ERIC Number: EJ1022076
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014-Apr
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0265-5322
EISSN: N/A
A Latent Variable Investigation of the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening-Kindergarten Assessment: Construct Identification and Multigroup Comparisons between Spanish-Speaking English-Language Learners (ELLs) and Non-ELL Students
Huang, Francis L.; Konold, Timothy R.
Language Testing, v31 n2 p205-221 Apr 2014
Psychometric properties of the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening for Kindergarten (PALS-K) instrument were investigated in a sample of 2844 first-time public school kindergarteners. PALS-K is a widely used English literacy screening assessment. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a theoretically defensible measurement structure that was found to replicate in a randomly selected hold-out sample when examined through the lens of confirmatory factor analytic methods. Multigroup latent variable comparisons between Spanish-speaking English-language learners (ELLs) and non-ELL students largely demonstrated the PALS-K to yield configural and metric invariance with respect to associations between subtests and latent dimensions. In combination, these results support the educational utility of the PALS-K as a tool for assessing important reading constructs and informing early interventions across groups of Spanish-speaking ELL and non-ELL students.
Descriptors: Phonological Awareness, Kindergarten, Literacy, Screening Tests, Factor Analysis, Correlation, Spanish Speaking, English Language Learners, Early Intervention, Economically Disadvantaged, Rhyme, Phoneme Grapheme Correspondence, Alphabets
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Kindergarten
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Virginia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A