Little research has explored how preschools can support children's second-language (L2) vocabulary development. This study keenly followed the progress of twemty-six Turkish immigrant children growing up in Norway from preschool (age five) to fifth grade (age ten). Four different measures of preschool talk exposure (amount and diversity of teacher-led group talk and amount and diversity of peer talk), as well as the demographic variables of maternal education and co-ethnic concentration in the neighborhood, were employed to predict the children's L2 vocabulary trajectories. The results of growth analyses revealed that maternal education was the only variable predicting children's vocabulary growth during the elementary years. However, teacher-led talk, peer talk, and neighborhood predicted children's L2 vocabulary skills at age five, and these differences were maintained up to age ten. This study underscores the importance of both preschool talk exposure (teacher-led talk and peer talk) and demographic factors on L2 learners' vocabulary development.

Aims: In this study, we aimed to examine whether five-year-old children with varying firstlanguage (L1) vocabulary skills benefitted differentially from second-language (L2) teacherled group talk and peer-play talk when acquiring L2 vocabulary in preschool contexts. Design: The participants were 26 bilingual children, speaking Turkish (L1) and Norwegian (L2), who participated in a longitudinal study. At age five, they experienced variability in the amount and diversity of the L2 talk they were exposed to in interactions with teachers and peers. Data and analysis: Preschool L2 talk exposure was assessed by calculating the density of word tokens and word types in video-taped teacher-led group talk and in peer-play talk. The children's vocabulary skills were assessed in L1 at age five and in L2 at ages four, five, six, seven and 10, using translated versions of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III. To obtain a more reliable estimate of the children's L2 vocabulary skills we used data from all time points to fit a longitudinal growth model. Findings: Children with more developed L1 vocabulary skills who were exposed to teacherled talk and peer-play talk with a high density of tokens had more developed L2 vocabulary skills at age five. This interaction effect remained after controlling for maternal education. Originality: Few previous studies, if any, have analyzed whether interaction effects between L1 vocabulary skills and L2 exposure may impact L2 vocabulary skills; that is, whether children with more developed L1 vocabulary skills are more prepared to make use of the L2 environment. Implications: Interdependency among languages may be mediated by classroom talk quality. Rather than limiting the discussion of L1-L2 relations to issues of direct transfer, future research should include children's experiences with using socio-pragmatic skills when interpreting word meaning.

From a socio-cultural perspective, language offers a means for children to communicate with and learn from others through interaction: language is the medium through which young children are provided cognitive, social, and emotional support in interactions with caregivers, siblings, and peers; and children characterized as dual language learners (DLLs) have in common that they receive this developmental support in two different languages. However, due to variations in socioeconomic factors, ethnic/immigration background, and language socialization practices, DLLs display considerable variability in their first- and second-language proficiency (McCabe, Tamis-LeMonda, Bornstein, Cates, Golinkoff, Guerra, Hirsh-Pasek, Hoff, Kuchirko, Melzi, Mendelsohn, Páez & Song, 2013).

This cluster-randomized controlled study examined dual language learners (DLLs) in Norway who received a book-based language intervention program. About 464 DLLs aged 3-5 years in 123 early childhood classrooms participated in the study. The children were acquiring Norwegian as their second language in preschool and spoke a variety of first languages at home. They received a researcher-developed intervention that was organized around loosely scripted, content-rich shared reading in school and at home. Receiving the intervention had significant impacts on the children's second-language skills (effect sizes of d = .25-.66). In addition to supporting second-language vocabulary and grammar, the program with its focus on perspective taking during shared reading resulted in impacts on children's ability to shift perspectives and understand others' emotional states. We thank Paul Leseman, Francisco Pons and Joshua Lawrence for their valuable input in the planning phase of the project. We would like to thank all the research assistants and students who participated in data collection. In particular, we pay our regards to Nataliya Honcharova, Eva Svihus Borgersen, Kerstin Schmitz, Mari Hustad Sandøy and Svitlana Kucherenko for support in data collection and administration. Oslo Public Library (Deichman) gave advice on the selection of children's books used in the project. We thank the advisory board of experienced preschool leaders and teachers who gave important input in the planning of the intervention. Finally, we would like to express our appreciation to all the teachers, parents, and children who participated; this project would not have been possible without their support and interest. The project was financed by the Norwegian Research Council (grant number 218280).

Prior research in England has indicated that, unlike prereaders, young children who have learned to decode simple words view print‐based information as a more authoritative source of knowledge than purely oral information. We predicted that children in Norway—who start to receive formal reading instruction at a relatively late age—would be slower to display this bias toward print‐based information. Accordingly, we tested 4‐ to 6‐year‐olds (N = 96) in Norway. As expected, these children showed a delayed emergence of the bias toward print over speech. Unexpectedly, however, children who had successfully gained a basic reading ability prior to any exposure to formal reading instruction in school were no more trusting of print than were their prereading peers. These results suggest that the ability to decode simple words is an important condition for selective trust in print‐based information but that exposure to formal reading instruction in school may also be necessary. Highlights Is there a link between formal reading instruction and young children's bias to trust print over oral information? A study in Norway, where formal reading instruction is delayed, confirmed later emergence of trust in print compared to previous findings in the UK. Formal reading instruction may play a role in the emergence of children's selective trust in print-based information.

In this randomized trial study, the authors examined the efficacy of a practitioner partnership language intervention addressing oral language learning (expressive and receptive) in young language‐minority learners from multiple‐language groups in Norway. Resource teachers in 16 elementary schools implemented the intervention in the first and second grades, delivering a total of 64 thirty‐minute sessions over eight consecutive weeks. With a mean age of 6 years 3.34 months, 137 students were randomly allocated to an intervention group or a waiting‐list control group, with the latter group receiving the intervention after posttest 1. Five assessments of oral language skills were conducted before the intervention, immediately following it, and four months later. The intervention group showed significant improvements in various oral language skills compared with the waiting‐list control group. There were no significant differences between the groups at the four‐month follow‐up when the waiting‐list control group received the intervention. The program was successful in enhancing oral language skills in young language‐minority learners.

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