The Gates-McKillop Reading, the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities, and the Children's Apperception Test were administered to 30 Mexican-American children in grades 1 and 3. Also, a Language Background Scale was used to rate degree of bilingualism in their homes. Results indicated, at the third grade only, a significant negative correlation between degree of Spanish heard in the home and syntactic ability, and a significant positive relationship between syntactic ability and oral reading. But, the direct relationship between Spanish heard in the home and oral reading was not significant. The evidence supports the theoretical position that dialect tends to interfere in oral reading on the syntactical, but not on the phonological level. However, the interference for Mexican-American children is likely to be transitory, diminishing as more competence in English syntax is acquired.
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