Relationship between language skills and acquisition rate of sight words among english language learners

The current study examined the sight word acquisition rate (AR) of 43 second-grade students who were English language learners (ELL) from three diverse, urban schools. The AR was analyzed in relation to each student's oral proficiency in English, and examined whether or not children who are ELL but have a higher level of English proficiency would demonstrate larger ARs of English sight-words than children who demonstrate lower levels of English proficiency. The imagery level of the word did not effect the accuracy of reading it and a significant and moderate correlation (r = .63) was found between AR and language proficiency. A significant effect was found among three levels of English proficiency with children in the lowest level of proficiency demonstrating a significantly smaller mean AR than those in the highest and middle group. Potential implications for second-language reading instruction and future research are discussed.