Assessment Selection for Multilingual Learners’ Reading Development

This study examined multilingual learners’ achievement and growth in their language and literacy skills. Fifty‐two multilingual students in Grades 2 and 4 with varying levels of English proficiency from Spanish‐speaking homes in the American South participated in this study. They were assessed on English reading comprehension (RC), English word reading, and English‐only, Spanish‐only, and Spanish‐English conceptually‐scored vocabulary knowledge across a school year. Descriptive and a series of ANOVA analyses revealed that English learners’ scores on all the measures were lower than those of their English‐proficient multilingual learner peers. Further, students evidenced low‐average English RC and English word reading, especially non‐word decoding. Most importantly, multilingual students’ performance on Spanish‐English conceptually‐scored vocabulary assessments revealed a positive pattern of achievement and growth, sharply contrasting with results based on typically‐used English‐only or Spanish‐only monolingual vocabulary assessments. Practical assessment and instructional implications are discussed.