Measuring Bilingualism in United States Schools

• In Event: 1-098 - Describing and Quantifying “Bilingualism” Part 3; the Need for Consistency and Accuracy for Research and Education

Integrative Statement

Measuring bilingualism is challenging due to its dynamic and transient nature. While home language experience is mostly documented by research (Surrain & Luk, 2017), this information is also gathered by schools. Collecting meaningful home language and literacy information may assist US educators in meeting the educational needs of a growing student population that is linguistically diverse (McFarland, 2016). In current home language surveys adopted by many school districts, two major factors, namely perceived English proficiency and whether English is spoken at home, define children’s language background (Bailey & Kelly, 2010), yet other home-related language and literacy factors are rarely considered. Children whose parents report that English is not spoken at home are often evaluated for English proficiency and whether they should be identified as potential English Learners (ELs). Though the goal of the evaluation is to identify children who are potential ELs, the home language environment assessed during school registration has been shown to be critical in understanding children with diverse language backgrounds (Goldenberg & Rutherford-Quach, 2012). We argue that the diverse language backgrounds of all learners can be captured using a supplemental tool that widens the focus to home language practices.

The current study is part of a larger project aimed at describing the relationship between parent language background, child language usage, and home literacy practices. As part of the kindergarten registration process in four districts, 215 parents completed the Home Language and Literacy Questionnaire (HLLQ), a novel tool designed to provide schools with a nuanced profile of the home language and literacy backgrounds of their incoming kindergarteners.

Preliminary findings reveal that 98% of parents, regardless of language backgrounds and literacy practices, desired their children to speak two or more languages as adults. However, while 28 different languages were reported as parents’ primary language, only 19 were reported as children’s primary languages, indicating that well-documented tendency towards the eventual loss of home languages across generations. Interestingly, about the same proportion of children (40%) and parents (38%) were reported to be multilingual (i.e. as speaking two or more languages). Multilingual parents (x^2 (1)= 31.71,p< 0.001), as well as parents for whom English was not the primary language (x^2 (21)= 51.76,p< 0.001), had a significantly higher proportion of children who spoke two or more languages. Moreover, children’s language use at home differed significantly as a function of parents’ language background (x^2 (4)= 43.1,p< 0.001): While children of multilingual parents used English 57% of the time at home, children of parents who reported speaking only one language spoke English 67% of the time. A significantly higher proportion of children (86%) whose parents reported English as a primary language attend daycare (x^2 (4)= 20.30,p< 0.001) and use English all or most of the time while in daycare. Results from this study support the need to recognize and prepare for language diversity in school contexts. Importantly, bilingualism is a more relevant experience for many children, underscoring the need to gather information beyond students’ English proficiency to support and guide early education instruction and parent engagement programs.

Authors

• Gladys María Aguilar, Harvard University
  Presenting Author

• Gigi Luk, McGill University
  Non-Presenting Author