The Effects of Print Access and Print Exposure on English Vocabulary Acquisition of Language Minority Students

______________________ This study examines the relationship among access to reading materials, print exposure, and vocabulary acquisition among language minority (LM) students in United States. Access to print, print exposure, and English vocabulary knowledge were measured through the use of surveys and signal-detection checklists with a group of Spanish/English bilingual high school students (N = 133). Results indicated that LM students had significantly less access to reading materials than their English-only peers. Print exposure and print access were both found to be related to English vocabulary knowledge, although there appears to be a "threshold" effect below which variations in print access have less of an impact on differences in vocabulary knowledge. ________________________ Introduction Second language researchers have encouraged the use of “free voluntary reading” among their students (Krashen, 2004). Literacy studies have found that exposure to print through wide and voluminous reading contributes to several aspects of both first and second language literacy acquisition (Elley, 1991; Nagy, Herman, & Anderson, 1983). Access to print, although it has received less attention, has also been shown to be an important factor influencing students reading behavior by inducing students to read more (McQuillan, 1998a; Krashen, 2004). This study examines the relationships among access to print, print exposure, and vocabulary acquisition among a group of adolescent language minority (LM) students. Background The importance of print exposure Reading has been found to contribute significantly to language acquisition among first and second language acquirers in both experimental and correlational studies. Nagy, Herman, and Anderson (1983) conducted a number of “read and test” studies that found that even a single exposure to an unknown word during reading contributed a small but significant gain in vocabulary acquisition. Nagy et al. calculated that the typical gain for a student in vocabulary knowledge over a year’s time could be explained by this incidental vocabulary acquisition via reading. The same relationship has also been found among second language (L2) acquirers. Pitts, White, and Krashen (1987) gave a group of adult ESL learners a novel (The Clockwork Orange) that contains several Russian slang terms. They found that students who did not have access to the glossary in the back of the book still acquired a significant number of the Russian words found in the story. Dupuy and Krashen (1993) conducted a "read and test" experiment with French foreign language students at the university level. Students read film scripts that contained words in French they were unlikely to know. Students made significant gains in vocabulary knowledge even after a very short exposure to the texts. Several other researchers