Understanding and Promoting the Reading Comprehension of Bilingual Students

Increased attention from the research community is necessary to better understand difficulties faced by many Latino students in English literacy acquisition (García, Pearson & Jiménez, 1994; Pallas, Natriello & McDill, 1989). Growing rates of Latino student enrollment coupled with declining levels of academic achievement demand a better integration of research and classroom practice (U. S. Census, 1990; Waggoner, 1991). This paper explores three key issues in the literacy acquisition of Latino students. They are: (a) common problems faced by second-language readers of English, (b) explicit strategies for transfer of first-language strengths to second-language literacy, and (c) the development of language-specific strategies. Recommendations for classroom practice that are grounded in the discussion of the three key issues are included in the final section.