High-Stakes Reading Assessment and English Oral Language Development: A Study of Third Grade English Language Learners in a Texas School District

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine: (a) the methodological quality of current research on English Language Learners (ELL) in the areas of high-stakes testing and oral language as a component skill of reading performance, (b) the association between oral language and reading performance in third grade Hispanic ELLS, and (c) the impact of instructional program model on ELLs’ oral language development. Two parallel systematic reviews were conducted searching CSA, Ebsco and Wilson electronic databases for empirical studies conducted in the U.S. and published in peer-reviewed journals in English. In study one, ELLs and high-stakes testing, eleven reviewed studies (N=11) met the inclusion/exclusion criteria; while in study two, ELLs and oral language, twenty-three reviewed studies (N=23) met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Abstracted studies were evaluated using a 10-criteria matrix, and a methodological quality score was assigned.