Classroom Language and Emotional Support Contexts as Predictors of Social-Emotional Skills for Head Start DLLs

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Topic - School Readiness/Childcare

Abstract

Spanish-speaking Dual Language Learners (DLLs) represent a large and rapidly expanding group of children enrolled in early education, especially in Head Start. Given that roughly 38% of children served by this federal preschool program are Hispanic, and 24% are DLLs, Head Start is ideally positioned as an important resource for supporting the early learning of this population (Aikens et al., 2017; Child Trends, 2015). Social-emotional (SE) skills developed during the preschool years are an important facilitator of academic growth (Greenberg et al., 2003) and are impacted by interactions among children and teachers (Bailey et al., 2013; Denham & Brown, 2010). Particularly, emotionally supportive interactions can be especially relevant for Latino DLL development (Limlingan et al., 2019). However, another contributing factor to preschool learning is classroom language diversity (Hindman et al., 2010; Garcia, 2018; Meng, 2018). While many studies focus on the supporting academic growth of Latino DLLs, the present study advances this area of research by examining how classroom language diversity and emotional support quality contribute to social-emotional outcomes of preschoolers in Head Start. The current study will test three hypotheses in a sample of Spanish-speaking DLL preschoolers: 1) Classroom interactions that are high in emotional support will be positively associated with child SE skills, 2) Classrooms with more Spanish-speaking peers will be positively associated with child SE skills, and 3) The quality of emotionally supportive interactions will moderate the association between classroom language diversity and child SE outcomes. A purposeful sample of 550 Spanish-speaking DLL preschoolers from 156 classrooms was selected from the 2014 Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) (US HHS, 2020). Three SE outcomes (social skills, behavior problems, and approaches to learning) reported by teachers in spring of the 2014-2015 school year will be examined. Language diversity is defined by teachers’ reports of the approximate number of Spanish-speaking peers in the classroom. Quality of emotional support was measured with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), a widely used tool for observing classroom interactions (Pianta et al., 2008). Hierarchical linear modeling will be used to account for the nested structure of the FACES data. Classroom-level main effects of classroom language diversity and emotional support will be tested in relation to the three SE outcomes to address hypotheses 1 and 2. Additionally, this study will explore the interaction between classroom language diversity and emotional support for SE outcomes to address hypothesis 3. Potential control variables will be considered at the child- (fall SE and language proficiency skills, gender, age, family structure, food security) and teacher-level (class size, rating of classroom behavior, average classroom age, and other CLASS domains). The findings of this study will provide valuable information about how classroom-level contextual factors facilitate SE development in Spanish-speaking DLLs. Given evident educational and systemic inequities experienced by minoritized populations including DLLs, it is crucial to identify ways to support a high-quality preschool environment (Magnuson & Duncan, 2016). Completing data analysis prior to the Biennial Meeting is very feasible as this is secondary data and preliminary analyses are underway.

Authors

• Christina M Stephens, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Presenting Author

• Dilara Yaya-Bryson, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Non-Presenting Author

• Danielle A Crosby, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  Non-Presenting Author