Down Syndrome Education International, Portsmouth, UK.
Br J Educ Psychol. 2009 Dec;79(Pt 4):735-47. doi: 10.1348/000709909X422530. Epub 2009 Mar 14.
Data from national test results suggests that children who are learning English as an additional language (EAL) experience relatively lower levels of educational attainment in comparison to their monolingual, English-speaking peers.
The relative underachievement of children who are learning EAL demands that the literacy needs of this group are identified. To this end, this study aimed to explore the reading- and comprehension-related skills of a group of EAL learners.
Data are reported from 92 Year 3 pupils, of whom 46 children are learning EAL.
Children completed standardized measures of reading accuracy and comprehension, listening comprehension, and receptive and expressive vocabulary.
Results indicate that many EAL learners experience difficulties in understanding written and spoken text. These comprehension difficulties are not related to decoding problems but are related to significantly lower levels of vocabulary knowledge experienced by this group.
Many EAL learners experience significantly lower levels of English vocabulary knowledge which has a significant impact on their ability to understand written and spoken text. Greater emphasis on language development is therefore needed in the school curriculum to attempt to address the limited language skills of children learning EAL.
全国考试结果数据表明，学习英语作为附加语言（EAL）的儿童与以英语为母语的同龄人相比，其教育程度相对较低。
学习 EAL 的儿童的相对成绩不佳要求确定这一群体的读写能力需求。为此，本研究旨在探讨一群 EAL 学习者的阅读和阅读理解相关技能。
数据来自 92 名 3 年级学生，其中 46 名学生学习 EAL。
儿童完成了阅读准确性和理解、听力理解以及接受性和表达性词汇的标准化测试。
结果表明，许多 EAL 学习者在理解书面和口头文本方面存在困难。这些理解困难与解码问题无关，而是与这组儿童词汇量显著较低有关。
许多 EAL 学习者的英语词汇量明显较低，这极大地影响了他们理解书面和口头文本的能力。因此，学校课程需要更加重视语言发展，以尝试解决学习 EAL 的儿童有限的语言技能问题。
