Reading in One's Ethnic Language: A Study of Greek-Australian High School Students

Autor/inn/en	Athanasou, James A.; Lamprianou, Iasonas
Titel	Reading in One's Ethnic Language: A Study of Greek-Australian High School Students
Quelle	In: Australian Journal of Educational & Developmental Psychology, 4 (2004), S.86-96 (11 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1446-5442
Schlagwörter	Second Language Learning; Reading Achievement; Foreign Countries; Grade 4; Grade 3; Grade 2; High School Students; Greek; Diagnostic Tests; Reading Tests; Family Environment; English (Second Language); Difficulty Level; Ethnic Groups; Language Maintenance; Australia + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Zweitsprachenerwerb; Leseleistung; Ausland; School year 04; 4. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 04; School year 03; 3. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 03; School year 02; 2. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 02; High school; High schools; Student; Students; Oberschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; Grieche; Griechisch; Diagnostic test; Diagnostischer Test; Lesetest; Familienmilieu; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Schwierigkeitsgrad; Ethnie; Sprachpflege; Australien
Abstract	This paper examines reading achievement when the maternal/paternal language has become a de facto second language. The performance of a cohort of Greek-Australian high school students (N = 270) on a diagnostic Greek reading test was significantly below that of pupils in second to fourth grades in Greece. The mean item difficulty for Greek-Australian high school students was 0.35 compared with 0.51 for second grade, 0.69 for third grade and 0.80 for fourth grade pupils in Greece. The pattern of responding indicated that the Rasch model fitted the data. The effects of background factors were also examined. Students whose mother or father spoke Greek had statistically significant higher levels of ability than those who spoke Greek and English or English alone. It was also found that the length of the key words (correct responses) had a large effect on the difficulty of the questions; the longer the key word, the more difficult the question was. The implications of the results for assessment of reading in and the acquisition of an ethnic or second language are discussed. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.) (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	University of Newcastle. School of Education, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia. e-mail: ajedp@newcastle.edu.au; Web site: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/group/ajedp
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10