Many Latino children in the U.S. speak primarily Spanish at home with few opportunities for exposure to English before entering school. For monolingual children, the strongest early predictor of later school success is oral language skill developed before kindergarten. Less is known about how early oral language skills support later learning in sequential bilingual children. A question with wide-reaching significance is whether skill in a child's first language (L1) supports later learning in a second language (L2). In this longitudinal study of sequential Spanish-English bilinguals, we assessed oral language skills in Spanish at 2 years through parent reports of vocabulary size and children's real-time language processing efficiency (Accuracy, RT) in the 'looking-while-listening' (LWL) task. At 4½ years, we assessed language outcomes in both Spanish and English using standardized tests. Reported relative exposure to each language was significantly correlated with language outcomes in Spanish and English. Within-language relations were observed between Spanish vocabulary size and processing efficiency at 2 years and later Spanish-language outcomes. Critically, across-language relations were also observed: Children with stronger Spanishlanguage processing efficiency at 2 years had stronger English-language skills at 4½ years, controlling for socioeconomic status and exposure to English. Children's early language processing efficiency in Spanish is associated with stronger real-time information processing skills that support maintenance of Spanish and learning in English when these children enter school. These results support the recommendation that primarily Spanish-speaking families should engage in activities that promote children's Spanish-language skills while also seeking opportunities for children to be exposed to English. K E Y W O R D S language processing efficiency, pre-kindergarten outcomes, sequential bilinguals, Spanish-English bilinguals, vocabulary size How to cite this article: Marchman VA, Bermúdez VN, Bang JY, Fernald A. Off to a good start: Early Spanish-language processing efficiency supports Spanish-and English-language outcomes at 4½ years in sequential bilinguals. Dev Sci.
Study Objective We investigated sleep disparities and academic achievement in college. Methods Participants were 6,002 first-year college students [62.0% female, 18.8% first-generation, 37.4% Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) students] attending a midsize private university in the southern United States. During the first 3-5 weeks of college, students reported their typical weekday sleep duration, which we classified as short sleep (<7 hours), normal sleep (7-9 hours), or long sleep (>9 hours). Results The odds for short sleep were significantly greater in BIPOC students (95% CI: 1.34-1.66) and female students (95% CI: 1.09-1.35), and the odds for long sleep were greater in BIPOC students (95% CI: 1.38-3.08) and first-generation students (95% CI: 1.04-2.53). In adjusted models, financial burden, employment, stress, STEM academic major, student athlete status, and younger age explained unique variance in sleep duration, fully mediating disparities for females and first-generation students (but only partially mediating disparities for BIPOC students). Short and long sleep predicted worse GPA across students’ first year in college, even after controlling for high school academic index, demographics, and psychosocial variables. Conclusions Higher education should address sleep health early in college to help remove barriers to success and reduce disparities.
What if the environment could be transformed in culturally-responsive and inclusive ways to foster high-quality interactions and spark conversations that drive learning? In this article, we describe a new initiative accomplishing this, called Playful Learning Landscapes (PLL). PLL is an evidence-based initiative that blends findings from the science of learning with community-based participatory research to transform physical public spaces and educational settings into playful learning hubs. Here, we describe our model for conducting this research, which is mindful of three key components: community input, how children learn best, and what children need to learn to be successful in the 21st century economy. We describe how this model was implemented in two PLL case studies: one in a predominantly Latine community and the second in early childhood education classrooms. Furthermore, we describe how research employing our model can be rigorously and reliably evaluated using observational and methodological tools that respond to diverse cultural settings and learning outcomes. For example, our work evaluates how PLL impacts adult–child interaction quality and language use, attitudes about play and learning, and community civic engagement. Taken together, this article highlights new ways to involve community voices in developmental and educational research and provides a model of how science can be translated into practice and evaluated in culturally responsive ways. This synthesis of our process and evaluation can be used by researchers, policymakers, and educators to reimagine early educational experiences with an eye toward the built environment that children inhabit in everyday life, creating opportunities that foster lifelong learning.
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