What is the role of executive function in the school readiness of Latino students?

Abstract

The number of Latino students in the U.S. is growing, and more attention is being given to this population of learners. The current paper focuses on the school readiness of Latino children, many of whom come from homes where English is not the primary language — referred to as language minority (LM). Specific attention is given to the roles that English oral language skills and executive function (EF) – working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control – play in relation to academic and social and behavioral skills at kindergarten entry. Two specific research questions are addressed: (1) how English oral language skills and EF vary based on socioeconomic (SES) and LM status; and (2) if English oral language skills and EF serve as mediators in the relationships between SES and LM status and other school readiness skills. A subsample of over 4000 Latino children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 is used. Key findings suggest: a negative impact of low-SES and LM households on English oral language skills; SES as a significant predictor of all three EF domains; EF and English oral language skills as significant predictors of academic skills at school entry – as well as mediators of the impact of SES; the impact of working memory to be especially pronounced for early academic skills; and inhibitory control to be a large predictor of social and behavioral skills at school entry.