Literacy Screening Among Latino/a and Dual Language Learner Kindergarteners: Predicting First Grade Reading Achievement

This study examines growth in language and math skills during the summer before kindergarten; considers variation by family income, race/ethnicity, and dual language learner status; and tests whether summer center-based care sustains preschool gains. Growth in skills slowed during summer for all children, but the patterns varied by domain and group. Non-White and dual language learner students showed the largest drop-off in language skills during summer. Lower-income students demonstrated slower summer growth in math skills than their higher-income peers. Students enrolled in summer center-based care had faster growth in math skills than those who did not attend care. Yet lower-income students who attended center-based care showed slower growth in language skills during summer than similar nonattenders. Implications are discussed.

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Filling an Information Gap in Preschool MTSS and RTI Decision Making

Council review ◽

10.1177/0014402918812473 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 85 (3) ◽

pp. 271-290 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Charles R. Greenwood ◽

Judith J. Carta ◽

Alana G. Schnitz ◽

Dwight W. Irvin ◽

Fan Jia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Dual Language ◽

Opportunity To Learn ◽

Teacher Behaviors ◽

Language Learner ◽

Individualized Education Programs ◽

Differentiating Instruction ◽

Information Gap ◽

Risk Characteristics ◽

Dual Language Learner

A tenet of multitiered systems of support and response to intervention (MTSS-RTI) is that lack of response to instructional intervention is explained by classroom experiences and behaviors given opportunities to learn. We investigated the potential of filling this information gap in MTSS-RTI decision making using ecobehavioral observation to inform steps that could be taken for children not responding to preschool literacy instruction. Data analyses indicated that (a) teachers implemented a uniform pattern of daily activities providing children with infrequent opportunity to learn literacy, (b) the proportion of children’s co-occurring academic engagement also was low but varied widely depending on the activity and teacher’s literacy focus, and (c) children’s personal risk characteristics moderated the strength of relationships. Novel was the finding that in some activities and teacher behaviors, teachers appeared to be differentiating instruction benefiting children with individualized education programs and dual-language-learner risk. Implications are discussed.

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Dual-Language Learner Development

Assessment and Intervention for English Language Learners ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-52645-4_2 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 21-32

Author(s):

Susan Unruh ◽

Nancy A. McKellar

Keyword(s):

Dual Language ◽

Language Learner ◽

Dual Language Learner

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Oral Language and Reading Among Bilingual Students Preprint

10.31234/osf.io/t8gcs ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

John Marc Goodrich ◽

Lisa Fitton ◽

Lauren Thayer

Keyword(s):

Reading Achievement ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Oral Language ◽

Reading Ability ◽

Dual Language ◽

First Grade ◽

Vocabulary Knowledge ◽

Literacy Skill ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

English Reading

Understanding factors that influence reading achievement among bilingual children is considerably more complex than it is for monolingual children. Research on dual language development indicates that bilingual children’s oral language abilities are often distributed across languages in varied ways, due to heterogeneity of dual language exposure and input. Consequently, there may be greater variability in the associations between oral language proficiency and reading ability among bilingual children than there is for monolingual children. This study evaluated how vocabulary knowledge and morphosyntactic ability in Spanish and English was associated with English reading achievement among 117 bilingual kindergarten and first grade children in the U.S. using both OLS and quantile regression. Results indicated that although English vocabulary and morphosyntax were both significantly associated with reading achievement, English vocabulary knowledge was most strongly associated with reading at higher quantiles of reading ability. Cross-language analyses indicated that both Spanish vocabulary and morphosyntax made significant contributions to predicting English reading achievement beyond the effects of English oral language. Spanish vocabulary was uniquely predictive of reading at high and low quantiles of English reading, whereas relations between Spanish morphosyntax and English reading did not differ across quantiles. These results were consistent with predictions derived from theoretical models such as the simple view of reading and suggest that Spanish vocabulary knowledge may provide more unique information about children’s underlying capacity for acquiring language and literacy skill than does morphosyntax.

