Growth in toddlers’ Spanish, English, and conceptual vocabulary knowledge

Examining Similarities and Differences Among Parent–Teacher Reports of Spanish–English Productive Vocabulary

“…For instance, conceptual vocabulary scores are derived by considering the total number of words produced in both languages without crediting the child for translated items. When comparing the total number of words produced by monolingual children and the total conceptual vocabulary of bilingual children, monolingual and bilingual children demonstrate similar vocabularies (Conboy & Thal, 2006;Mancilla-Martinez & Vagh, 2013;Pearson, Fernández, & Oller, 1993). Scoring in this manner likely provides a more accurate estimate of children's bilingual lexicon because it is not the case that the two languages of bilingual children are separate, but rather that bilingual children have two languages that contribute uniquely to the child's lexicon (Bedore, Peña, Garcia, & Cortez, 2005;Grosjean, 1989).…”

Conceptual Scoring of Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Measures in Simultaneous and Sequential Bilingual Children

“…For example, on a conceptual vocabulary measure, a child would receive three points for knowing frijoles, subtraction , mano, and hand because these words reflect knowledge of three concepts (beans, subtraction, hand), even though one word is known only in Spanish and one is known only in English. Although conceptual scoring has received general support from empirical work as a method to obtain a more complete picture of a bilingual child’s lexical knowledge (Atkins-Burnett & Aikens, 2008; Bedore et al, 2005; Hemsley, Holm, & Dodd, 2010; Junker & Stockman, 2002; Kan & Kohnert, 2005; Mancilla-Martinez, Pan, & Vagh, 2011; Mancilla-Martinez & Vagh, 2013; Marchman & Martinez-Sussmann, 2002; Paez, 2008; Pearson et al, 1993; Sheng, Lu, & Kan, 2011; Sheng, Peña, Bedore, & Fiestas, 2012; Wang, Castilleja, Sepulveda, & Daniel, 2011), there remain some uncertainties (e.g., Thordardottir, Rothenberg, Rivard, & Naves, 2006) as to the utility of conceptual scoring across different bilingual populations, across different testing modalities (receptive vs. expressive), and across different languages. In the current study, we examine the use of conceptual scoring with standardized measures of receptive and expressive vocabulary in Spanish and English in both simultaneous and sequential typically-developing bilingual children.…”

Spanish instruction in head start and dual language learners' academic achievement

“…DHHS, 2014). Furthermore, the population of Latino children represents the largest group of children in poverty in the U.S. (López & Velasco, 2011), which further places Spanish-speaking DLLs at risk for delayed English language development (Hart & Risley, 1995; Hoff, 2013; Kieffer, 2010; Mancilla-Martinez & Vagh, 2013). …”

“…For instance, if a child learns the word mesa , they have a conceptual understanding of the word, enabling the acquisition of the English equivalent word of table. Further, DLL children’s vocabulary knowledge has been shown to be distributed across languages, so accounting for both languages provides more accurate insight into DLLs’ development and skills (Mancilla-Martinez & Vagh, 2013). Therefore, given children’s conceptual understanding of language as well as the timing of sensitive periods for language development (Nelson & Sheridan, 2011), the preschool years may be an ideal time to learn two languages (Bialystok, 2001, 2011; Genesee, Paradis, & Crago, 2004; Kuhl, 2009; McCabe et al., 2013).…”

“…DHHS, 2010a), the present study views the early childhood years as a critical period to equip Spanish-speaking DLLs with the academic skills that they will need for future English literacy and school success (Hoff, 2013; Mancilla-Martinez & Vagh, 2013; National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics, 2007). Despite the emerging body of research on the differential benefits of ECE for Spanish-speaking DLLs, whether Spanish language instruction contributes to these benefits in various ECE settings such as Head Start is still an empirical question.…”