Monolingual English-speaking Peers Research Articles

What difficulties do children learning English in addition to another language experience with English oral language? A systematic review

ABSTRACT Within the majority of English-speaking settings, children learning English as an additional language (CLEAL) underperform academically relative to their monolingual, English-speaking peers. This systematic review (preregistration: https://archive.org/details/osf-registrations-zgmha-v1) identifies the elements of the English oral language where these children experience difficulty. We focused on research measuring an English oral language outcome for CLEAL between the ages of 3 and 7 and their age-matched, monolingual English-speaking peers. We searched PsycINFO, Web of Science, British Education Index and Linguistics and Language Behaviour s, for studies published between 2015 and 2024, written in English. Of the 2125 records identified, 20 were eligible for inclusion, with a low-to-moderate risk of bias. Overall, our target group performed significantly worse in tests of English receptive and expressive vocabulary, syntactic knowledge, listening comprehension, embedding, collocational knowledge and areas of narrative skill and phonological production. However, these children were comparable with their peers in other areas of narrative skill, lexical and pragmatic understanding, elements of morphological production and areas of phonological production and processing. Overall, while the picture is mixed, highlighting the need for further study of oral English in CLEAL, this review strengthens existing arguments for vocabulary and syntax acquisition as appropriate targets for intervention.

A 4-year longitudinal study examining lexical and syntactic bootstrapping in English Language Learners (ELLs) and their monolingual peers.

Current models of the affinity between syntax and vocabulary are complex and recognize the contribution of bootstrapping and computational processes. To date, the mutual facilitation between these two constructs over time has not been studied in second language (L2) school children. The present study investigated longitudinally the direction and strength of the associations between syntactic and vocabulary skills in English Language Learners (ELLs; N = 409, 204 females, M age = 78 months, low socioeconomic status backgrounds) and their monolingual English-speaking peers (EL1; N = 157, 92 females, M age = 77 months, low socioeconomic status backgrounds). Children were assessed annually from Grade 1 to Grade 4 on a syntactic and a vocabulary task. Overall, autoregressive cross-lagged analyses indicated that early syntax predicted later vocabulary and vice versa, yet, the magnitude of prediction varied across groups. Notably, in the early stages of L2 learning, the predictive power from vocabulary to syntax was stronger than that in the opposite direction. Moreover, the predictive power from vocabulary to syntax was consistently stronger in the ELL than in the EL1 group. The results suggest that, in general, with sufficient quantity and quality of exposure to the L2, lexical and syntactic bootstrapping coexist. However, among novice young ELLs, bootstrapping is stronger from vocabulary to syntax than the other way around. Results underscore the importance of studying the relations between vocabulary and syntax longitudinally, and caution about an injudicious application of L1-based models to young L2 children's language development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Fijian school students’ Fiji English speech sound acquisition

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate Fijian students’ acquisition of Fiji English speech sounds. Method: Participants were 72 multilingual students (5–10 years) living in Fiji who spoke the Fijian or Fiji Hindi dialects of Fiji English. The students’ productions of single words from the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP) were analysed according to dialect using the Children’s Independent and Relational Phonological Analysis (CHIRPA). Result: Most English consonants were acquired by 6;0. English consonants that were not in the inventories of Fijian or Fiji Hindi were the last acquired, while those that were common between English and the two languages were some of the earlier acquired consonants. Percentage of consonants correct (PCC) for Fiji English was significantly lower for Grade 1 students (M = 93.01, SD = 0.07) in comparison to Grade 4 students (M = 99.03, SD = 0.01). Plosive and nasal sounds were acquired by 90% of the students earlier than fricative, approximant and affricate sounds, though acquisition of some plosive and fricative sounds varied between Fiji English dialects. All word-initial consonant clusters were acquired by 90% of the students by 9;6, with r-clusters tending to be the latest acquired. The acquisition of word-final consonant clusters was highly variable as students often produced appropriate dialectal variants. Conclusion: Multilingual Fijian children may acquire English specific sounds later than their monolingual English-speaking peers. Consideration of the language environment and analysis of the speech sample with reference to the child’s dominant English dialect is imperative for valid identification of speech sound disorder (SSD) in children who speak different dialects of English.

