Bilingual education for all: Latino dual language learners with language disabilities

Abstract

There has been a growing concern about how best to address the needs of dual language learners with language impairments. Most dual language programmes have been evaluated with children with typical language development (TLD) and as a result, very little is known about the effect of these programmes on children with language disabilities. The Vocabulary, Oral Language and Academic Readiness (VOLAR) programme was designed specifically for preschool dual language learners with language impairment. In the last five years, we have completed several federally funded projects aimed at evaluating the feasibility and efficacy of VOLAR testing more than 300 children over time. In the current study, we examined the effect of VOLAR when implemented by teachers within the preschool curriculum. Participants were 40 children receiving the programme and 34 children receiving the ‘business as usual’ preschool curriculum (control group). The comparisons were based on spontaneous language measures obtained at baseline and at two follow-up time points after the programme ended over a period of one year. The results replicated previous research, showing that the VOLAR programme induced significantly more gains than the control curriculum. The children with language impairment also showed greater improvement compared to their peers in the control group. The positive and promising effects on the language skills of children with language impairment support the use of a dual language intervention model with these students.

Keywords:

• dual language learner
• language impairment
• preschool
• language intervention

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge M. Adelaida Restrepo and Monica Sweet for their collaboration in data collection and analysis. These projects were funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education [R324E060073] and by the Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families [90YF0066].