scholarly journals Portrait of early science education in majority dual language learner classrooms: Where do we start?

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brooke Rumper ◽  
Elizabeth Frechette ◽  
Elica Sharifnia ◽  
Daryl Greenfield ◽  
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Head Start ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Children's Home ◽  
Early Science Education ◽  
Engineering Practices ◽  
Multiple Domains

Despite the growing interest in early science education, there is much left to be explored, particularly in majority Dual Language Learning (DLL) classrooms. The current study examined 1) early science opportunities across classroom contexts in majority Spanish-English DLL Head Start classrooms, 2) the languages (i.e., English and Spanish) that teachers used to engage DLL children in science, 3) and how teachers’ discussion of scientific and engineering practices and disciplinary core ideas related to children’s academic outcomes. In a sample of 411 children (ages 3-5) from 34 Head Start classrooms, the current study found that teachers discussed and encouraged more practices during science lessons than circle time, dramatic play, and story time. There were no differences in teachers’ discussion of core ideas across contexts. Teachers used the same amount of English and Spanish to discuss practices and core ideas. Teaching physical science was associated with children’s science outcomes. Making observations and discussing life science were associated with children’s math outcomes. Teaching math, making observations, and developing and using models were related to children’s executive functioning. Findings from this study demonstrate that science opportunities occur across preschool classroom settings. Additionally, it provides evidence that teachers may be supporting DLL children’s home language while discussing science. Finally, results indicate that teaching science supports children’s academic performance in several outcomes. These findings have implications for DLL education policy as science may be a domain where teachers can support children’s home language and their learning across multiple domains.

Tres formas: Shared reading practices with three types of Spanish and English dual-language learning preschoolers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Read ◽  
Paloma D. Contreras ◽  
Hector Martinez
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
Shared Reading ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Book Reading ◽  
Primary Language ◽  
Reading Practices ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Children's Home

Shared book reading has positive impacts on language development, yet how it is navigated with young dual-language learning (DLL) children and are read to by adults with varying degrees of bilingual proficiency is less well understood. This study explored differences in shared reading practices among families raising Spanish/English emergent bilingual children. Primary caregivers (n=96) of DLLs between 2-5 years old participated in a survey accessible in either language. Respondents self-reported the primary language used in their homes and were categorized into three groups: Spanish primary language (SPL), English primary language (EPL), or both languages primary (BPL). Respondents answered questions about their own language proficiency, their children’s amount of exposure to English and Spanish, frequency of shared reading in each language, as well as questions about reading quality, parent and child language preferences during reading, and typical patterns of code-switching or translating between the two languages. Survey results indicated firstly that the reported household primary language corresponded to the language dominance experienced by the child, and that including a “both languages primary” category revealed meaningful differences between groups. Secondly, the results demonstrated that shared reading frequency in each language is impacted by household primary language, but that across language dominance groups there were not significant differences in the frequencies of use of dialogic reading strategies or language mixing. These findings illustrate the importance of contextualizing children’s home language environment in order to better understand their pre-literacy experiences. A clearer understanding of children’s home language dominance will aid early educators in building on DLL children’s strengths and meeting their needs in each language as they prepare for school entry.

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

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.

scholarly journals Early bilingualism: children of immigrants in an English-language childcare center

2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roma Chumak-Horbatsch
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Children Of Immigrants ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Immigrant Parents ◽  
Language Practice ◽  
Childcare Center

Early bilingualism: children of immigrants in an English-language childcare center In this study, language views and home language practice of sixteen immigrant parents were documented and related to the dual language behaviors of their young children (ages 1:09 to 3;06) who were enrolled in a Toronto English-language childcare center. De Houwer's (1999) model of early bilingualism was applied to the minority language context and external factors were used to explain the short-lived active bilingualism of the younger children and the passive bilingualism of the preschoolers. Presenting mothers and fathers with separate questionnaires proved to be a valuable methodological tool, which revealed similar language thinking but different home language practice. Immigrant mothers were more committed to their children's L1 development than were fathers, a finding, which supports and extends the parental gender difference noted in earlier work (Gleason, 2005; Lyon, 1991; Lyon & Ellis, 1999). Negative effects of early L2 exposure on minority language children's incomplete L1, reported in earlier studies, were confirmed. A concrete outcome of the present study was the creation mylanguage.ca, a website intended to help immigrant parents understand their children's dual language learning. Even though the study presents a somewhat bleak picture of the continuation of L1, it concludes on an optimistic note, encouraging immigrant fathers to join forces with their L1-committed spouses and to help provide a nurturing L1 environment for their young children.

