Content Counts and Motivation Matters - Reading Comprehension in Third-Grade Students Who Are English Learners

Oct 15, 2026

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The study investigates how science domain knowledge, reading motivation, and decoding skills relate to reading comprehension achievement in third-grade English learners (ELs) and monolingual students, using a nationally representative dataset. Multigroup probit regression shows significant links between science knowledge, motivation, decoding skills, and earlier decoding attainment and later comprehension in both groups. Wald tests indicate the science knowledge–comprehension association is stronger for ELs, highlighting the need to support science knowledge to improve third-grade reading comprehension.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Content Counts and Motivation Matters: Reading Comprehension in Third-Grade Students Who Are English Learners

Study focus and key findings

Background and need for further research

Policy relevance and third-grade context

The roles of decoding skills and content knowledge

Reading motivation as an additional factor

AERA Open January-March 2020, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 1–17 DOI: 10. 1177/2332858419899075 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2020. [http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero) Content Counts and Motivation Matters: Reading Comprehension in Third-Grade Students Who Are English Learners HyeJin Hwang Florida State University Nell K. Duke University of Michigan This study examined the role of science domain knowledge, reading motivation, and decoding skills in reading comprehension achievement in third-grade students who are English learners (ELs) and students who are monolingual, using a nationally representative data set. Multigroup probit regression analyses showed that third-grade science domain knowledge and motivation for reading, decoding skills, and early attainment of decoding skills were significantly associated with third-grade reading comprehension in both language groups. Also, using Wald chi-square tests, the study showed that the association between third-grade science domain knowledge and reading comprehension was stronger in students who were ELs than in students who were monolingual. These findings suggest that cultivating science domain knowledge is very important to supporting reading comprehension development in third grade, particularly for students who are ELs. Keywords: comprehension, decoding skills, English learners, motivation, reading, regression analyses, science domain knowledge, secondary data analysis Strong reading comprehension is essential for academic and professional achievement, as well as for civic engagement and social life (Snow, 2002) . Students who are English learners (ELs) have the asset of developing knowledge of more than one language (Goldenberg, 2008), but they are also more likely than monolingual students to have difficulties with reading comprehension in English in the United States (Mancilla-Martinez & Lesaux, 2010; National Center for Education Statistics, 2015) . Understanding second-language (L2) reading comprehension development in students who are ELs is an important step in effectively supporting their reading comprehension in L2 . Currently, relatively little is known about L2 reading comprehension, as the body of research investigating components contributing to L2 reading comprehension is still emerging (August & Shanahan, 2006; Samson & Lesaux, 2015) . Although there is a need for further study of reading comprehension development at all grade levels, third grade is of particular interest in the current U.S. policy context. As of 2019, 19 states have passed laws mandating retention of third-grade students who do not reach a certain level of reading proficiency and are not exempted (e.g., were already retained in a previous grade; National Conference of State Legislatures, 2019). Students who are ELs are more likely to be retained than students who are monolingual (Winke & Zhang, 2019), which suggests that ELs may need additional supports to meet third-grade reading comprehension standards, amplifying the need for further research in the current policy content on reading comprehension in third-grade students who are ELs. Decoding skills have been considered one of the major contributors to L2 reading comprehension, particularly during the first few years of formal schooling (e.g., Gottardo & Mueller, 2009; Yaghoub Zadeh et al., 2012) . Although decoding has been, appropriately, an emphasis in early schooling, building content knowledge has not traditionally been. There is an assumption that children learn to read up to third grade, then start to read to learn content in fourth grade (Chall, 1983; Duncan & Murnane, 2011) . However, evidence has indicated that even before fourth grade, children can learn content from reading (Davis & Guthrie, 2015; Strachan, 2015) and that content knowledge is indeed associate

FAQs

What factors does the study examine for third-grade reading comprehension in English learners?

The study examines science domain knowledge, reading motivation, and decoding skills, alongside early decoding attainment, as predictors of reading comprehension in third grade.

What statistical approach is used to test relationships between predictors and reading comprehension?

The study uses multigroup probit regression analyses to estimate how the variables relate to third-grade reading comprehension for both EL and monolingual groups.

How does the strength of the science domain knowledge effect differ between English learners and monolingual students?

Using Wald chi-square tests, the study finds that the association between third-grade science domain knowledge and reading comprehension is stronger for English learners than for monolingual students.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford