Individual differences in reading development of bilingual children in early grades: Effects of gender and socioeconomic status

Researchers have explored a host of individual differences factors that may be critical to language development. However, evidence on the impact of sociocultural and demographic factors such as gender and socioeconomic status (SES) on early language development among bilingual children has been limited. This study aimed to understand the role of gender and SES variables in early English reading development among Chinese-English bilinguals in the Canadian context. Chinese-Canadian children (N = 143) in grade 1 and grade 2 were investigated by assessing their early English reading skills, including receptive vocabulary, letter and word recognition, and reading comprehension. The descriptive statistics revealed a gender difference in favor of girls in all three tests and the children from low-SES families scored lower in all reading-related skills across grades. Multivariate analysis of variance results further evidenced the robustness of SES in affecting early reading development, as significant effects of SES were found in receptive vocabulary in grade 1 and all three tests in grade 2.