Dual language and literacy development of Spanish-speaking preschool children

Abstract

This article describes oral language and early literacy skills in Spanish and English for a sample of 319 bilingual children in Massachusetts and Maryland (ECS) and a comparison group of 144 monolingual Spanish-speaking children in Puerto Rico (PRC). Children were assessed as they entered and exited pre-kindergarten programs. Data collection included four subtests of the Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery and a researcher-developed phonological awareness task. Results show that, on average, children in the ECS sample performed below average in both English and Spanish when compared to monolingual norms and, despite some early literacy and oral language gains during their pre-kindergarten year, continue to lag behind monolingual children of the same age. Children in the ECS sample performed better in the early literacy tasks than in the oral language tasks in both English and Spanish. On average, the PRC sample scored significantly better than the ECS sample in Spanish oral language skills, but lower in phonological awareness skills. Educational implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Knowledge of words, knowledge about words: Dimensions of vocabulary in first and second language learners in sixth grade

“…However, the magnitude of these differences, between onethird and one-half of a standard deviation, were much smaller than we would expect in a comparison between L2 learners in their typical educational conditions and national monolingual norms, based on previous studies. For instance, three recent studies conducted with upper-elementary school students Kieffer & Lesaux, 2008;Proctor et al, 2005) found that L2 learners were more than one standard deviation below national norms for monolinguals on standardized English oral vocabulary measures, estimates that are consistent with those for L2 learners in the primary grades (e.g., Manis et al, 2004;Páez et al, 2007;Swanson et al, 2006). Our finding of relatively smaller differences suggests that L1 students and L2 learners from the same neighborhood, attending the same urban schools, and with similar educational histories are likely to be much closer in vocabulary knowledge than we would assume based on national comparisons of the two populations, in part because the vocabulary knowledge of L1 learners in these schools is also under-developed relative to age-based expectations.…”

“…Historically underserved and concentrated in underresourced schools, language minority students in the U.S. disproportionately demonstrate difficulties with reading comprehension (Kieffer, 2008(Kieffer, , 2010National Center for Educational Statistics, 2009). A growing research base supports the notion that L2 learners of English typically demonstrate below-average levels of English vocabulary knowledge (e.g., Garcia, 1991;Manis, Lindsey, & Bailey, 2004;Páez, Tabors, & López, 2007;Proctor, Carlo, August, & Snow, 2005;Swanson, Sáez, & Gerber, 2006). However, the majority of these studies have utilized a single measure of vocabulary breadth, raising questions about how differences between L1 and L2 learners' vary across different aspects of English vocabulary knowledge.…”

Examining Similarities and Differences Among Parent–Teacher Reports of Spanish–English Productive Vocabulary

“…As stated previously, this issue has the potential to result in over-or underestimation of skills. Studies show that bilingual children's mean vocabulary scores on standardized assessments tend to be below those of monolingual children in both languages when each language (i.e., Spanish and English) is measured separately (Bialystok, Luk, Peets, & Yang, 2010;Hammer, Lawrence, & Miccio, 2008;Jackson, Schatschneider, & Leacox, 2014;Páez, Tabors, & López, 2007;Uccelli & Páez, 2007;Uchikoshi, 2006). Consequently, alternative measures have been proposed that take into account both languages of the bilingual child when appraising the lexicon.…”

Storytelling with robots: Learning companions for preschool children's language development

“…Children with impoverished exposure to novel words and rich vocabulary-building curricula show language deficits [14,24]. Differences in vocabulary skills in preschool and kindergarten can predict differences in reading ability and language comprehension in middle and high school [17,28].…”