Reading in a bilingual context: Fluency and reading comprehension in 1st and 4th grade students

The objective of this study was to analyze the reading process in Spanish children from 6 to 10 years old, assigned to a bilingual school in Madrid, being the reading acquisition initiated simultaneously in two languages, Spanish (L1) and English (L2). Measures chosen to analyze reading ability were reading fluency (words read per minute) and reading comprehension (answering content questions) that were administered in Spanish and English to each student from educational materials provided by the center. The results indicated that students evolve similarly in both languages, although the relationship between fluency and comprehension were considerably more significant in 1st (6 year-old students) than in 4th (10 year-old students). A significant interaction showed that students in 1st grade score higher on their fluency in Spanish than in English, whereas students in 4th grade tended to improve their reading comprehension in English more than in Spanish.(C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. on behalf of Colegio Oficial de Psicologos de Madrid.