Preschool Children’s Engagement and School Readiness Skills: Exploring Differences between Spanish-speaking Dual Language Learners and Monolingual English-speaking Preschoolers

ABSTRACT Research Findings: The study examined the relationship between Spanish-speaking DLL children’s engagement within the preschool classroom with teachers, peers, and tasks and their school readiness skills compared to monolingual English-speaking peers. Results suggested that DLL children had lower language skills and phonological awareness by the end of the preschool year. However, children’s positive engagement with teachers mediated the relationship between DLL status and children’s language skills. Finally, the relationship between children’s engagement and school readiness outcomes differed by whether children are DLL or monolingual; for DLL children, positively engaging with teachers, peers, and tasks were positively associated with their receptive and expressive vocabulary, phonological awareness, and print knowledge skills. Practice or Policy: The findings highlight how children’s classroom engagement, particularly DLLs, is associated with their school readiness outcomes. That is, DLL and monolingual children are experiencing different levels of engagement expose potential inequities in the levels of quality experienced within classrooms. Classrooms must maximize the opportunities for DLLs to practice their language skills with peers, in particular, across languages as a way of supporting their development.

Lost in the Transition: The Cost of College-Readiness English Standards Misalignment for Students Initially Classified as English Learners

ABSTRACT Using linked, individual-level data from a large metropolitan K-12 district and a large urban community college district in California, we examine whether indicators of college-readiness for graduating high school students who were initially classified as English Learners (ELs) are honored in community college course placement. In particular, we explore (1) whether there is misalignment in course assignment levels among former EL students between the K-12 and community college sector based on high school readiness metrics; and (2) if misalignment exists, we investigate its extent among various levels and identities of EL students. We employ an integrated capitals and funds of knowledge framework to emphasize students’ assets in the form of resources, knowledge, and skills while also acknowledging the role of education systems in reproducing social inequities. We find that along with students who speak Spanish at home, Latina/o, and Black students, former ELs who met college-readiness standards experienced the highest levels of inter-sector English misalignment (over 75%). Our results show a negative association between experiencing inter-sector misalignment and college credit accumulation. After controlling for course placement, background, and academic characteristics our analysis suggests that despite facing higher levels of inter-sector misalignment relative to other students, former ELs manage to accumulate five to six more transferable degree units than their monolingual English-speaking peers. The findings suggest a need for even greater inter-sector communication and accountability between legislators, K-12, and postsecondary leaders to ensure that state-level college-readiness standards are properly defined and consistently used in the transition from high school to college.

Rapid shift in naming efficiency on a rapid automatic naming task by young Spanish-speaking English language learners

AbstractThe present study analyzed lexical processing efficiency in Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) and their monolingual English-speaking peers from kindergarten through second grade. Specifically, changes in the patterns of speed and accuracy on a rapid object-naming task were evaluated across languages for the ELL children and across the groups of children. Repeated measures analysis of variance demonstrated that ELL children have a rapid shift in language processing efficiency from Spanish to English by the end of kindergarten. Results also showed that by the end of kindergarten ELL children were slightly faster and more accurate in English compared with their monolingual peers. This work provides perspective on how lexical processing is impacted by the development of a dual lexical system. We discuss how lexical density, strength of lexical connections, and environmental constraints may influence this rapid shift in lexical processing efficiency for young Spanish-speaking ELL children.

Designing Structures and Pathways to Support Language Development and Content Learning for English Learners: Dilemmas Facing School Leaders

ABSTRACT Efforts to understand disparities in educational outcomes between students designated as English Learners (ELs) and their monolingual English-speaking peers have focused on factors that limit ELs’ access to college, including quality of high school preparation. Central to quality high school preparation are schools’ curricular structures—the course sequences and programs through which schools deliver curriculum and instruction. This article presents findings from a study of curricular structures at three comprehensive high schools, examining factors that influenced school leaders in the design of structures. The study found that, while principals articulated sociocultural views of language learning that emphasized ELs’ integration and engagement with English-speaking peers in rigorous content learning, the schools’ curricular structures limited ELs’ access to such opportunities. Two key themes emerged that help to explain the misalignment between the principals’ beliefs and the structures they put in place: conflicting goals for their students and concerns with teacher staffing.

Phonological vulnerability for school-aged Spanish-English-speaking bilingual children

ABSTRACT This study examined accuracy on syllable-final (coda) consonants in newly-learned English-like nonwords to determine whether school-aged bilingual children may be more vulnerable to making errors on English-only codas than their monolingual, English-speaking peers, even at a stage in development when phonological accuracy in productions of familiar words is high. Bilingual Spanish-English-speaking second-graders (age 7–9) with typical development (n = 40) were matched individually with monolingual peers on age, sex, and speech skills. Participants learned to name sea monsters as part of five computerized word learning tasks. Dependent t-tests revealed bilingual children were less accurate than monolingual children in producing codas unique to English; however, the groups demonstrated equivalent levels of accuracy on codas that occur in both Spanish and English. Results suggest that, even at high levels of English proficiency, bilingual Spanish-English-speaking children may demonstrate lower accuracy than their monolingual English-speaking peers on targets that pattern differently in their two languages. Differences between a bilingual’s two languages can be used to reveal targets that may be more vulnerable to error, which could be a result of cross-linguistic effects or more limited practice with English phonology.

