Peer Effects in Small-Group Language Interventions: Accounting for Metric and Intervention Type

• In Event: Poster Session 2: Teaching Strategies for Early/Elementary Readers and Writers

Abstract

Research suggests that young children’s language abilities are positively influenced by their exposure to complex language. This study’s aim is to estimate the effect of peer expressive language on student’s language development in the context of small-group instruction when accounting for differences due to intervention focus. The secondary aim is to determine if this peer effect is the same for students with varying levels of expressive language abilities. The sample consisted of 576 pre-kindergarten students, 177 small groups (taught by 108 interventionists) within 40 schools. The results suggest that the relation between peer effects and students’ language development may vary depending on students’ pretest score, the language skill that is measured, and metric used to operationalize peer effects.

Authors

• Michael Peter Mesa, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

• James A Hernandez, Florida State University

• Beth Michelle Phillips, Florida State University