A peer-mediated approach to support emergent bilingual preschoolers

Abstract

Peer-mediated intervention, an approach emphasizing student-to-student interaction, is a promising approach to support emergent bilingual children's development of positive peer relationships and language development; however, there is little empirical evidence documenting peer-mediated interventions for preschool-aged emergent bilingual preschoolers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of a peer-mediated intervention on preschool-aged emergent bilinguals’ and their peer buddies’ social interactions in the classroom.Three emergent bilinguals were paired with 3 English-only peer-buddies. Children were typically-developing and 3.9–5.2 years old. Each dyad was trained using an Invite-Play-Talk model, followed by 10, 20-minute-intervention play sessions. A staggered multiple baseline design across participants was used to measure the effect of this peer-mediated intervention on emergent bilingual and peer buddy interactions. Interactions were coded as verbal or nonverbal.All dyads of emergent bilingual and peer buddy children exhibited increases in their initiations and responses throughout the intervention phase over-time. Gains were maintained with a slight decrease in interactions at 2-weeks postintervention.Results suggest the benefit of a peer-mediated intervention using an Invite-Play-Talk model to support communication in emergent bilingual preschoolers and encourage the provision of inclusive supports for emergent bilingual children in early childhood classrooms.