Profiles of Dual-Language Skills in Spanish-English Emergent Bilinguals in Dual Language Programs

• In Event: Bridging Worlds of Words: Insights from Bilingual, Multimedia, and Meta-Analytic Research

Abstract

We used latent profile analysis to identify dual-language profiles among Spanish-English emergent bilinguals and examined their associations with English reading outcomes. Four profiles emerged from the analysis: Emergent Bilinguals with emergent language skills in both languages; English-Dominant Bilinguals with stronger English than Spanish skills; Spanish-Dominant Bilinguals with stronger Spanish than English skills; and High Balanced Bilinguals who showed high proficiency in both languages. Comparison of dual-language skills across profiles further showed some nuanced variations across the four profiles. High Balanced Bilinguals outperformed all other groups in both English decoding and reading comprehension. English-Dominant and Spanish-Dominant Bilinguals performed similarly in decoding, but English-Dominant Bilinguals exhibited an advantage in reading comprehension. Emergent Bilinguals had the lowest scores across measures.

Authors

• Ye Shen, Johns Hopkins University

• Becky H. Huang, The Ohio State University