41th Article " The classroom language context and English and Spanish vocabulary development among dual language learners attending Head Start"

Nur fatmawati
16611047

The classroom language context and English and Spanish vocabulary development among dual language learners attending Head Start.

            Children in mostly Spanish classrooms, however, had significantly lower spring English scores than children in English-only classrooms. In addition, children in English-only classrooms had significantly lower Spanish vocabulary scores than children in the other two categories of classrooms, which did not differ from each other. The higher the proportion of DLLs in a class the lower were spring English scores, but not Spanish vocabulary scores. Findings suggest that using bilingual instruction, and sharing classrooms with English-dominant peers can promote English vocabulary development without a cost to Spanish vocabulary development.