Early Dual Language Development in Children from Spanish-Speaking Families

西班牙语家庭儿童的早期双语发展

• 批准号: 8239927
• 负责人: ERIKA HOFF
• 金额: $ 69.31万
• 依托单位: FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-04-01 至 2016-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8239927
• 关键词: 5 year old; Academic achievement; Achievement; Acoustics; Address; Age; Awareness; Caregivers; Child; Cognitive; Control Groups; Criminal Justice; Development; Disease; Economics; English Language; Environment; Expenditure; Failure; Family; Family Relationship; Foundations; Goals; Hearing; Home environment; Household; Individual; Individual Differences; Intervention; Knowledge; Language; Language Development; Learning; Letters; Life; Longitudinal Studies; Maintenance; Measures; Mental disorders; Methods; Modeling; Nature; Nursery Schools; Oral; Outcome; Parents; Policy Maker; Population; Process; Property; Public Health; Readiness; Reading; Research; Research Personnel; Risk; Risk Factors; Sampling; School-Age Population; Schools; Scientific Advances and Accomplishments; Shapes; Speech; Speech Development; Speed; System; Testing; Unemployment; Video Recording; base; clinical practice; cost; design; experience; improved; innovation; instrument; knowledge base; lexical; literacy; phonology; programs; public health relevance; skills; standardize measure; success

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective of the proposed project is to provide an empirically-based understanding of preschool oral language and preliteracy skill development in children from Spanish-speaking families. The language skills that children from Spanish-speaking homes present at school entry are highly variable and poorly understood. The knowledge base regarding the processes and outcomes of dual language development is inadequate either to design maximally effective educational programs or to match children to the programs they need. There is currently more information available on dual language learners in school than on the factors that shape their readiness for school. The method of the proposed project is a 2 1/2- year longitudinal study of 120 children in the U.S. who have one or two native Spanish-speaking parents and a control group of 60 monolingual English-learning children. At 6-month intervals from the age of 2 1/2 to 5 years, detailed assessments will be made of properties of the children's environments and their language experiences inside and outside the home. In the first year, assessments will be made of the quantity and quality of caregivers' child-directed speech (in both languages for the dual language learners) based on videorecorded caregiver-child interaction. At each assessment point, the children's receptive and expressive speech and language skills (in both languages for the dual language learners) will be assessed using standardized tests, investigator-developed instruments, and spontaneous speech samples. The specific aims of the analyses are (1) to describe and predict trajectories of speech and language development in Spanish-English dual language learners and monolingual English learners from 2 1/2 to 5 years, (2) to identify, among dual language learners, predictors of successful bilingual proficiency at ages 4 and 5 and indicators of risk for low levels of dual language achievement, and (3) to predict preliteracy skills in dual language learners at age 5 years. The large and growing number of children in the U.S. who live in Spanish-speaking homes makes their academic achievement a public health concern. An estimated 35 million households in the U.S. speak Spanish, and many children who hear a language other than English at home reach school age with low levels of English language skills. The cost of educating children with limited English proficiency is as much as 90% greater than the average cost per child. Despite that expenditure, children with limited English skills are statistically at risk for low academic achievement and its many attendant negative consequences. Efforts to improve these outcomes are hampered by the currently poor scientific understanding of the process of early dual language development. The results of the proposed research will provide a scientific foundation for programs and practices to support the school readiness and ultimate academic success of a substantial portion of the nation's children. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed research is designed to identify protective and risk factors related to the development of school readiness in Spanish-English dual language learners. The findings will provide a scientific basis for identifying children at risk for school failure and for designing programs to optimize academic achievement in a substantial segment of the nation's children.

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议项目的目标是提供对来自西班牙语家庭的儿童的学前口语和识字前技能发展的基于经验的理解。来自西班牙语家庭的孩子在入学时所表现出的语言技能差异很大，而且人们对其了解甚少。关于双语发展过程和结果的知识库不足以设计最有效的教育计划或将儿童与他们需要的计划相匹配。目前，有关学校双语学习者的信息多于影响他们入学准备的因素的信息。拟议项目的方法是对 120 名美国儿童进行 2 1/2 年的纵向研究，这些儿童的父母为一到两名西班牙语，对照组为 60 名单语英语学习儿童。从 2 1/2 岁到 5 岁，每隔 6 个月，将对儿童的环境特性以及他们在家庭内外的语言体验进行详细评估。第一年，将根据看护者与儿童互动的视频记录，对看护者针对儿童的讲话（双语学习者使用两种语言）的数量和质量进行评估。在每个评估点，将使用标准化测试、研究者开发的仪器和自发语音样本来评估儿童的接受性和表达性言语和语言技能（双语学习者的两种语言）。分析的具体目的是 (1) 描述和预测西班牙语-英语双语学习者和单语英语学习者从 2 1/2 到 5 岁的言语和语言发展轨迹，(2) 识别双语学习者、4 岁和 5 岁时双语能力成功的预测因素以及双语成就水平较低的风险指标，以及 (3) 预测 5 岁时双语学习者的读写前技能。在美国，居住在讲西班牙语的家庭中的儿童数量庞大且不断增加，这使得他们的学业成绩成为公共健康问题。据估计，美国有 3500 万个家庭讲西班牙语，许多在家听英语以外语言的孩子在达到学龄时英语语言技能水平较低。教育英语水平有限的孩子的费用比每个孩子的平均费用高出 90%。尽管有这笔支出，但据统计，英语技能有限的儿童仍面临学业成绩低下以及随之而来的许多负面后果的风险。目前对早期双语发展过程缺乏科学理解，阻碍了改善这些成果的努力。拟议研究的结果将为支持全国大部分儿童的入学准备和最终学业成功的计划和实践提供科学基础。 公共卫生相关性：拟议的研究旨在确定与西班牙语-英语双语学习者入学准备发展相关的保护性和风险因素。研究结果将为识别面临学业失败风险的儿童以及设计优化全国大部分儿童学业成绩的计划提供科学依据。