Effects of Preschool Classroom Supports on the Language Skills of Dual Language Learners

• In Event: 3-192 - Classroom Language Use and Learning Outcomes in Dual Language Learners in the U.S.

Integrative Statement

Spanish-speaking dual language learners (DLLs) are among the fastest growing subgroups of children in the United States, representing nearly 1 out of every 5 kindergarten entrants (Figueras-Daniel & Barnett, 2013). Despite the advantages that bilingualism confers in areas of executive functioning and behavior (e.g., Barac, Bialystok, Castro, & Sanchez, 2014; Han, 2010), Spanish-speaking DLLs tend to be overrepresented in both immigrant and poverty populations. As such, these students are likely to be disadvantaged by both language- and income-related achievement gaps (Hoff, 2013; Winsler et al., 2014). Because these early achievement gaps have long-term negative consequences (Espinosa, 2013; Kena et al., 2014; Paradis & Jia, 2017), it is urgent to identify features of DLLs’ early learning environments that may support their school success and reduce achievement disparities.

Recent evidence suggests that public preschool programs – including Head Start and other center-based options – are beneficial for Spanish-speaking DLLs, perhaps to an even greater degree than they are for English speakers (e.g., Bloom & Weiland, 2015; Cooper & Lanza, 2014). Yet the reasons for these effects are not well understood. Extant research looking “inside the classroom door” to understand the effectiveness of public preschool for DLLs has been limited by the use of observational measures of classroom quality such as the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). The CLASS and other widely used observational measures do not capture features of the preschool classroom that may be especially critical for Spanish-speaking DLLs, such as supports for home language development and English language acquisition. The current study addresses this gap in the literature, using newly available data from an ongoing study – Project SEED – that includes observational measures of DLL-specific classroom-based supports for early learning.

Project SEED is a longitudinal study in Tulsa OK, that sampled low-income 3-year-olds in 2016-2017 (N=700) and will track them through 4th grade. The current study analyzes classroom observation and child outcome data across multiple publicly-funded center-based preschool settings: 8 Tulsa Community Action Program (CAP-Tulsa) Head Start centers; 3 Educare schools in Tulsa; and a random sample of classrooms in each of 10 community-based child care centers serving 3-year old children on child care subsidies. Project SEED collected comprehensive classroom quality observation and child assessment data for the full sample of children and classrooms, as well as classroom composition information from teachers and family background information from parents. To measure the quality of learning supports for DLLs specifically, we used the Classroom Assessment of Supports for Emergent Bilingual Acquisition (CASEBA; Friedson, Figueras, & Frede, 2009).

Preliminary analyses, controlling for lagged versions of each outcome and a vector of covariates corresponding to the start of each child’s 3-year-old year, suggest that classroom supports for home (non-English) language development are positively associated with Spanish DLLs’ home language skills at the end of the 3-year-old year. However, greater support for DLLs’ home language development is also associated with lower English-language skills (see Paper 3 Table 1). Future analyses will extend these findings by analyzing the effects of classroom language supports on children’s language skills in their 4-year-old year.

Authors

• Annie Partika, Georgetown University
  Presenting Author

• Anna Johnson, Georgetown University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Owen Schochet, Georgetown University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jane Hutchison, Georgetown University
  Non-Presenting Author

• April Dericks, University of Oklahoma Tulsa
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sherri Castle, University of Oklahoma Tulsa
  Non-Presenting Author