Multilingual Reading Intervention in Hong Kong Primary Schools

Brief Portrait of the Educational Intervention

The intervention is aimed at designing a specialized reading program for 6 students from 4^th grade whose reading level is below the average of students in the same grade level and the age group of 9-10 years. This would be an English as an Additional Language reading intervention for a primary school in Hong Kong. Multilingual education is a practice that is commonly employed at schools to engage children in learning new languages and cultures, developing their literacy skills, and facilitating bilingualism. To ensure a proper language policy and planning on a micro-level, such as their classroom, teachers need to encourage multilingual education.

Bilingualism at school presents a brilliant opportunity for language minorities not only to pursue their native language but also encourages them to preserve their cultural legacy. Moreover, the necessity to learn a second language might provide the language majority with a useful insight into different cultures, as well as better perspectives for their academic and working future. Different researches prove the positive impact of an essential proficiency in two or more languages on social, cultural, and biological aspects of society. However, among primary school students, especially ones with learning delays or disabilities, teaching a second language might prove to be a difficult task. Thus, an intervention is necessary to ensure that all students have equal opportunities to develop English literacy skills, specifically in reading and reading comprehension.

Context Information

The primary school at which the intervention would be performed is located in Hong Kong. A group of EAL teachers and professionals would participate in a pull-out and push-in program on developing reading skills among children with learning disabilities. The intervention would be actively using the existing EAL curriculum to develop a targeted solution to improve reading skills in students with issues such as dyslexia or ADHD. Requirements of professional and qualification characteristics to education, as well as special knowledge and skills of students, serve as the basis for the selection and structuring of the content of education. A curriculum remains one of the main forms of presenting the content of education in a form sufficient for organizing training and monitoring the achievement of planned results. The list of knowledge and skills formed during the study of the subject is concretized it in the form of concepts, ideas, and facts, which, taken together, make up its categorical structure. Therefore, the curriculum, adjusted for the students with learning disabilities, would serve as a set of milestones to evaluate their progress and set a concrete timeline for the intervention.

Information on Learning Need: Reading Skills

Reading plays an important role in the mental activity of primary school students. It is a complex process associated with the development of not only translation skills but also comprehension and literacy. The formation of comprehensive reading skills, especially when learning a second language, begins with mastering the general technique of reading. At the initial stages of teaching a child to read in a second language, it is necessary to form correct understanding, fluency, and comprehension of what is read. Understanding of the read text occurs based on the sound form of the word, associated with its meaning and is closely tied to the student’s social and cultural background.

Reading comprehension is determined by the nature of the perception of certain information. Some certain conditions and issues are associated with a lack of reading skills and all other sub-skills related to it. For example, dyslexia is defined as a persistent inability to learn to read. Moreover, it is associated with the inability to operate any sign systems and, together with a reading disorder, might spread to the inability to master musical notation, mathematical signs, arithmetic, and even traffic signs. Children with dyslexia encounter significant issues when learning English as a second language, and require the teacher’s assistance more than abled students. The intervention would target specifically primary school students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia and provide them with additional help for learning English as a second language.

Relevant Literature

This source provides evidence of the differences in reading comprehension between monolingual primary school students and students who learned English as an additional language:

• Hessel et al. (2020), Comprehension monitoring during reading: An eye-tracking study with children learning English as an additional language.
• The following studies offer practical frameworks and methodologies for teaching English as an additional language to children with reading difficulties:
• Nation (2019), Children’s reading difficulties, language, and reflections on The simple view of reading.
• Peng et al. (2018), A longitudinal analysis of the trajectories and predictors of word reading and reading comprehension development among at-risk readers.
• Tunmer & Hoover (2019), The cognitive foundations of learning to read: A framework for preventing and remediating reading difficulties.

This research describes the factors relevant to the potential development of reading difficulties in children:

• Mehta et al. (2017), Invented spelling, word stress, and syllable awareness about reading difficulties in children.
• This study discusses certain factors that affect reading comprehension skills specifically among Hong Kong children who learn English:
• Tong et al. (2022), Syntactic awareness matters: Uncovering reading comprehension difficulties in Hong Kong Chinese-English bilingual children.

Finally, these are the Hong Kong government’s educational resources and policies on teaching the English language:

• The Curriculum Development Council (2020), English language education – curriculum documents.
• Education Bureau of the Government of Hong Kong (2022), EDBCM: School-based Support Services Primary, secondary and special education.
• Methodology

1. Teachers would assess student files and evaluate their reading and comprehension skills from the previous year, as well as the presence of learning disabilities in certain children. A list of students who have been struggling with developing EAL reading skills would be established to ensure a targeted approach.
2. A curriculum should be consulted next to determine the level of reading skills development for the next year when the intervention should take place.
3. Adjustments in the curriculum would be made for the students who have learning disabilities, as teachers should develop individual reading programs that would fit their needs.
4. An initial program should be implemented for two weeks to evaluate the student’s response to the adjusted curriculum and seek out potential mistakes or unaccounted-for factors influencing the students. Moreover, the student’s progress – or lack of it – should be assessed. Potential outcomes and results are predicted at this point, as there is already a small pool of data gathered.
5. After the initial assessment is complete, based on the results, interviews with school counselors should occur to provide a more comprehensive review of the results and propose improvements for the intervention. These interviews would require the presence of the teachers, counselor, and administrative representative to make adjustments to the budget, timetable, and/or curriculum.
6. Throughout the main intervention course, students’ reading skills should be evaluated at least once a month, and all relevant changes should be noted. Using this qualitative data, the foundation for the final evaluation would be laid, which should occur at the end of the intervention.
7. After the intervention is complete, an analytical review must be compiled and discussed with the school staff and administration to determine the further course of action.

Reference List

The Curriculum Development Council (2020) English language education – curriculum documents, edb.gov.hk. Web.

Education Bureau of The Government of Hong Kong (2022) EDBCM: School-based Support Services Primary, secondary and special education, Edb.gov.hk. Web.

Hessel, A.K., Nation, K. and Murphy, V.A. (2020) “Comprehension monitoring during reading: An eye-tracking study with children learning English as an additional language,” Scientific Studies of Reading, 25(2), pp. 159–178. Web.

Mehta, S. et al. (2017) “Invented spelling, word stress, and syllable awareness about reading difficulties in children,” Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 47(3), pp. 585–606. Web.

Nation, K. (2019) “Children’s reading difficulties, language, and reflections on The simple view of reading,” Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 24(1), pp. 47–73. Web.

Peng, P. et al. (2018) “A longitudinal analysis of the trajectories and predictors of word reading and reading comprehension development among at-risk readers,” Journal of Learning Disabilities, 52(3), pp. 195–208. Web.

Tong, X., Deng, Q. and Tong, S.X. (2022) “Syntactic awareness matters: Uncovering reading comprehension difficulties in Hong Kong Chinese-English bilingual children,” Annals of Dyslexia, 72(3), pp. 532–551. Web.

Tunmer, W.E. and Hoover, W.A. (2019) “The cognitive foundations of learning to read: A framework for preventing and remediating reading difficulties,” Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 24(1), pp. 75–93. Web.