BILINGUAL PRESCHOOLERS: PRECURSORS TO LITERACY

说明(申请人提供)：本申请旨在补充正在进行的题为“双语学龄前儿童：识字的前驱”的研究补助金(5 R01 HD39496-03)，由NICHD/OERI双语研究倡议--发展西班牙语儿童的英语识字能力(DELSS)资助，为期五年。这项前瞻性纵向调查目前已开始第三年，旨在通过以下方式提高我们对波多黎各裔学前教育儿童的语言和扫盲发展及家庭环境的了解：(1)确定依次学习西班牙语和英语的儿童的言语、语言和扫盲发展的速度和质量是否与同时学习这两种语言的儿童的不同；(2)确定导致更好的扫盲结果的口头语言和家庭环境方面的个体差异；以及(3)深入描述与扫盲结果有关的儿童语言系统的特点，以及介于儿童语言系统和扫盲结果之间的家庭环境的质量方面。这项补充申请建议扩大家长津贴的首两个目标，在一年级和二年级期间研究儿童的语言和阅读发展以及家庭环境。它还扩展了第二个问题，包括对课堂阅读环境及其与阅读结果的关系的研究。这些数据将提供有关双语儿童在4年和5年期间语言和阅读发展过程的迫切需要的纵向信息，并有助于了解儿童学龄前阶段的语言能力和家庭环境与小学早期阅读结果之间的关系。课堂数据的补充可以探索课堂变量与双语儿童阅读结果之间的关系，这些儿童具有不同的语言特征和家庭环境。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application seeks to supplement the on-going research grant entitled, "Bilingual Preschoolers: Precursors to Literacy" (5 R01 HD39496-03) funded for five years by the joint NICHD/OERI biliteracy research initiative, Development of English Literacy in Spanish Speaking Children (DELSS). This prospective longitudinal investigation is currently beginning its third year and is designed to improve our understanding of the language and literacy development and home environment of Head Start children of Puerto Rican descent by (1) determining if the rate and quality of speech, language and literacy development of children learning Spanish and English sequentially differs from that of children learning both languages simultaneously; (2) identifying the individual differences in oral language and the home environment that lead to better literacy outcomes; and (3) describing in-depth the characteristics of children's linguistic systems that are associated with literacy outcomes and qualitative aspects of the home environment that mediate between the children's linguistic systems and literacy outcomes. This supplemental application proposes to extend the first two aims of the parent grant by studying children's language and reading development and home environment during first and second grades. It also expands the second question to include a study of the classroom-reading environment and its relationship to reading outcomes. The data will provide greatly needed longitudinal information about the course of bilingual children's language and reading development across a 4 and 5 year period and result in an understanding of the relationships among children's language abilities and home environment during their preschool years and reading outcomes during early elementary school years. The addition of classroom data allows for exploration of the relationships between classroom variables and reading outcomes of bilingual children who have varying language characteristics and home environments.