Patterns of Development in Spanish-English Receptive and Expressive Conceptually Scored Vocabulary Among Elementary-Age Dual Language Learners

• In Event: Toward an Asset-Oriented Approach in Exploring Vocabulary Performance Among Dual Language Learners in the United States

Abstract

Objectives: This study was designed to examine dual language learners’ Spanish-English conceptually-scored receptive and expressive vocabulary development during the elementary school years. To our knowledge, this study is the first to longitudinally examine dual language learners’ development in their conceptually-scored vocabulary knowledge.

Theoretical Framework: Research has long cautioned that dual language learners are not two monolinguals in one person (e.g., Grosjean, 1989). As dual language learners receive input in more than one language, their language environments are fundamentally different from those of monolingual children—which can result in distributed vocabulary knowledge across their languages. However, in the U.S., dual language learners are typically assessed using monolingual measures that are designed for and normed on monolingual children. It is thus not surprising that many studies report that dual language learners demonstrate low vocabulary knowledge in both languages. Vocabulary measures that employ conceptual scoring—crediting the number of concepts a student knows regardless of the language (Spanish or English) used to label the concept—may therefore provide a more comprehensive and accurate picture of their vocabulary knowledge.

Data sources: Participants (N = 119) were recruited from three elementary schools in a large urban school district in the southeastern region of the U.S. All students came from Spanish-speaking homes and were in Kindergarten (n = 59) and second (n = 60) grade at study entry. Seventy-one percent of these students were formally classified as limited English proficient. All students were assessed on receptive and expressive conceptually-scored vocabulary knowledge each school year in the fall and spring, for three years, using the Receptive and Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test-4: Spanish-Bilingual Edition (Martin, 2013a; 2013b).

Methods: To examine patterns of development, we conducted multilevel models for change (Singer & Willet, 2003). These models allowed us to obtain robust estimates of growth even with occasional missing or incomplete data points, which is essential for a longitudinal study.

Results: Descriptive statistics (Table 3) reveal that our participants performed above average (standard scores > 100) in both receptive and expressive conceptually-scored vocabulary across all time points. Our analytical models indicated all students showed growth over time for both receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge, and the second-grade cohort evidenced higher baseline scores than the kindergarten cohort (see Figure 1 and 2 for prototypical graphs across the three years). However, the rate of growth was slower for the second-grade cohort for both types of vocabulary. There was a pronounced receptive vocabulary summer setback, indicating that students’ receptive vocabulary regressed over the summer months. However, summer setback was not found with expressive vocabulary.

Scientific significance: Our findings underscore the importance of utilizing conceptually-scored vocabulary measures for dual language learners from Spanish-speaking homes as this approach may help shift from a subtractive, deficit view of bilingualism toward a more additive, asset-oriented view of what dual language learners bring to learning. Further, our results suggest the need to distinguish receptive versus expressive vocabulary given the different patterns of development in the two domains during the elementary school years.

Authors

• Jin Kyoung Hwang, University of California - Irvine

• Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez, Vanderbilt Peabody College

• Min Hyun Oh, Vanderbilt University