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Dual language learners' grit, engagement, and literacy achievement in elementary school

School Psychology International ◽

10.1177/0143034319875176 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 40 (6) ◽

pp. 598-623

Author(s):

Colleen R. O'Neal ◽

Michal Y. Boyars ◽

Lynsey Weston Riley

Keyword(s):

Language Learners ◽

Dual Language ◽

Language Learner ◽

Fifth Grade ◽

Dual Language Learners ◽

Emotional Engagement ◽

Literacy Achievement ◽

Short Term ◽

Fifth Grade Students ◽

Dual Language Learner

The goal of this short-term longitudinal study was to examine the functioning of the grit measure; grit's relation to emotional engagement; and grit's prediction of later literacy achievement, above and beyond emotional engagement, among dual language learners. Data were collected at two time points four months apart with dual language learner, third- through fifth-grade students ( n = 142; 75% Latina/o; mean age 9.47 years old; 54% female). Results suggested that student- and teacher-reported grit scores were reliable and fit the two-factor construct, and grit overlapped with engagement. We found that teacher-reported engagement and student- and teacher-reported grit perseverance of effort (grit-pe) were significant sole predictors of Time 2 literacy achievement; teacher-reported engagement, not grit, remained a significant sole predictor even when controlling for Time 1 literacy achievement. When including grit-pe, grit consistency of interests, and engagement in the same model, student-reported grit-pe was the only significant predictor of Time 2 literacy achievement, without Time 1 literacy as a control. Discussion centers on grit-pe's utility for prediction of literacy achievement, above and beyond similar socioemotional constructs, among young dual language learners.

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EARLY MEDIA VIEWING IMPACTS ON DUAL LANGUAGES ACQUISITION OF A YOUNG LEARNER

JURNAL BORNEO AKCAYA ◽

10.51266/borneoakcaya.v5i1.111 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 73-83

Author(s):

Sudarsono Sudarsono

Keyword(s):

Language Development ◽

Dual Language ◽

Autistic Spectrum Disorder ◽

Natural Process ◽

Language Learner ◽

Language Intervention ◽

Language Exposure ◽

Young Learner ◽

Dual Language Learner

Despite all benefits of technology, a young child who is exposed to two languages through early media viewing may experience language development problems. It may consequently lead one to undergo therapies which can be counterproductive to their developmental milestones, especially to their dual language development. This research aims to gain deeper insights into the impacts of early media viewing on a young child's early dual language acquisition. A case study of a young dual language learner experiencing language development problems diagnosed as symptoms of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was conducted by interviewing participant’s parents to gain preliminary data about his language development problems. Observations took place during 108-hour language intervention sessions. The finding shows that early dual language exposure through early media viewing without adequate social interaction with peers and adults pertinently results in language development problems which are prone to be interpreted as symptoms of ASD rather than as a natural process of bilingualism.

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Child care enrollment decisions among dual language learner families: The role of Spanish language instruction in the child care setting

Early Childhood Research Quarterly ◽

10.1016/j.ecresq.2016.01.003 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 36 ◽

pp. 223-232 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Elizabeth B. Miller

Keyword(s):

Child Care ◽

Dual Language ◽

Care Setting ◽

Language Instruction ◽

Spanish Language ◽

Language Learner ◽

Enrollment Decisions ◽

Child Care Setting ◽

Dual Language Learner

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Impacts on Head Start Dual Language Learning Children’s Early Science Outcomes

Education Sciences ◽

10.3390/educsci11060283 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 283

Author(s):

Brooke Rumper ◽

Elizabeth Frechette ◽

Daryl B. Greenfield ◽

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek

Keyword(s):

Head Start ◽

Dual Language ◽

Language Use ◽

Language Learner ◽

Academic Science ◽

Teacher Language ◽

Language Dominance ◽

Spanish Science ◽

Science Scores ◽

Science Assessments

The present study examined the roles that language of assessment, language dominance, and teacher language use during instruction play in Dual Language Learner (DLL) science scores. A total of 255 Head Start DLL children were assessed on equated science assessments in English and Spanish. First overall differences between the two languages were examined, then associations between performance on science assessments were compared and related to children’s language dominance, teacher quantity of English and Spanish, and teachers’ academic science language. When examined as a homogeneous group, DLLs did not perform differently on English or Spanish science assessments. However, when examined heterogeneously, Spanish-dominant DLLs performed better on Spanish science assessments. The percentage of English and Spanish used by teachers did not affect children’s science scores. Teachers’ use of Spanish academic science language impacted children’s performance on science assessments, but English did not. The results have implications for the assessment of DLLs and teacher language use during instruction.

