Development of academic language comprehension of German monolinguals and dual language learners

Abstract

Acquiring academic language proficiency is considered especially challenging for dual language learners (DLLs), yet research on potential differences in the development of academic language skills of DLLs and their monolingual peers is scarce. Based on a repeated-measures design with two starting cohorts, the present study examines the development of academic language comprehension of German monolinguals and DLLs from Grade 2 to 3 and from Grade 3 to 4 (initial N = 560; Mage = 8.87 years, SDage = .73). When controlling for students’ gender, socioeconomic and educational family background as well as general language skills, German monolinguals showed larger learning gains in academic language comprehension than DLLs from Grade 2 to 3, but not from Grade 3 to 4.