Examining heterogeneity among Latino dual language learners' school readiness profiles of English and Spanish at the end of Head Start

Dual Language Profiles in Spanish-Speaking English Learners

“…These studies have shown that Spanish-English bilingual children display large within-group variability in Spanish oral language and nonverbal cognitive abilities (Kapantzoglou et al, 2015), emergent literacy skills (Gonzalez et al, 2016;Lonigan et al, 2018), Spanish and English reading skills (Grimm et al, 2019), phonology and morphosyntactic skills (Halpin et al, 2021), and academic achievement skills (López & Foster, 2021). Findings from this study contribute to the growing body of evidence demonstrating systematic differences in oral language abilities in Spanish-English bilingual children.…”

“…The goal of this study was to understand the heterogeneity in English and Spanish oral language skills in a large-scale sample of Hispanic, Spanish-speaking children designated as ELs by their school district. In the past five years, a small body of literature has emerged to challenge the assumed homogeneity in dual language learners (Gonzalez et al, 2016;Grimm et al, 2019;Halpin et al, 2021;Kapantzoglou et al, 2015;Lonigan et al, 2018;López & Foster, 2021).…”

“…We hypothesize that at least three types of language profiles may emerge, including a group of children with high proficiency in Spanish and low proficiency in English (Spanish-dominant), a group of children with high proficiency in English and low proficiency in Spanish (English-dominant), and a group of children with relatively similar English and Spanish proficiency (balanced -proficiency level not specified). Despite the number of profiles identified in previous studies, these three types of profiles have been consistently revealed (Gonzalez et al, 2016;Halpin et al, 2021;Lonigan et al, 2018;López & Foster, 2021).…”

“…We identified five studies that investigated language-related profiles in Spanish-English bilingual children in the literature (Gonzalez et al, 2016;Halpin et al, 2021;Kapantzoglou et al, 2015;Lonigan et al, 2018;López & Foster, 2021). These studies vary regarding the age of the participants, the domains included in the profiles (e.g., language, literacy, cognitive, academic achievements), and whether skills in one or both languages are considered in the analyses (see Table 1 for a summary).…”

Delivering on the Promise of the Science of Reading for All Children

“…There are few experimental studies of the relation between changing teachers’ or other school personnel’s expectations of their students and change in student achievement, learning, and behavior (Rubie‐Davies et al, 2015). However, there is a rich body of research and scholarship from scholars who insist on the excellence of Black and Brown children, such as John Diamond (e.g., Diamond et al, 2020), Sonia Nieto (e.g., Nieto & Bode, 2017), Gloria Ladson‐Billings (e.g., 2006), Gholdy Muhammad (e.g., 2020), Pedro Noguera (e.g., Bishop & Noguera, 2019), Carol Lee (e.g., 2016), Lisa Delpit (e.g., 2006), Alfredo Artiles (e.g., 2011), Iheoma Iruka (e.g., Iruka et al, 2020), Lisa Lopez (e.g., Lopez & Foster, 2021), Donna Ford (e.g., Ford et al, 2020), and Erica Edwards (Edwards et al, 2016). This list is by no means exhaustive but serves to demonstrate how many scholars have and continue to pursue their research with Black and Brown children and children growing up in poverty from a strengths‐based perspective.…”