Exploring Latent Profiles of Word-Reading and Reading Comprehension Skills Among English–French Bilingual Children in Grades 1 to 3

Abstract

This study aimed to advance our understanding of the reading profiles of bilinguals who are struggling readers. To this end, 198 English–French bilinguals attending French immersion were followed from Grades 1 to 3. Latent profile and transition analyses were conducted with measures of word-reading and reading comprehension to establish categorically distinct reading profiles in each language and their stability over time. The resulting profiles were then labeled according to percentile rank criteria on the reading measures. Results indicated that, across the three to four profiles identified per grade, poor readers with low scores on both word-reading and comprehension measures formed the only struggling reader profile in all grades for French and in Grades 1 and 2 for English. In Grade 3, a second subgroup of struggling readers with low scores in comprehension emerged in English. This group was labeled poor comprehenders. Membership as an English-struggling reader was highly stable from Grades 1 to 3, whereas membership as a French-struggling reader became more stable in later grades. To enhance our understanding of the reading profiles, children in different profile groups were compared on vocabulary for each language and grade using ANOVAs, and notable differences were observed. Our findings highlight the complexity of struggling reader profiles in bilinguals and underscore the importance of continuous monitoring of reading progress in both languages.