Examining Language use with Dual Language Learners in Preschool Classrooms

• In Event: Dual Language Learners’ school readiness skills, classroom experiences, and parental influences in early childhood settings

Abstract

There are over four million DLLs enrolled in early childhood programs in the U.S. (NASEM, 2017). Understanding DLLs’ early education environment is a priority to maximize their opportunities for success. While language support is essential for DLLs in early childhood environments, many classrooms serving DLLs are not sufficiently providing the support these students need (NASEM, 2017). The current study contributes to the research on DLLs’ early education environments by using the Language Interaction System (LISn; Sprachman et al., 2009) to systematically describe the quantity and quality of Spanish and English language used by teaching staff who are either monolingual English-speaking or Spanish speaking. We expand on results from existing studies using the LISn (Franco, et al., 2019; Sawyer et al., 2018) by including samples of classrooms coded using the LISn across five states, in classrooms that include a range in the number of Latino DLLs, across self-identified bilingual and English-only programs, and in both rural and urban settings, allowing for greater external generalizability. This study focuses on three questions, 1.) How does the frequency of children’s language use, and teacher’s language strategies vary in classrooms serving Spanish-speaking DLLs?; 2.) How much do Spanish-speaking staff use Spanish in the classroom?; 3.) How does the quantity of Spanish and English use in preschool classrooms vary between teacher report and direct observation? Data were gathered from two independent studies (Study 1 & Study 2) in Florida, New York (Study 1), Oregon, California, and Minnesota (Study 2). The LISn was conducted in 143 preschool classrooms with 461 Latino DLL children. The LISn captures language and instruction in early childhood classrooms through direct observation of the language experiences and interactions of selected children. Each teacher completed a demographic survey.

In response to the first question, language use between teachers and children is limited, children talk to lead teachers 8% of the time. Likewise, lead teachers talk to children 38% of the time. Children are spending much of their day without a significant amount of verbal input and are not provided much opportunity to communicate. Table 1 provides a detailed analysis of how teachers used language in English and Spanish by study.

In response to the second question, language interactions occurred mostly in English, even when Spanish-speaking teachers were available. This finding is important because facilitating conversations in the child’s home language about content that is cognitively challenging allows children the opportunity to build concept knowledge and provides the best support for language and literacy development.

In response to the third question, all Study 1 teachers reported using at least some Spanish during instruction with 76% of teachers reporting using mainly Spanish. Yet, minimal amounts of Spanish use was recorded in these classrooms. The relationship between teacher report of language usage and findings on the LISn were more congruent in Study 2. This finding points to the need to refrain from relying on program descriptors as the only means of quantifying the amount of Spanish and English exposure in classrooms. Further implications will be discussed.

Authors

• Lillian Karen Duran, University of Oregon
  Presenting Author

• Lisa Maria López, University of South Florida
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alisha K. Wackerle-Hollman, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alejandra Miranda, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Brook Sawyer, Lehigh University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Carol Scheffner Hammer, Columbia University
  Non-Presenting Author