LANGUAGE AND LITERACY IN BILINGUAL CHILDREN

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Research has left open key questions regarding optimal circumstances of development for the child who is acquiring two languages. Both linguistic and literacy acquisition appear to be influenced by whether children are given first language training in subject classes or are immersed in English only instruction. Yet the effects of different educational methods are poorly understood because proactive research controlling for socioeconomic status and language(s) spoken at home (two potentially key variables) has not previously been conducted, and because research has not sufficiently evaluated the roles of linguistic variables known to play important roles in literacy development. The proposed research would consist of a linguistically diverse, proactive investigation of the effects of social and linguistic backgrounds of children on learning in tow widely different training methods. The South Florida setting is ideal for such research, possessing the required educational programs as well as the appropriate ethnographic circumstance, including a broad range of social and linguistic backgrounds in both Hispanic and nonHispanic families.