Bilingual Children’s Language Abilities and Early Reading Outcomes in Head Start and Kindergarten

Abstract

Purpose-The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Head Start children's receptive language development and their kindergarten reading outcomes.Method-Eighty-eight bilingual children who were eligible to attend Head Start for 2 years participated in the study. Growth curve models were used to examine the relationship between children's language abilities during 2 years in Head Start and end-of-kindergarten reading outcomes.Results-The results revealed that children's English and Spanish receptive language abilities increased during Head Start, and children's early reading abilities in English were within the typical range of monolingual norms at the end of kindergarten. Children's early reading abilities in Spanish were nearly 1 SD below the test mean or lower. The results also showed that children's growth in their English and Spanish language abilities during Head Start predicted their early reading abilities in English and Spanish.Implications-The findings imply that preschool programs are needed that target children's growth in language and not their performance measured at a particular point in time. Also, the results demonstrate the importance of early and regular evaluation of bilingual children's development in both languages in order to monitor children's growth in their two languages.Keywords bilingual children; receptive language; reading development; Head Start U. S. statistics have consistently shown that children from homes in which a language other than English is the primary language are at risk for poor reading outcomes (Denton, West, & Walston, 2003; National Center for Education Statistics, 2003;Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998; U.S. Department of Education, 2000). For example, the results of the Head Start Families and Children Experiences Survey (FACES) demonstrated that Spanish-speaking Head Start and English-proficient bilingual children began kindergarten with language and literacy abilities that were below age expectations for monolingual children (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 2003). Unfortunately, these discrepancies typically continue as children progress through the educational system. HHS Public Access Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author ManuscriptReports have documented that Latino children read below the mainstream population in grades 4, 8, and 12 (U.S. Department of Education, 2000). As a result, there is a critical need to improve our understanding of factors that influence the literacy outcomes of children who are acquiring Spanish and English.Oral language is one key factor that has been studied in many investigations of monolingual children's reading abilities, but has received relatively little attention in investigations of the reading development of young bilingual children living in the United States. Because of this fact, we review the research on monolingual children before turning our attention to work that has been conducted on bilingual children. The Relationship Between Monolingual Chi...

Early Language and Reading Development of Bilingual Preschoolers From Low-Income Families

“…The research by Hammer et al (2006b) and Oller and Eilers (2002) on the oral language development of bilingual children supports the argument that the timing of exposure to English in relation to school entry impacts their development. When focusing on bilingual preschoolers, Hammer et al (2006b) demonstrated that children with HEC had higher initial overall English receptive language abilities than children who did not experience English communication (SEC) until school entry.…”

“…The results of these analyses (Hammer et al, 2006b) revealed that the children's letter-word identification abilities were at the test mean in English at the end of kindergarten, with no differences between the HEC and SEC groups. Both groups of children had Spanish letterword identification abilities that were close to 1 SD below the test mean.…”

“…When focusing on bilingual preschoolers, Hammer et al (2006b) demonstrated that children with HEC had higher initial overall English receptive language abilities than children who did not experience English communication (SEC) until school entry. In addition, children with SEC had higher overall Spanish receptive language abilities when then started Head Start than did children with HEC.…”

“…Preliminary evidence suggests that the language development of children who are exposed to English on a regular basis from birth differs from the language development of children who were not expected to communicate in English until school entry (Hammer et al, 2006b;Oller & Eilers, 2002). Therefore, speech-language pathologists and educators need to gather background information on children's exposure to the two languages, particularly when making diagnostic decisions (Miccio, Hammer, & Toribio, 2002).…”

“…In the investigation reported by Hammer, Lawrence, and Miccio (2006b), we asked whether bilingual children's abilities to identify letters and words at the end of kindergarten were related to the children's overall receptive language abilities during Head Start. The oral language abilities of children in the HEC and SEC groups were tested in the fall and spring of children's 2 years in Head Start.…”