Looking at the First Language: L1 Development in Various English Learning Contexts

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Vocabulary and Language Development for Emergent Bilinguals

Abstract

Working with the local educational agency, researchers examined Spanish-speaking kindergarten English Learners’ (ELs’) linguistic proficiency in English (Reading and Listening) and Spanish Oral Language, in three contexts: (a) ELs in a regular English as a Second Language (ESL) program, (b) ELs in an ESL program with teachers who had content-based training, and (c) ELs in a two-way immersion (TWI) program. Findings indicated that ELs taught by ESL teachers with content-based training had statistically significantly higher scores in English Reading at the end of kindergarten after controlling for scores at the beginning of the year, as compared to the other two groups. Findings also indicated that ELs in the TWI program had less Spanish oral language loss over the summer.

Authors

• Michelle Georgette Haj-Broussard, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

• Melissa A. Gallagher, University of Houston

• Marissa Young, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

• Mark Honegger, University of Louisiana at Lafayette