Multilingualism and Teacher-Child Linguistic Congruence as Predictors of Young Children's Emotional Competence

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 1:45 pm - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Language, Multilingualism, and Linguistic Equity

Abstract

This study examined how preschoolers’ emotional competence varied by child and teacher multilingualism and whether teacher–child linguistic congruence moderated these associations. Participants included 998 preschoolers (48% girls; Mage = 47.20 months; 25% multilingual) and 144 teachers (100% women; 29% multilingual). Variations attributable to preschool and classroom contexts were estimated in emotion regulation (ER), emotion dysregulation (ED), and emotion knowledge (EK) using three-level multilevel modeling. Analyses revealed that multilingual children were rated lower in ED than monolingual peers. Children taught by multilingual teachers scored higher in EK, particularly monolingual children. Multilingual children taught by multilingual teachers scored higher in ER. Findings underscore the importance of language background and teacher–child linguistic match in early emotional development.

Authors

• Craig S. Bailey, Yale University

• Claire Mauney, Byram Hills High School