The Arts, the Common Core, and English Language Development in the Primary Grades

Background/Context Throughout schooling, English learners (ELs) perform well below their monolingual English-speaking peers on literacy assessments, and Hispanics make up the majority of EL students in the United States. There is a strong consensus about the importance of early English oral language skills for ELs’ literacy development, yet teachers are not adequately prepared to meet the needs of these young learners. Historically, policy has not provided incentives for educators to focus on oral language development in the classroom. However, the recently adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS) emphasize oral language skills. Purpose/Objective This study examines a professional development program that equipped early elementary teachers in five urban schools with arts-based strategies to promote the oral English development of ELs. A second line of inquiry looked at the extent to which the creative drama and dance activities were aligned with CCSS. Participants There were 3,792 K–2 Hispanic ELs (treatment: N = 497; control: N = 3,295) from Title I schools in a large school district in California. Intervention The Teaching Artist Project (TAP) was a two-year K–2 arts and literacy professional development program consisting of 28 weekly 50-minute lessons (14 theater and 14 dance). The project provided classroom teachers with in-service training on utilizing movement, gesture, and expression to promote stimulating English verbal interactions. TAP was specifically intended to engage non-native English speakers in classroom dialogues, facilitating their oral English development. Research Design This study utilized a mixed methods design. To address the first research question, schools were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Multiple regressions were run on data from the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) to investigate the impact of the program on the English speaking abilities of K–2 Hispanic English learners. To address the second research question, document review was used to compare the K–2 CCSS speaking and listening standards and the TAP lesson plans. Findings The treatment group was found to significantly outperform the control group (β = 0.13; p < 0.05) on CELDT speaking scores. Additional review suggested that the performing arts activities corresponded well to the CCSS speaking and listening standards. Conclusions/Recommendations Creative drama and dance activities provide rich verbal classroom interactions, boost English oral language skills of ELs, and align with the CCSS. Yet concerns are raised about the lack of speaking assessments on tests created by the Smarter Balanced and PARCC consortiums and the potential subsequent distortion of K–2 instruction.

Difficulties Using Standardized Tests to Identify the Receptive Expressive Gap in Bilingual Children's Vocabularies.

Receptive standardized vocabulary scores have been found to be much higher than expressive standardized vocabulary scores in children with Spanish as L1, learning L2 (English) in school (Gibson et al., 2012). Here we present evidence suggesting the receptive-expressive gap may be harder to evaluate than previously thought because widely-used standardized tests may not offer comparable normed scores. Furthermore monolingual Spanish-speaking children tested in Mexico and monolingual English-speaking children in the US showed other, yet different statistically significant discrepancies between receptive and expressive scores. Results suggest comparisons across widely used standardized tests in attempts to assess a receptive-expressive gap are precarious.

Early literacy and comprehension skills in children learning English as an additional language and monolingual children with language weaknesses

Many children learning English as an additional language (EAL) show reading comprehension difficulties despite adequate decoding. However, the relationship between early language and reading comprehension in this group is not fully understood. The language and literacy skills of 80 children learning English from diverse language backgrounds and 80 monolingual English-speaking peers with language weaknesses were assessed at school entry (mean age = 4 years, 7 months) and after 2 years of schooling in the UK (mean age = 6 years, 3 months). The EAL group showed weaker language skills and stronger word reading than the monolingual group but no difference in reading comprehension. Individual differences in reading comprehension were predicted by variations in decoding and language comprehension in both groups to a similar degree.

An Investigation of Language Environment Analysis Measures for Spanish-English Bilingual Preschoolers From Migrant Low-Socioeconomic-Status Backgrounds.

The current study was designed to (a) describe average hourly Language Environment Analysis (LENA) data for preschool-age Spanish-English bilinguals (SEBs) and typically developing monolingual peers and (b) compare LENA data with mean length of utterance in words (MLUw) and total number of words (TNW) calculated on a selected sample of consecutive excerpts of audio files (CEAFs). Investigators examined average hourly child vocalizations from daylong LENA samples for 42 SEBs and 39 monolingual English-speaking preschoolers. The relationship between average hourly child vocalizations, conversational turns, and adult words from the daylong samples and MLUw from a 50-utterance CEAF was examined and compared between groups. MLUw, TNW, average hourly child vocalizations, and conversational turns were lower for young SEBs than monolingual English-speaking peers. Average hourly child vocalizations were not strongly related to MLUw performance for monolingual or SEB participants (r = .29, r = .25, respectively). In a similar manner, average hourly conversational turns were not strongly related to MLUw for either group (r = .22, r = .21, respectively). Young SEBs from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds showed lower average performance on LENA measures, MLUw, and TNW than monolingual English-speaking peers. MLUw from monolinguals were also lower than typical expectations when derived from CEAFs. LENA technology may be a promising tool for communication sampling with SEBs; however, more research is needed to establish norms for interpreting MLUw and TNW from selected CEAF samples.