scholarly journals Language abilities of children with refugee backgrounds: Insights from case studies (PostPrint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea A.N. MacLeod ◽  
Rabia Sabah Meziane ◽  
Diane Pesco
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Refugee Children ◽  
Syrian Refugees ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Teacher Reports ◽  
Stimulation Group

ince 2015, more than 58,000 Syrian refugees have settled in Canada and, at the time of the 2016 national census, more than a fifth had settled in the province of Quebec. The rising numbers of refugees and the risks associated with families’ forced displacement have underscored the need to better understand and support the language of refugee children. The article reports on the oral language of three Syrian children ages five and six years, drawing on data from parent interviews, teacher reports, measures of the children’s language, and observations of their language use in a dual-language stimulation group, StimuLER. By triangulating this data, we were able to develop a rich and realistic portrait of each child’s language abilities. For these three boys, we observed that the home language was vulnerable to delays and weaknesses, and that learning the language of school was a drawn-out process. We also documented that parents and teachers had difficulties communicating with one another, and thus had difficulty meeting the educational needs of these children. We conclude that to foster resiliency in these children who are refugees, schools must find a way to build bridges with the parents to support the children’s language learning in both the language of school and at home.

scholarly journals Measuring prosodic predictability in children’s home language environments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Earl MacDonald ◽  
Okko Räsänen ◽  
Marisa Casillas ◽  
Anne S. Warlaumont
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Home Environment ◽  
Experimental Work ◽  
Scaling Up ◽  
Home Language ◽  
World Language ◽  
Lexical Development ◽  
Children's Home ◽  
Language Environment

Children learn language from the speech in their home environment. Recent work shows that more infant-directed speech (IDS) leads to stronger lexical development. But what makes IDS a particularly useful learning signal? Here, we expand on an attention-based account first proposed by Ra ̈sa ̈nen et al. (2018): that prosodic modifications make IDS less predictable, and thus more interesting. First, we reproduce the critical finding from Ra ̈sa ̈nen et al.: that lab-recorded IDS pitch is less predictable compared to adult-directed speech (ADS). Next, we show that this result generalizes to the home language environment, finding that IDS in daylong recordings is also less predictable than ADS but that this pattern is much less robust than for IDS recorded in the lab. These results link experimental work on attention and prosodic modifications of IDS to real-world language-learning environments, highlighting some challenges of scaling up analyses of IDS to larger datasets that better capture children’s actual input.

scholarly journals Language abilities of children with refugee backgrounds: Insights from case studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 1329-1349
Author(s):  
Andrea A. N. MacLeod ◽  
Rabia Sabah Meziane ◽  
Diane Pesco
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Refugee Children ◽  
Syrian Refugees ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Teacher Reports ◽  
Stimulation Group

AbstractSince 2015, more than 58,000 Syrian refugees have settled in Canada and, at the time of the 2016 national census, more than a fifth had settled in the province of Quebec. The rising numbers of refugees and the risks associated with families’ forced displacement have underscored the need to better understand and support the language of refugee children. The article reports on the oral language of three Syrian children ages five and six years, drawing on data from parent interviews, teacher reports, measures of the children’s language, and observations of their language use in a dual-language stimulation group, StimuLER. By triangulating this data, we were able to develop a rich and realistic portrait of each child’s language abilities. For these three boys, we observed that the home language was vulnerable to delays and weaknesses, and that learning the language of school was a drawn-out process. We also documented that parents and teachers had difficulties communicating with one another, and thus had difficulty meeting the educational needs of these children. We conclude that to foster resiliency in these children who are refugees, schools must find a way to build bridges with the parents to support the children’s language learning in both the language of school and at home.

Dynamic Assessment Language Tasks and the Prediction of Performance on Year-End Language Skills in Preschool Dual Language Learners

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 1226-1240
Author(s):  
Janet L. Patterson ◽  
Barbara L. Rodríguez ◽  
Philip S. Dale
Keyword(s):  
Head Start ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
Dynamic Assessment ◽  
Dual Language Learners ◽  
Achievement Testing ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Language Screening ◽  
Relationship Of

Purpose Early identification is a key element for accessing appropriate services for preschool children with language impairment. However, there is a high risk of misidentifying typically developing dual language learners as having language impairment if inappropriate tools designed for monolingual children are used. In this study of children with bilingual exposure, we explored performance on brief dynamic assessment (DA) language tasks using graduated prompting because this approach has potential applications for screening. We asked if children's performance on DA language tasks earlier in the year was related to their performance on a year-end language achievement measure. Method Twenty 4-year-old children from Spanish-speaking homes attending Head Start preschools in the southwestern United States completed three DA graduated prompting language tasks 3–6 months prior to the Head Start preschools' year-end achievement testing. The DA tasks, Novel Adjective Learning, Similarities in Function, and Prediction, were administered in Spanish, but correct responses in English or Spanish were accepted. The year-end achievement measure, the Learning Accomplishment Profile–Third Edition (LAP3), was administered by the children's Head Start teachers, who also credited correct responses in either language. Results Children's performance on two of the three DA language tasks was significantly and positively related to year-end LAP3 language scores, and there was a moderate and significant relationship for one of the DA tasks, even when controlling for age and initial LAP3 scores. Conclusions Although the relationship of performance on DA with year-end performance varies across tasks, the findings indicate potential for using a graduated prompting approach to language screening with young dual language learners. Further research is needed to select the best tasks for administration in a graduated prompting framework and determine accuracy of identification of language impairment.

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