Bilingual Academic Development of Español-English Elementary-Aged Students: A Mixed-Methods Longitudinal Study

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Equity in Bi-/Multilingual Education Research and Dual Language Programs (Table 1)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to provide an anti-deficit perspective of Español-English bilingual students’ linguistic proficiencies by honoring their full linguistic repertoire. Longitudinal English and Spanish tests of achievement results, along with student interviews, for 18 Spanish-English bilingual students in Dual Language (DL) and English-only (EO) classrooms informed the results of this study. Results found that students in DL classrooms outperformed students in EO classrooms in both Spanish and English proficiency and development. Even if the tests of achievement deemed students’ Spanish reading, math, and writing proficiencies to be limited, students’ self-reported proficiencies highlighted how their Spanish proficiency was high in that they successfully translated for their loved ones and taught others how to speak either Spanish or English.

Author

• Marlen Quintero Pérez, California State University - Northridge