Peer Effects on Oral Language Comprehension in Elementary School: A Longitudinal Social Network Analysis

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Abstract

Peer relationships form the bedrock of numerous developmental outcomes. This paper uses student friendship nominations to explore the relation between student centrality and oral language skills, a significant contributor to academic success. After generating social networks using friendship nominations, we calculated each student’s centrality within their classroom friendship network. Using a student fixed effects model across three semesters comparing students’ oral comprehension growth as a function of classroom centrality, we found that students’ predicted oral comprehension growth was significantly greater when students were more central within their network, even after controlling for other language-related variables. This paper supports the connection between peer relationships and oral language development, suggesting that language interventions can leverage peer relationships to develop oral language skills.

Authors

• Casey J. Archer, Institute of Educational Sciences

• Ana M. Taboada Barber, University of Maryland

• Kelly B. Cartwright, University of North Carolina - Charlotte