Guatemalan Pupils’ Exposure to Spanish and Educational Achievement: A Study across Ethnic Groups and Socioeconomic Status in Urban and Rural Schools

Abstract

We investigated the relationship of exposure to Spanish and socioeconomic status (SES) with reading and math standardized test scores among third and sixth grade pupils in Guatemala. The results of a multi-group structural equation model and multivariate analysis of covariance led us to conclude that SES and exposure to Spanish are associated to achievement across grades, ethnicities, and area of residence. Exposure to Spanish is more relevant in lower grades whereas area of residence is a consistent predictor across grades. Analysis of equivalence for the various groups suggests a set of consistent relationships across ethno-linguistic groups. Our results confirm previous research indicating that SES is a positive predictor of school achievement and that the compatibility of the pupil’s familiarity with the testing language is positively related to achievement results. We recommend that linguistic competency heterogeneity in terms of competency level in each language be considered and that bilingual interventions be developed, as opposed to adopting models that assume homogeneous linguistic ability across ethnicities.