Early Dual Language Development in Children from Spanish-Speaking Families

 说明(申请人提供)：拟议研究的目标是确定与西班牙语家庭儿童的积极语言、识字和学业成果相关的因素，从而为旨在支持语言少数民族儿童发展和成就的公共政策和教育实践提供科学依据。在美国，五分之一的儿童生活在说英语以外的语言的家庭中；在学龄儿童中，79%的家庭说西班牙语。这一群体中的许多儿童到了学龄儿童的英语语言技能水平较低，他们没有及时赶上在学校取得成功所需的技能水平，以避免严重的学业劣势。识字率和学业成就低与较高的疾病、精神疾病、失业率和与刑事司法系统接触有关，使这一庞大且不断增长的人口群体的识字和学业成就成为国家健康问题。这项拟议的研究是对来自西班牙语家庭的儿童和来自单一语言家庭的儿童的纵向研究的继续，该研究从孩子两岁半开始，到目前为止一直跟踪他们到5岁和入学地点。这项新工作将评估孩子们从6岁到10岁的语言环境、双语和识字发展，以及执行功能技能的增长。学校管理的学业成绩评估的分数是在3年级和4年级衡量的额外结果。具体目标是(1)描述英语和西班牙语在学校过渡期间的语言和识字轨迹，并评估早期双语经历、早期双语发展以及家庭和学校同时存在的影响与这些轨迹中的个体差异的关系；(2)检验以下假设：较强的西班牙语技能和强大的执行功能技能是来自少数语言家庭的儿童的保护性因素，从而降低与入学时英语技能低相关的低识字和学业成就的风险；以及(3)测试低英语和低西班牙语技能的儿童特别危险的假设，并确定低风险和高风险技能特征的先行因素。拟议研究的结果将有助于查明英语识字率和学业成绩最低的少数语言儿童，并将确定旨在提高少数语言家庭儿童识字率及相关健康和学业成绩的干预措施的目标。拟议的分析不会耗尽这项工作所产生的数据库的用处。该数据库将包括从两岁半到10岁的双语环境和双语技能增长的详细衡量标准，以及来自西班牙语家庭的130名儿童和来自单一语言英语家庭的30名儿童在小学期间的行政控制、识字和学业成就的衡量标准。在美国没有其他这样的数据库。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the proposed research is to identify factors associated with positive language, literacy, and academic outcomes in children from Spanish-speaking homes and, thereby, to provide a scientific basis for public policy and educational practices aimed at supporting the development and achievement of language minority children. One in 5 children in the U.S. live in homes where a language other than English is spoken; among school-aged children, 79% of these homes are Spanish-speaking. Many children in this population reach school age with low levels of English language skills, and they do not catch up to the skill level required for success in school in time to avoid serious academic disadvantage. Low levels of literacy and academic achievement are associated with higher rates of disease, mental illness, unemployment, and contact with the criminal justice system, making literacy and academic achievement among this large and growing segment of the population a national health concern. The proposed research is a continuation of a longitudinal study of children from Spanish-speaking homes and children from monolingual English- speaking homes that began when the children were 2 1/2 years old and has followed them, thus far, to the age of 5 years and the point of school entry. The new work will assess the children's language environments, dual language and literacy development, and executive function skill growth from age 6 to 10. Scores on school-administered assessments of academic achievement are additional outcomes measured in the 3rd and 4th grade. The specific aims are (1) to describe language and literacy trajectories in English and Spanish across the transition to school and to assess the relation of early dual language experience, early dual language development, and concurrent home and school influences to individual differences in those trajectories, (2) to test the hypotheses that strong Spanish skills and strong executive function skills are protective factors in children from language minority homes that mitigate the risk for poor literacy and academic achievement associated with low English skills at school entry, and (3) to test the hypothesis that children with low English and low Spanish skills are particularly a risk and to identify antecedents of low risk and high risk skill profiles. The results of the proposed research will allow identification of language minority children most at risk for low levels of English literacy and academic achievement and will identify targets for interventions aimed at enhancing literacy and related health and academic outcomes in children from language minority homes. The proposed analyses will not exhaust the usefulness of the database that will result from this work. That database will include detailed measures of dual language environments and dual language skill growth from the age of 2 1/2 to 10 years, with measures of executive control, literacy, and academic achievement during elementary school, for 130 children from Spanish-speaking families and 30 children from monolingual English-speaking families. No other such database exists in the U.S.