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

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Dual Language Learners (DLLs), who speak a language other than English at home and are learning through multiple languages, make up a significant number of children in U.S. early childhood settings (Park et. al, 2017). DLL children and families represent different cultural and linguistic backgrounds as well as a diversity of language proficiency skills (NASEM, 2017). The higher risk of reading problems associated with lack of proficiency in English on school entry is widely documented, and this risk is compounded when literacy instruction is in the child’s second language and when poverty and low levels of parental education are also present (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). In response to these concerns, current research with DLL students has been growing and better efforts are being made to understand and improve instruction for these students. This paper symposium presents three studies with DLLs advancing the knowledge-base and understanding of these children’s dual language skills, experiences in early childhood classrooms, and parental influences during early childhood. The first paper presents varying profiles of DLLs including cognitive, linguistic, literacy, and mathematics skills for a sample of Spanish-English students attending Head Start. The second paper explores the language use and language of instruction in 143 preschool classrooms, across five states, including bilingual and English-only settings. The third paper investigates the influence of parental language proficiency and acculturation on children’s bilingual oral proficiency skills for a sample of Mexican-American and Chinese-American families in Head Start programs. Implications for the development and teaching of DLLs are discussed.

Sub Unit

• School Readiness/Childcare

Chair

• Mariela M. Páez, Boston College

Discussant

• Mariela M. Páez, Boston College

Individual Presentations

• Examining Heterogeneity Among Latino Dual Language Learners' School Readiness Profiles at the End of Prekindergarten - Presenting Author: Lisa Maria López, University of South Florida; Non-Presenting Author: Matthew E Foster, University of South Florida

• Examining Language use with Dual Language Learners in Preschool Classrooms - Presenting Author: Lillian Karen Duran, University of Oregon; Non-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

• Parent Acculturation and Head Start DLL Preschoolers' Oral Proficiency - Presenting Author: Mayu Lindblad, University of California - Davis; Non-Presenting Author: Cecilia Plascencia, University of California - Davis; Non-Presenting Author: Helen Tran, University of California - Davis; Non-Presenting Author: Hallie Yu, University of California - Davis; Non-Presenting Author: Krystal Jane Salugao Bautista, University of California - Davis; Non-Presenting Author: Qing Zhou, University of California - Berkeley; Non-Presenting Author: Yuuko Uchikoshi, University of California - Davis