Poster #109 - Beyond Overall Exposure: In-Home and Out-of-Home Factors that Support Language Outcomes in English and Spanish

• In Event: 2-110 - Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Section - Language, Communication

Integrative Statement

It is well-established that children from lower socioeconomic status (SES) families perform below their higher-SES counterparts in language skills that are foundational for later academic achievement (Hackman et al., 2015). Many Spanish-speaking children from lower-SES families in the US have a double disadvantage due to low financial and social capital, as well as to limited opportunities for high-quality exposure to English. Moreover, many of these children come from immigrant families who are isolated from traditional family support networks. In simultaneous Spanish-English bilingual children, language outcomes are predicted by factors such as the amount of exposure to each language and the percentage of input by native speakers (Place & Hoff, 2011; 2015). Much less is known about factors that support language learning in an increasingly large and understudied population: US-born Latino children whose parents were born in Latin America. These sequential bilingual children are more likely from lower-SES primarily Spanish-speaking households, have parents who were not educated in the US, and have varied opportunities for exposure to English prior to school. Ironically, many of these children do not maintain adequate Spanish skills after they enter school. Native language loss has been associated with negative family relationships and alienation (Anderson, 2012). Here, we present a detailed longitudinal characterization of the in-home and outside-the-home factors that support both Spanish- and English-language outcomes in at-risk Spanish-English emerging bilinguals as they transition from home to school contexts.
Participants were 83 first-generation children from primarily lower-SES Spanish-speaking families (Table 1). Children received a comprehensive language assessment battery when they were 4½ years old. Data collection at 6 years is ongoing. At 4½, receptive vocabulary and expressive language skills were assessed using the TVIP and CELF-P in Spanish and the PPVT and PLS-4 in English; scores were averaged to derive a composite for each language. Caregivers were interviewed about immigration history, family composition, and access to preschool. Language background was assessed via a comprehensive questionnaire of hours and percentage of exposure to Spanish and English from each person in the child’s life.
Overall exposure predicted children’s language outcomes in both English (r=-.43, p < .001) and Spanish (r=.57, p< .001). However, after controlling for SES and exposure, children with older siblings had weaker Spanish skills (M=91) than children without older siblings (M=99; F(1, 79)=4.6, p=.04). Surprisingly, children who had opportunities to engage with extended family also had weaker Spanish skills (M=90) than children who only had immediate family in the US (M=97.9); F(1, 40)=3.2, p=.05 (Figure 1). The presence of older siblings or extended family members did not relate to English language outcomes.
While overall exposure is important, these preliminary findings demonstrate that features of family composition are also relevant for supporting native language skills in Spanish-speaking first generation children. Ongoing analyses will explore the influence of exposure to English in school and other contexts. This study has potential to contribute to our understanding of the role of in-home and outside-the-home factors that support the maintenance of native language skills while promoting learning of the majority language.

Authors

• Vanessa Bermudez, San Jose State University
  Presenting Author

• Virginia A. Marchman, Stanford University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anne Fernald, Stanford University
  Non-Presenting Author