Latent language-literacy profiles among Norwegian language-minority students

Purpose This study examined whether there are subgroups of Norwegian language-minority (LM) students that have distinct latent profiles in the domain of lexical knowledge, such as orthographic, phonological, and semantic skills. The latent profile approach may reveal distinct relationships between different linguistic and literacy skills (e.g., uneven profiles). Methods The analyses focused on a group of 186 LM students in Norway who were part of a larger sample of second graders (N = 717). Latent profile analysis was based on seven indicators that together capture orthographic, phonological, and semantic word knowledge as well as general ability. The profiles for LM students were compared to mean scores for the full sample. Results The LM students’ language-literacy skills were best described by three distinct latent profiles: one prevalent profile encompassing about two-thirds of the sample (“below average vocabulary, average literacy”) and two profiles that each encompassed a sixth of the sample (“low vocabulary, low literacy” and “low average vocabulary, high literacy”). The profiles were rank-ordered according to achievement across measures, but characterized by lower-than-average vocabulary compared to the full sample. The differences between the three latent profiles were largest in spelling accuracy and reading fluency. Conclusions Distinct language-literacy profiles among LM students were identified based on features of lexical knowledge. Few of the LM students had profiles characterized by low reading-fluency skills. Our findings indicate that most LM students benefit from regular instruction in code-related reading skills, but that effective instruction in the semantic elements of language is needed for LM students.