This study investigated the relationships between home language learning activities and vocabulary in a sample of monolingual native Dutch (n= 58) and bilingual immigrant Moroccan–Dutch (n= 46) and Turkish–Dutch (n= 55) 3-year-olds, speaking Tarifit-Berber, a nonscripted language, and Turkish as their first language (L1), respectively. Despite equal domain general cognitive abilities, Dutch children scored higher than the bilingual children on a L1 vocabulary test, and Moroccan–Dutch children had higher second language (L2) vocabulary skills compared to Turkish–Dutch children. Multigroup analyses revealed strong impact on both L1 and L2 skills of language specific input in literate and oral activities. Finally, indications were found of positive cross-language transfer from L1 to L2 as well as competition between L1 and L2 input.

S In tnis prospective study home literacy is considered a multifaceted phenomenon consisting of a frequency or exposure facet (opportunity), an instruction quality facet, a parent‐child cooperation facet, and a social‐emotional quality facet. In a multiethnic, partly bilingual sample of 89 families with 4‐year‐old children, living in inner‐city areas in the Netherlands, measures of home literacy were taken by means of interviews with the parents and observations of parentchild book reading interactions when the target children were ages 4, 5, and 6 years. At age 7, by the end of Grade 1, after nearly 1 year of formal reading instruction, vocabulary, word decoding, and reading comprehension were assessed using standard tests. Vocabulary at age 4 and an index of the predominant language used at home were also measured in order to be used as covariates. Correlational and multiple regression analyses supported the hypothesis that home literacy is multifaceted. Home literacy facets together predicted more variance in language and achievement measures at age 7 than each of them separately. Structural equations analysis also supported two additional hypotheses of the present research. First, the effects of background factors (SES, ethnicity, parents' own literacy practices) on language development and reading achievement in school were fully mediated by home literacy, home language, and early vocabulary. Second, even after controlling for the effects of early vocabulary and predominant home language, there remained statistically significant effects of home literacy, in particular, opportunity, instruction quality, and cooperation quality. EN ESTE estudio prospectivo, la alfabetización en el hogar está considerada un fenómeno multifacético que consiste en una faceta de frecuencia o exposición (oportunidad), una faceta de calidad de la enseñanza, una faceta de cooperación entre padres e hijos y una faceta socio‐emocional. Se trabajó con una muestra multiétnica, y en parte bilingüe, de 89 familias con niños de 4 años, que vivían en áreas urbanas en los Países Bajos. Se tomaron medidas de alfabetización en el hogar mediante entrevistas con los padres y observaciones de la interacción padre‐hijo en lectura de libros cuando los niños tenían 4, 5, y 6 años. A la edad de 7 años, al promediar 1° grado, luego de casi un año de enseñanza formal de la lectura, se tomaron medidas de vocabulario, decodificación de palabras y comprensión usando pruebas estandarizadas. También se obtuvieron una medida de vocabulario a los 4 años y un índice de la lengua predominante del hogar para usarlos como covariables. Los análisis correlacionales y de regresión múltiple apoyan la hipótesis de que la alfabetización en el hogar es multifacética. Las facetas de la alfabetización en el hogar predijeron más varianza en las medidas de lenguaje y desempeño en lectura a la edad de 7 años en forma conjunta que cada una de ellas por separado. El análisis de ecuaciones estructurales también apoyó dos hipótesis adicionales del presente trabajo. En pri...

Whether bilingual children outperform monolingual children on visuospatial and verbal working memory tests was investigated. In addition, relations among bilingual proficiency, language use at home, and working memory were explored. The bilingual Turkish-Dutch children (n=68) in this study were raised in families with lower socioeconomic status (SES) and had smaller Dutch vocabularies than Dutch monolingual controls (n=52). Having these characteristics, they are part of an under-researched bilingual population. It was found that the bilingual Turkish-Dutch children showed cognitive gains in visuospatial and verbal working memory tests when SES and vocabulary were controlled, in particular on tests that require processing and not merely storage. These findings converge with recent studies that have revealed bilingual cognitive advantages beyond inhibition, and they support the hypothesis that experience with dual language management influences the central executive control system that regulates processing across a wide range of task demands. Furthermore, the results show that bilingual cognitive advantages are found in socioeconomically disadvantaged bilingual populations and suggest that benefits to executive control are moderated by bilingual proficiency.

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The strong relationship between updating and mathematics suggest that updating skills play a key role in the maths learning process. This makes updating a promising target for future intervention studies.

a b s t r a c tThe relationship between structural quality and process quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC) has been addressed in several studies. However, the findings are not conclusive. The present study was conducted in the Netherlands, which has a strongly regulated mid-quality ECEC system regarding structural aspects, with still considerable variation in process quality. The study employed a multi-method approach and extended the existing research in two ways. First, both observations of teacher-child interactions as well as teacher-reported developmental and educational activities were included as indicators of comprehensive emotional and educational process quality constructs. Second, to examine the relation between process quality and structural quality, commonly studied structural quality characteristics were complemented by less frequently studied measures of the professional development activities and education programs implemented at the centers. Results indicate that group size and child-to-teacher ratio are not related to emotional and educational process quality in the Dutch ECEC system. Teachers' formal pre-service education has a positive, but small association with emotional process quality. The use of an education program and professional development activities at the center show the strongest associations with emotional and educational process quality. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Executive function (EF) is an important predictor of numerous developmental outcomes, such as academic achievement and behavioral adjustment. Although a plethora of measurement instruments exists to assess executive function in children, only few of these are suitable for toddlers, and even fewer have undergone psychometric evaluation. The present study evaluates the psychometric properties and validity of an assessment battery for measuring EF in two-year-olds. A sample of 2437 children were administered the assessment battery at a mean age of 2;4 years (SD = 0;3 years) in a large-scale field study. Measures of both hot EF (snack and gift delay tasks) and cool EF (six boxes, memory for location, and visual search task) were included. Confirmatory Factor Analyses showed that a two-factor hot and cool EF model fitted the data better than a one-factor model. Measurement invariance was supported across groups differing in age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), home language, and test setting. Criterion and convergent validity were evaluated by examining relationships between EF and age, gender, SES, home language, and parent and teacher reports of children's attention and inhibitory control. Predictive validity of the test battery was investigated by regressing children's pre-academic skills and behavioral problems at age three on the latent hot and cool EF factors at age 2 years. The test battery showed satisfactory psychometric quality and criterion, convergent, and predictive validity. Whereas cool EF predicted both pre-academic skills and behavior problems 1 year later, hot EF predicted behavior problems only. These results show that EF can be assessed with psychometrically sound instruments in children as young as 2 years, and that EF tasks can be reliably applied in large scale field research. The current instruments offer new opportunities for investigating EF in early childhood, and for evaluating interventions targeted at improving EF from a young age.

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