Classroom Adjustment Among Single and Dual Language Learners: Associations With Societal Language, Home Language, and Inhibitory Control

• In Event: Executive Functioning and Metacognitive Skills as ‘Motor and Consequence’ of Early Dual Language Learning

Abstract

Language and self-regulation are essential to classroom adjustment. Dual language learners (DLLs) face unique challenges during early socialization and may particularly struggle to successfully adjust to the early childhood classroom (Halle et al., 2014; Tabors, 2008), where they must navigate novel or more restrictive linguistic and cultural stimuli. As a group, DLLs display lower societal language skills than single language learners (SLLs) (Páez et al., 2007), and this may have negative effects on their behavior (Dawson & Williams, 2008). However, the influence of language skills on DLLs’ behavioral and emotional functioning in the classroom remains ambiguous, particularly in comparison to SLLs. Further, many studies do not independently consider language as multimodal (e.g., having receptive and expressive modalities), which may lead to different conclusions.
In addition to language, inhibitory control, the ability to suspend a dominant response in favor of a goal-oriented subdominant response, is often found to promote emotion regulation (Carlson & Wang, 2007) and minimize externalizing and internalizing problems (Rhodes et al., 2009). However, empirical work has been inconsistent and remains scant among DLLs. This study furthers knowledge by investigating the associations of language and inhibitory control with classroom indices of emotion regulation and externalizing and internalizing behavior in a multigroup framework among young DLLs and SLLs.
The sample (age M=47.67 months, SD=8.50) of the ongoing study consists of 209 SLL (52% boys) and 121 DLL (48% boys). Sentence comprehension, assessed using a picture-choice task (e.g., Lecocq, 1998) and receptive vocabulary, measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (e.g. Stella et al., 2000) were combined into a composite of receptive language skills (RLS). Expressive language skills (ELS) were assessed using a Picture Naming Test (e.g. Kiese-Himmel, 2005). Inhibitory control was assessed using a computerized pointing-Stroop task (Berger et al., 2000). Early education professionals (nSLL=126; nDLL=59) reported on emotion regulation, externalizing problems, and internalizing problems using established questionnaires.
Preliminary results of a path analysis, controlling for age, sex, and maternal education, indicated that, among SLLs, inhibitory control and RLS were negatively associated with externalizing. No significant pathways existed with internalizing or emotion regulation. Among DLLs, RLS were positively associated with emotion regulation and marginally negatively related to internalizing. ELS also demonstrated a marginally positive relation with internalizing. No significant associations emerged for externalizing or inhibitory control (see Table 1).
These results support extant research that language skills, particularly receptive skills, play an important role in children’s behavioral and emotional competence in the classroom. However, they highlight that these processes may differ among SLLs and DLLs. Whereas SLLs with better receptive language skills seemed to demonstrate better behavioral conduct, DLLs with better receptive language skills seemed to demonstrate better emotional functioning. Interestingly, expressive language skills may counterintuitively share a negative relation with internalizing symptomology young DLLs, although this finding must be interpreted cautiously. Finally, whereas inhibitory control was associated with externalizing among SLLs, it was not associated with any outcome among DLLs, indicating that other factors may be more important for this group’s classroom functioning. Results will be further discussed.

Group Authors

Halliday, S., Jurkic, A., & Hascher, T.

Authors

• Simone Emily Halliday, Universität Bern
  Presenting Author

• Ankica Jurkic, University of Bern

• Tina Hascher