The Development of German and Chinese Language Skills: Analysis of Covariance of Early Childhood Students

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Expanding the Research Terrain for Multilingualism

Abstract

Early literacy development includes understanding pieces of word knowledge such as alphabetic principles and phonemes. Children must first understand these before they can acquire advanced language skills. This study analyzed students’ early literacy skills in a dual language immersion program at a school serving kindergarten through eighth grade students in North Carolina. Dual language, a program where students receive instruction in two languages, has shown to be a highly effective model. One cohort of students are Chinese dual language immersion students who are assessed in English and the other cohort of students are German dual language immersion students who are assessed in German. This study performs analysis of covariance and controls for a pre-test and English learner status.

Authors

• Bryndle Bottoms, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Charlotte Hancock, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Richard G. Lambert, University of North Carolina - Charlotte