The Use of the Cloze Procedure in Determining Structural Interference with Eighth and Ninth Grade Spanish/English Bilingual Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which structural interference is present in the reading ability of bilingual subjects by assessing the differences among Spanish/English bilingual students in the use of syntax in the act of reading. The study sought to measure the extent to which the syntactic structure of the bilingual subjects' L­_1 interfered with the use of syntax in the act of reading in the subjects' L_2. A sample of 19 eighth and ninth grade bilingual students were administered modified lexical cloze passages in both L_1 and L_2. Statistical parameters, including t statistics for the differences in paired scores and the coefficient of determination, were computed from the test scores for both L_1 and L_2 cloze passages. The statistical findings indicated that although three of the four lexical cloze tests revealed a statistically significant difference in the students' paired test scores, the student's exhibited no significant structural interference. The study invites further investigations into the degree of structural interference in the reading abilities of bilingual students and the use of the cloze procedure as an appropriate test for measuring structural interference.