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English Narrative Language Growth Across the School Year: Young Spanish–English Dual Language Learners

Communication Disorders Quarterly ◽

10.1177/1525740118763063 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 40 (1) ◽

pp. 28-39 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Carla Wood ◽

Mary Claire Wofford ◽

Clariebelle Gabas ◽

Yaacov Petscher

Keyword(s):

Language Learners ◽

Dual Language ◽

English Language ◽

First Grade ◽

Developmental Differences ◽

Dual Language Learners ◽

School Year ◽

Promising Tool ◽

Language Growth ◽

Story Elements

This study aimed to describe the narrative retell performance of dual language learners (DLLs) in the fall and spring of the school year and examine predictive relationships. Participants included 74 DLLs in kindergarten and first grade from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Microstructural measures included number of different words (NDW), words per minute (WPM), and verb accuracy. Macrostructural measures included number of total story elements and number of different types of story elements. Path analysis models were used to test the relations among variables. Findings indicated that narrative measures were sensitive to developmental differences across the school year. Fall NDW performance in narrative retells was moderately related to both spring NDW and the total number of macrostructural elements in the spring. Spring WPM was uniquely predicted by fall WPM. Authors concluded that narrative retells are sensitive to developmental differences across a school year for DLLs. Findings support the use of narrative retell measures as a promising tool to examine and describe English language growth of young DLLs within a school year.

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Family, Neighborhood, and School Settings across Seasons: When Do Socioeconomic Context and Racial Composition Matter for the Reading Achievement Growth of Young Children?

Teachers College Record ◽

10.1177/016146811011200505 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 112 (5) ◽

pp. 1338-1390 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

James Benson ◽

Geoffrey D. Borman

Keyword(s):

Social Context ◽

Reading Achievement ◽

Young Children ◽

First Grade ◽

Ethnic Composition ◽

School Entry ◽

Reading Growth ◽

School Settings ◽

Achievement Growth ◽

Nationally Representative

Background/Context Seasonal researchers have developed a theory and hypotheses regarding the importance of neighborhood and school contexts for early childhood learning but have not possessed nationally representative data and precise contextual measures with which to examine their hypotheses. Purpose/Research Questions This empirical study employs a seasonal perspective to assess the degree to which social context and race/ethnic composition—in neighborhoods and schools—affect the reading achievement growth of young children. The authors ask, Were there specific seasons when context and/or composition were particularly salient for reading achievement? Also, did accounting for context and composition challenge established appraisals of the relationship between family factors and achievement? Population Data for a nationally representative sample of students proceeding through kindergarten and first grade came from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K). Neighborhood social and race/ethnic measures came from the 2000 Census. Research Design: This quantitative study employs a three-level model that assesses reading achievement at school entry and during three subsequent seasons. The model represents reading achievement as a time-varying process at level 1, conditional upon family socio/demographic factors at level 2, and dependent on social context and race/ethnic composition at level 3. Findings/Results Neighborhood social context mattered substantially for students’ reading achievement levels at school entry and for their reading achievement growth during the summer. The proportion of neighborhood residents from minority race/ethnic groups was not associated with reading achievement at school entry or during the summer season. During the school year, school social context was associated with reading growth during kindergarten, and school social context and race/ethnic composition were associated with reading growth during first grade. Conclusions/Recommendations The magnitude and frequency of contextual effects found in this national sample have considerable implications for achieving educational equality in the United States. The authors recommend that policy makers attend to the quality of neighborhood and school settings as a means of promoting literacy development for young children.

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