Abstracts - Earli

present findings from a Canadian longitudinal study comparing the development of reading in agroup of English language learners and their native English-speaking peers, from kindergartenthrough fourth grade. Also focusing on reading development, Nele McElvany (Max PlanckInstitute for Human Development, Germany) will present findings from a longitudinal study(grades 3-6) on the development of text comprehension and examine different predictors of theachievement of immigrant and non-immigrant elementary school children in Germany. Taking acloser look at language determinants, Andrea G. Müller (Max Planck Institute for HumanDevelopment, Germany) will report a study investigating the effects of difficult vocabulary andcomplex grammar on listening comprehension. Drawing on a sample of older studentsapproaching the end of compulsory schooling, Catherine Rothon (University of London, GreatBritain) will examine the impact of social class, language and psychological distress on theeducational achievement of minority ethnic adolescents in East London, highlighting a possibleexplanatory mechanism for observed differences in achievement by gender. Focusing on thefamily environment, Paul Leseman (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) will identify familyfactors that can help to explain subtractive bilingualism, reporting findings from a longitudinalstudy into informal preparation for school in low-income Dutch and immigrant families in theNetherlands. The scientific and educational relevance of the findings will be discussed by PetraStanat (University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany).Growth in reading skills of children from diverse linguistic backgrounds: Findings from a 5-yearlongitudinal studyNonie K. Lesaux, Harvard Graduate School of Education, USAAndre A. Rupp, Humboldt-University Berlin, GermanyLinda S. Siegel, University of British Columbia, CanadaA longitudinal investigation was conducted in order to investigate the reading development of asample of 824 English language learners (ELLs) and native English-speaking (L1) children. Inkindergarten and fourth grade, children’s word reading, spelling, phonological processing,syntactic awareness, and working memory skills were assessed with standardized andexperimental measures. In addition, word reading was assessed from kindergarten through fourthgrade, and reading comprehension was assessed in fourth grade. Comparisons of component skillsof reading and reading outcomes between the ELLs and the L1 speakers demonstrated that despiteslightly lower performance of the ELLs on several kindergarten tasks, the differences between thetwo groups at fourth grade were negligible. Furthermore, fourth grade word reading and readingcomprehension was predicted by the same kindergarten tasks for both language groups. Finally,the trajectory of word reading was non-linear for both groups, although predictors of this trajectorydiffered between them. The implications for our understanding of the development of reading forELLs will be discussed.Development and determinants of reading literacy in bilingual childrenNele McElvany, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, GermanyMichael Becker, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, GermanyGabriel Nagy, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, GermanyInternational educational assessments show that immigrant students are systematicallyoutperformed by nonimmigrant students in most western countries (OECD, 2001, 2004; Stanat &Christensen, 2006). Reading literacy is one of the core skills acquired in school and a keyprerequisite for successful learning. However, longitudinal findings on how reading literacydevelops in immigrant children are scarce outside English-speaking education systems (Garcia,– 388 –