Consonant recognition in noise for bilingual children with simulated hearing loss

The negative impacts of noisy listening environments and hearing loss on speech communication are known to be greater for children and non-native speakers than adult native speakers. Naturally, the synergistic influence of listening environment and hearing loss is expected to be greater for bilingual children than their monolingual or normal-hearing peers, but limited studies have explored this issue. The present study compared the consonant recognition performance of highly fluent school-age Spanish-English bilingual children to that of monolingual English-speaking peers. Stimulus materials were 13 English consonants embedded in three symmetrical vowel-consonant-vowel (VCV) syllables. To control for variability in hearing loss profiles, mild-to-moderate sloping sensorineural hearing loss modeled after Pittman & Stelmachowicz [Ear Hear 24, 198–205 (2003)] was simulated following the method used by Desloge et al. [Trends Amplification 16(1), 19–39 (2012)]. Listeners heard VCVs in quiet and in the background of speech-shaped noise with and without simulated hearing loss. Overall performance and the recognition of individual consonants will be discussed in terms of the influence of language background (bilingual vs. monolingual), listening condition, simulated hearing loss, and vowel context. [Work supported by NIH.].

Vocational Training for Adolescent English Language Learners in Newcomer Programs: Opportunities or Isolation?

This article presents findings from a qualitative study of newly arrived immigrant students attending mainstream vocational courses through a high school newcomer program in the southern United States. As educators turn to vocational options for instructing linguistically diverse students, this project carefully considers how students experience participation in such programs. This project considers the questions: What were the stated goals for vocational placements of students in the newcomer program? How do the students participate in and describe experiences in vocational courses? How do the students interact with others in English and other languages in these settings? Researchers conducted qualitative observations, made frequency counts of student behaviors, and conducted interviews with students and program leaders. Although stated goals centered on involving students with monolingual English-speaking peers and teaching students job skills, data suggest that students' experiences were not always aligned with these goals. This project, in looking at how students in newcomer programs participate in vocational activities and interact with monolingual peers and teachers, sheds light on how such programs serve students and how programs can be better structured to meet students' academic and linguistic needs.

The Effects of Dual-Language Support on the Language Skills of Bilingual Children With Hearing Loss Who Use Listening Devices Relative to Their Monolingual Peers

The present study investigated the effects of supporting both English and Spanish on language outcomes in bilingual children with hearing loss (HL) who used listening devices (cochlear implants and hearing aids). The English language skills of bilingual children with HL were compared to those of their monolingual English-speaking peers' with HL. The Spanish and English language skills of the bilingual participants were also compared. The language skills of 40 children with HL (20 bilingual Spanish-English-speaking and 20 monolingual English-speaking) were examined using the Auditory Comprehension, Expressive Communication, and total language scores from the Preschool Language Scale, Fourth Edition ( Zimmerman, Steiner, & Pond, 2002a, 2002b). The English language skills of the bilingual participants were commensurate with those of their monolingual English-speaking peers on all 3 measures. The Spanish and English total language scores of the bilingual group were also comparable and highly correlated. Both languages of bilingual children with HL can be supported without having adverse effects on the children's language development. Moreover, supporting both languages in bilingual children with HL may have multifarious positive ramifications.

Positive and negative transfer in the phonological systems of bilingual speakers

The present study examines the phonological skills of bilingual children, taking language use and proficiency into consideration, and compares their skills to monolingual peers. The main research question is whether bilingual children who have parent-reported language use and proficiency measures commensurate with those of their monolingual peers have phonological skills comparable to their monolingual peers. METHOD. Thirty typically developing Spanish- and English-speaking children participated in this study who were matched on age and language use and proficiency (10 monolingual English, mean age: 5;10; 10 monolingual Spanish, mean age: 5;10, and 10 bilingual, mean age: 6;0). The independent variable was language status (bilingual versus monolingual), and the dependent measures included phonological whole-word measures, segmental accuracy measures, and phonological patterns. RESULTS. Bilingual children did not differ from their monolingual peers on any of the Spanish measures, except on accuracy for stops, on which the monolinguals outperformed their bilingual peers. However, bilingual children outperformed their monolingual English-speaking peers on Proximity, PVC, PCC-R, and PCC for nasals. Moreover, bilingual children displayed lower frequencies-of-occurrence on phonological patterns than their English-speaking monolingual peers: weak syllable deletion, spirantization, and fronting. DISCUSSION. The findings of our study indicate that bilingual children may have an advantage over their monolingual peers when it comes to select phonological skills when language use and proficiency are controlled for.

