication, we will be focusing on the reading of 

children who speak two languages, or who are in the process of acquiring a second language. In 

the literature, we encounter different terms for describing children who are developing literacy in 

more than one language, for example: “bilingual students,” “English language learners (ELL),” 

“language minority students,” “English-as-a-second-language students,” “second-language 

learners,” “limited-English-proficient students,” and “limited-English-speaking (LES) students.”  

The diverse nature of the database on L2 literacy (i.e., reading and writing), necessitates 

different ways of synthesizing the research findings. Fitzgerald (1995a, 1995b) reviewed studies 

on the cognitive processes of ESL reading and ESL reading instruction. In both reviews, 

Fitzgerald chose to focus only on studies on ESL conducted in the United States. She also 

combined the research findings on children and adults learning English as a second language. 

Bernhardt (1991, 2000) and Garcia (2000) provided more comprehensive reviews of the literature 

by including studies conducted outside the United States. This current publication reviews the 

findings on young children (K–3) learning to read in two languages and, like Bernhardt (1991, 

2000) and Garcia (2000), includes studies in which L2 is not restricted to English. When research 

on young children is not available, we will examine the research findings based on studies 

conducted with older children (Grades 4–8). The research literature on older readers is relevant in 

the study of L2 reading because beginning reading in L2 can occur at different ages, whereas 

beginning reading in a first language (L1) usually means the early elementary grades.  

Taking a cross-linguistic approach as opposed to an ESL-only approach to the study of 

L2 issues in early reading development enables us to derive general principles of L2 reading 

acquisition. For instance, studies conducted outside the United States on children learning to read 

in a second language other than English often can and do provide additional evidence to confirm 

or refute hypotheses about L2 reading. The bulk of L2 reading research on bilingual children in 




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