Department of Health Sciences Faculty Articles

The Care and Feeding of Monolingual and Bilingual University Students in South Florida: Implications for Assessment and Training

Document Type

Article

ISSN

1475-7257

Publication Date

6-11-2003

Keywords

Academic Success, Monolingual, Bilingual, Receptive Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Writing Fluency, Grammar Awareness, Phonological Awareness, Expressive Vocabulary, Vocabulary Density, Writing Quality

Abstract

This paper focuses on predicting academic success among monolingual and bilingual psychology students graduating from an American university in South Florida. Monolingual students were found to be reliably better in receptive vocabulary, reading comprehension and writing fluency than their bilingual peers. Monolingual and bilingual students were equivalent, however, in grammar awareness, phonological awareness, expressive vocabulary, vocabulary density and writing quality. The best predictors of reading comprehension skill among monolingual students were grammar awareness, and both receptive and expressive vocabulary. No measures were reliable predictors of bilingual skill. This paper includes a discussion of the work-related behaviours likely to be influenced by these cognitive skills and promotes the use of multiple indicators of success needed to predict academic and career-related outcomes. Finally, implications for the training and preparation of bilingual, non-native speakers of English, as well as monolingual speakers, are outlined.

DOI

10.2304/plat.2003.3.2.126

Volume

3

Issue

2

First Page

126

Last Page

130

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

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