What do parents know about dual language development? Parental knowledge in relation to demographic factors and home dual language environment

• In Event: Exploring the complex nature of shared reading interactions in Latinx families

Abstract

In the United States, one in four preschoolers are dual language learners (DLLs) who are exposed to a language other than English at home (U.S. census, 2018). Parents’ dual language practices, such as the quantity and quality of their dual language input and engagement in dual language learning activities, are key to DLLs’ language and academic growth (McCabe et al., 2013). However, little is known about the underlying knowledge and beliefs that drive parents’ behaviors. What do parents of DLLs know about dual language development and the promising practices to support their children? Do parents from different socioeconomic backgrounds exhibit different levels of knowledge? How does this knowledge relate to parental dual language practices and children’s dual language environment at home? The current study aimed to examine these questions in caregivers of Spanish-English DLL preschoolers.
Participants were 32 primary caregivers of 3- to 4-year-old Spanish-English DLLs. Participants reported on their demographics, English proficiency, Spanish proficiency, children’s dual language exposure and production at home (i.e., 1-only Spanish, 3- Spanish and English equally, 5-only English), and the frequencies of children’s language and literacy activities (e.g., book-reading, storytelling) in English and Spanish (i.e., 1-never, 5-everyday). To assess parental knowledge, we developed a survey with 17 statements that were either consistent or inconsistent with the state-of-the-art knowledge of dual language development and bilingual education. Parents rated each statement on a 4-point Likert scale (1-strongly disagree, 4-strongly agree). Higher composite scores indicated greater knowledge (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.726).
For most statements, the majority of the parents had views consistent with the current knowledge (example items in Table 1). Yet some parents still had misconception or misinformation regarding dual language development and best practices to support DLLs. For instance, the majority of our sample believed that immigrant parents should speak English as much as possible with their children, and about 40% of the parents believed that English-only program is the best way to support DLL preschoolers’ English learning (see Table 1).
Socioeconomic status, including parental education (r = .43, p = .015) and household income (r = .59, p = .001), significantly related to parental knowledge. Controlling for parents’ language proficiency and education, parental knowledge was associated with relatively more Spanish and less English input (r = -.39, p = .039) and less frequent English language and literacy activities (r = -.42, p = .021) at home. However, parental knowledge did not relate to the frequency of Spanish activities or children’s production of the two languages at home (p’s > .05).
Caregivers from low-SES backgrounds might be at risk of having limited knowledge about dual language development and dual language education, calling for more efforts to enhance parental knowledge in this population. Parental knowledge was related to the quantity of Spanish input but not the richness of Spanish learning activities, which could be due to the lack of learning materials in Spanish. These findings highlight the need for parents to engage in high-quality language and literacy activities in Spanish beyond merely speaking Spanish with their children.

Authors

• Rufan Luo, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Carla Villacis, Rutgers University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Victoria Boccella
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lulu Song, Brooklyn College CUNY
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gloria Santiago-Bonilla, Rutgers University-Camden
  Non-Presenting Author