Language of instruction and literacy talk in bilingual and English immersion prekindergarten classrooms: Contributions to the early literacy development of Spanish-speaking children

This mixed methods study explored the impact of differently organized bilingual and English-immersion prekindergarten language environments on the literacy development of Spanish-speakers acquiring English as a second language. In particular, the study investigated the linguistic organization of literacy-related teacher talk across a range of classroom language settings and its effect on the development of children's oral language and print skills in Spanish and English. Participants in the study were six prekindergarten teachers and 51 four-year-old children of Mexican descent who spoke Spanish at home and had limited proficiency in English at the start of school. Children's early literacy skills including receptive vocabulary, narrative production, phonological awareness, print concepts and letter knowledge were assessed in. Spanish and English at the beginning and end of the school year. Gain scores served as the basis for analysis of variation in language and literacy growth across classrooms. Data on classroom discourse were gleaned from transcript analysis of audio-recorded classroom observations conducted five times over the course of the school year. Teacher utterances were coded for language of instruction and by categories of metalinguistic talk related to literacy (e.g. vocabulary talk, talk about letter sounds). Multi-level modeling was used to investigate differences across classrooms in child outcomes, and the contribution of classroom-level teacher discourse variables to those differences.;Consistent with other recent studies of low-SES Latino preschoolers, children were found to have relatively restricted language and literacy skills in both English and Spanish at the beginning of the school year. Significant differences in literacy growth across classrooms in receptive vocabulary, phonological awareness and letter knowledge were found, nevertheless, and these differences were related to quantitative differences in teacher talk across settings. Of relevance to the language of instruction question for preschool, the percent of Spanish language teacher talk during group instruction emerged as a significant predictor of children's vocabulary growth in both Spanish and on a combined measure of Spanish and English vocabulary development. The amount of phonological awareness teacher talk was found to predict phonological awareness gains in both languages. Implications for preschool practices to support the early literacy development of Spanish-speaking children, and methodological considerations for future research are discussed.