Little is known about writing development among English as a second language (ESL) and monolingual children. The “simple view of reading” (Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Juel 1988) and “component” models (Joshi & Aaron, 2000) were used as theoretical frameworks in this investigation of story writing development of ESL and monolingual children from grades 4 to 6. This longitudinal study (a) compared the narratives composed by ESLs and monolinguals and (b) examined the nature of the language, cognitive, and reading variables that predict writing in these groups. Reading and writing skills were conceptualized in terms of lower order, word-level components, and higher order, text-level components. The study involved 57 monolinguals and 121 ESLs from various language backgrounds, who had attended English speaking schools since grade 1. Based on the Test of Written Language (TOWL, Hammill & Larsen, 1996) three aspects of narrative writing were analyzed: writing mechanics, writing syntax, and overall story quality. Monolinguals and ESLs were similar on the cognitive, linguistic, word- and text-level reading and writing measures, but ESL performance was lower on vocabulary and reading comprehension across all three grades. Narrative writing in monolinguals and ESLs alike was predicted by syntactic skills, word-level skills (decoding and spelling) and text-comprehension. Nonverbal reasoning and phonological processing significantly predicted writing performance for monolinguals only. Overall, writing mechanics, writing syntax, and story quality all grew significantly across grades. However, only story quality demonstrated significantly different patterns of growth across students, but this difference was not explained by any of the predictors. Importantly, despite having weaker vocabulary and reading comprehension skills, ESLs’ narratives did not differ from monolinguals on mechanics, syntax, and overall story quality. The findings have implications for assessment and instruction of writing in both groups, provide additional evidence that reading comprehension and writing skills share common underlying processes, and suggest that skills that determine reading success can be used to flag possible writing weaknesses in both groups. Despite the effect of L2 status on vocabulary and reading comprehension, ESLs demonstrated similar narrative writing skills to monolingual peers.

Little is known about writing development among English as a second language (ESL) and monolingual children. The “simple view of reading” (Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Juel 1988) and “component” models (Joshi & Aaron, 2000) were used as theoretical frameworks in this investigation of story writing development of ESL and monolingual children from grades 4 to 6. This longitudinal study (a) compared the narratives composed by ESLs and monolinguals and (b) examined the nature of the language, cognitive, and reading variables that predict writing in these groups. Reading and writing skills were conceptualized in terms of lower order, word-level components, and higher order, text-level components. The study involved 57 monolinguals and 121 ESLs from various language backgrounds, who had attended English speaking schools since grade 1. Based on the Test of Written Language (TOWL, Hammill & Larsen, 1996) three aspects of narrative writing were analyzed: writing mechanics, writing syntax, and overall story quality. Monolinguals and ESLs were similar on the cognitive, linguistic, word- and text-level reading and writing measures, but ESL performance was lower on vocabulary and reading comprehension across all three grades. Narrative writing in monolinguals and ESLs alike was predicted by syntactic skills, word-level skills (decoding and spelling) and text-comprehension. Nonverbal reasoning and phonological processing significantly predicted writing performance for monolinguals only. Overall, writing mechanics, writing syntax, and story quality all grew significantly across grades. However, only story quality demonstrated significantly different patterns of growth across students, but this difference was not explained by any of the predictors. Importantly, despite having weaker vocabulary and reading comprehension skills, ESLs’ narratives did not differ from monolinguals on mechanics, syntax, and overall story quality. The findings have implications for assessment and instruction of writing in both groups, provide additional evidence that reading comprehension and writing skills share common underlying processes, and suggest that skills that determine reading success can be used to flag possible writing weaknesses in both groups. Despite the effect of L2 status on vocabulary and reading comprehension, ESLs demonstrated similar narrative writing skills to monolingual peers.

Redan i de tidiga skolåren och i skolans alla ämnen har språket stor betydelse för utvecklingen och lärandet. Alla barn utvecklas olika och skolan har ett uppdrag i att möta och utmana alla elever. Studiens syfte är att bidra med kunskap om hur skolan kan möta och utmana de elever som redan har ett välutvecklat språk när de kommer till skolan, något som vi väljer att kalla tidiga språkare, samt hur specialläraren inom språk-, skriv- och läsutveckling kan vara delaktig i detta arbete. Studien belyser även hur samverkan mellan personal på skolan och skolbibliotek kan främja dessa elevers språk-, skriv- och läsutveckling. Teoretisk utgångpunkt i studien är sociokulturellt perspektiv. Empiri till studien har samlats in genom intervjuer av kvalitativ och semistrukturerad karaktär med åtta respondenter. Resultatet visar att lärare och förskollärare upplever att de snabbt får en klar bild av samtliga elevers språkliga förmågor och vilka som är i behov av särskilda utmaningar. Det framkommer också att lärare och förskollärare uppger sig ha möjligheter att utmana de som har kommit längre i sin språkliga utveckling. Gruppens betydelse och sammansättning lyfts som viktiga faktorer för lärande och samtliga respondenter trycker på vikten av det sociala arbetet i skolan. Resultatet visar även att lärare och förskollärare främst önskar handledning från speciallärare inom språk-, skriv- och läsutveckling för att möta de språkligt tidiga elevernas behov. Speciallärarens handledande roll är en viktig specialpedagogisk implikation som framkommer i studien. / Already in the early school years and in all school subjects, the language has great importance for development and learning. All children develop differently and the school has a mission to meet and challenge all pupils. The aim of the study is to provide knowledge about how the school can meet and challenge the students who already have a well-developed language when they come to school, something that we choose to call early language speakers, and how the special needs teacher in language, writing and reading development can be involved in this work. The study also highlights how collaboration between staff at the school and school libraries can promote these pupils' language, writing and reading development. The theoretical starting point in the study is socio-cultural perspective. The empirical study has been collected through interviews of a qualitative and semi-structured character with eight respondents. The result shows that teachers and preschool teachers find that they quickly get a clear picture of all pupils' linguistic abilities and who are in need of special challenges. It also appears that teachers and preschool teachers say they have the opportunity to challenge those who have come further in their linguistic development. The group's importance and composition are highlighted as important factors for learning and all respondents emphasize the importance of social work in school. The result also shows that teachers and preschool teachers primarily want supervision from special needs teachers in language, writing and reading development in order to meet the needs of the linguistically early students. The special role of the special needs teacher is an important special educational implication that emerges in the study.