The relation between teacher input and lexical growth of preschoolers

ABSTRACTThe present study examined the growth of receptive lexical skills in preschoolers over an academic year in relation to teacher speech. The participating students were English language learners and their monolingual English-speaking peers from the same classrooms. The measures of teacher input included indicators of the amount of speech (total number of words), lexical richness (number of different word types), and structural complexity (number of words per utterance). These measures were based on a speech sample collected during a classroom observation. For English language learners, vocabulary growth was positively related to the total number of words produced by the teacher, but negatively related to the number of words per utterance. For monolingual speakers, vocabulary growth was positively related to the number of word types produced by the teacher. The findings underscore the importance of considering different aspects of verbal input for understanding individual variability in language growth of preschool students.

Patterns in diversity: Lexical learning in Samoan-English bilingual children

This study examined the lexical development of nine Samoan-English bilingual children during their first year in English speaking preschools in Australia. Receptive and expressive lexicon in Samoan and English was assessed when the children had completed their first term of school (approximately 10 weeks) and then 6 months later. The bilingual children's scores in each language and composite scores were examined over time. Performance was also compared with typically developing, age-matched (4–5-year-old) monolingual English-speaking peers. Results indicated that the group made significant gains in both languages over time. The bilingual children's receptive composite scores were comparable to monolingual English scores, with clear changes in lexical composition (singlets and translation equivalents) over time. Expressive composite scores of bilingual children were lower than scores of monolingual peers. Results appeared to be highly influenced by the language environment and patterns of language use in this group. The potential use of composite score methodology as a clinical assessment tool in bilingual children is discussed.

The Acquisition of Speech Rhythm by Bilingual Spanish- and English-Speaking 4- and 5-Year-Old Children

In this study, the authors investigated speech rhythm acquisition by bilingual Spanish-English-speaking children, comparing their performance with functionally monolingual peers in both languages and to monolingual and bilingual adults. Participants included younger children (3;9 [years;months] to 4;5.15[years;months.days]), older children (4;6.18 to 5;2), and adults (over 18 years). Twenty-six sentences were elicited and analyzed using the normalized vocalic and intervocalic Pairwise Variability Indices (PVIs) that express the level of variability in successive duration measurements, on the basis of E. Grabe and E. L. Low (2002). Younger bilingual children displayed distinct speech rhythm patterns for their target languages, and they deviated from their monolingual English-speaking peers. Older bilingual children also separated speech rhythm by language, and differences between older bilingual children and their monolingual peers speaking English were also found. Younger and older bilingual children differed on the vocalic PVI, but not the intervocalic PVI, providing partial support for age differences. Bilingual adults showed separation of their languages and performed similarly to their monolingual peers. Bilingual children show distinct speech rhythm patterns for their target languages but with some early equal timing bias that diminishes over time, on the basis of the vocalic measurements. Overall, the vocalic PVI is more robust than the intervocalic PVI, but further research is necessary.

Phonological Skills of Children Adopted from China: Implications for Assessment

Little is known about the acquisition of English phonology by children adopted from China. Data are summarized from three recent studies with a focus on the phonological skills of children adopted from China as infants or toddlers. Two longitudinal studies (combined n = 8) described early phonological behaviors (e.g., babbling, phonetic inventories), and found substantial individual variation. In spite of this variation by 3 years of age, nearly all of the children were performing at a level comparable to nonadopted monolingual English-speaking peers. No clear relationship between the early behaviors and outcome at age 3 was found. The third study provided descriptions of the phonological skills of preschoolers ( n = 25) who had been adopted 2 or more years earlier, and found that only a few had persistent phonological delays. Errors were predominantly common developmental errors frequently observed in nonadopted monolingual English-speaking children. These findings suggest that tests and measures developed for monolingual English-speaking children may be used cautiously with children adopted as infants or toddlers who have been in their permanent homes for 2 or more years. Prior to that time, assessment should focus on independent analyses of phonological behaviors with consideration of the child's chronological age, length of exposure to English, and development in other language domains.