No abstract

The interfactional patterns of eleven Spanish‐speaking preschool children enrolled in two different bilingual programs were observed over the course of one year. The programs were characterized by a majority of Spanish‐speaking children in the classrooms at one site and of English‐speaking children in the classrooms at the second preschool. Consistent with the linguistic composition of the classes, teaching staffs were generally found to use a predominance of Spanish or English respectively in their classrooms. For all classrooms, language choices of individual children were examined. In classrooms where English‐speaking children predominated, greater language proficiency was found to be more consistently related to the use of English with peers than with teachers. In classrooms where Spanish‐speaking students were prevalent, on the other hand, interactions with the teachers in English were more consistently related to greater English language proficiency. Implications for the teaching of young children in a dual language environment are discussed.

Classroom interactional patterns by language choice and speech partner of six 4-year-old Spanish-preferring children enrolled in a bilingual preschool were observed over the course of 1 year. It was found that those children who used relatively more English with peers in the classroom and who increased their English usage over time generally showed the greatest increases in English proficiency as measured by mean length of utterance. Rank order correlations of increased language proficiency and various measures of classroom interaction suggest that interaction with peers who speak English relates directly to second-language proficiency and that there is a closer relationship between children's interactional patterns with peers than between such patterns with teachers in regard to increased second-language proficiency. In addition, increased proficiency in English led to a change in language preference in the context of the preschool classroom.

The study investigates the role of two native English speaking children in the second language acquisition and cultural understanding of an adult learner of English. The research combined the anthropological techniques of participant observation and informal interviews with discourse analysis of recorded material. Activity complexes encompassing the adult learner's typical verbal and behavioral interactions with the children were identified and systematically observed. The interactions were analyzed using a three‐step model of “instructional sequences” covering the manner of the learner's solicitation of information, the form and content of the children's instruction, and the learner's attention to the instruction. Results indicate that through a variety of means both children provided input which positively affected the acquisition of English by the adult learner. The nature and type of instruction, however, varied with the age of the instructor.