An investigation into the relationship of gender and home environment and the effects of bilingual versus English as a second language programs on English oral language acquisition for Spanish-speaking four-year-old children

Recent concerns for bilingual education have led to an increased issue for understanding the processes of second language acquisition. A question often asked by researchers is: What are the long-term differences and/or the similarities between English as a Second Language (ESL) and bilingual education? This study attempted to illustrate that second language acquisition is not necessarily impacted by a particular intervention program but by the multiple variables involved in second language acquisition. This study investigated the relationship between bilingual and ESL programs in terms of English oral language acquisition in the areas of vocabulary comprehension, grammar/syntax, and verbal expression for Spanish-speaking 4-year-old children. The study consisted of 24 Spanish-speaking children who ranged in age from 4.0 to 4.11 years. All subjects had been enrolled in the Bilingual/ESL Chapter I prekindergarten program as mandated by the Texas Education Agency. The pre- and posttest scores from the Preschool IDEA Oral Language Proficiency Test (Pre-IPT) were utilized to determine growth. A survey was also utilized to determine the influence of the home on language acquisition. Gender was also a variable that was considered. A series of one-way and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted to analyze the data. The comparative data revealed a statistically significant difference between bilingual and ESL programs in second language acquisition. ESL students were shown to have greater gains in English acquisition than the bilingual students. The implications of these findings for teachers of language-minority students are discussed.