No abstract

The present article reports third-year findings from a three-year longitudinal, experimental-control study involving 31 Spanish-speaking preschoolers (aged 38-48 months) randomly assigned to two Head Start classrooms. In Year 1 preschoolers were randomly assigned to a transitional bilingual education (TBE) or predominantly English classroom, and their receptive and expressive language and phonological awareness skills were measured in English and Spanish through two years in preschool and their kindergarten year. The TBE model was found to confer significant benefits in Spanish-language and literacy development without cost to English development. Future research directions and implications for practice are discussed. Lillian Durán is affiliated with Utah State University. Cary Roseth is affiliated with Michigan State University. Patricia Hoffman is affiliated with Minnesota State University, Mankato. M. Brooke Robertshaw is affiliated with Utah State University.

Year 2 findings are reported from a longitudinal, experimental-control study involving 31 Spanishspeaking preschoolers (aged 38-48 months) randomly assigned to two Head Start classrooms. In Year 1, classrooms differed only in the language of instruction, with teachers using only Spanish in one classroom and only English in the other. In Year 2, an experimental transitional bilingual education (TBE) model was implemented, with English being gradually introduced in the TBE classroom until a ratio of 30:70 English-to-Spanish was achieved and Spanish being gradually introduced in the predominantly English (PE) classroom until a ratio of 70:30 English-to-Spanish was achieved. Year 2 results were consistent with Year 1, with the TBE classroom exceeding the PE classroom on all Spanish measures of language and literacy development and no significant differences favoring the PE classroom. Results also indicated that Year 2 trajectories were conditional on first-year effects, suggesting that sustained growth in dual language learner's early literacy may depend on early intervention among 3-year-old preschoolers.