Developmental Trends in English and Spanish Basic Writing Skills

• In Event: Bilingual Writing Development and Practices Among Spanish-English Emergent Bilinguals in Pre-K to Fifth Grade

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the English and Spanish writing development of bilingual students in two-way immersion (TWI) programs, and to consider the extent to which writing development in each language varies by home language exposure. The study employs a developmental framework to explore change in writing ability over time and the extent to which individual differences may affect developmental trends.
The study has been reviewed for the protection of human subjects and has received IRB approval. The sample consists of 185 students continuously enrolled in one of four TWI programs since at least first grade. Slightly more than half (57%) were classified by the schools as native Spanish speakers and 43% were classified as native English speakers. Significant mean differences were revealed across these two designated native language groups with regard to a variety of socioeconomic (SES) indicators (free/reduced price lunch, family income and maternal education) with native Spanish speakers consistently experiencing lower mean SES. In addition, home language exposure patterns of the two groups varied significantly. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 indicating English monolingualism and 5 indicating Spanish monolingualism, the native English speakers experienced primarily English (1.6), while the native Spanish speakers experienced slight Spanish dominance (3.7).
Basic Writing Skills (BWS) is a Written Language Cluster of the Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery-Revised (WLPB-R) comprising items on the Dictation and Proofing subtests, which both measure writing skills including spelling, punctuation, capitalization and usage. Parallel forms are available in English (Woodcock, 1991) and Spanish (Woodcock & Muñoz-Sandoval, 1995), making this battery particularly useful for research in dual language contexts. Data were collected once per year over four years, from second through fifth grade. Trained research assistants individually administered English and Spanish assessments to all participants every year. For all analyses reported here, W scores were used, as these are scaled scores that lend themselves to longitudinal analysis. Because of its developmental focus, this study employed a growth modeling framework (Singer & Willett, 2003).
Results indicate that the English model predicts significant growth in BWS for all students. The predicted 5th grade English BWS score is significantly lower for each level of increased Spanish exposure at home; however, the growth rate is also significantly faster for each level, meaning that students with higher levels of Spanish exposure at home are closing the gap in English writing skills over time. The Spanish model likewise predicts significant growth in BWS for all students. Here, however, there is a significant, positive effect for each level of increased Spanish exposure at home, and this benefit does not change over time. Biliteracy development is a core goal of TWI programs, making it essential to document progress in both languages. The increased emphasis on writing in the Common Core State Standards makes it a particularly important domain to investigate.

Authors

• Elizabeth R. Howard, University of Connecticut

• Sabina Rak Neugebauer, Loyola University Chicago