The effect of early enrollment in dual-language immersion programs on children’s English reading development: findings from a 5-year longitudinal study

ABSTRACT

The present study examined the effect of children’s enrollment in U.S. dual-language immersion (DLI) programs in first grade on English development across five years, using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2011 (ECLS-K:2011) database. Propensity score matching was used to create comparable groups of DLI and non-DLI students based on students’ kindergarten reading performance and a series of student-, family-, and school-level characteristics. Growth curve models demonstrate that first-grade DLI enrollment had a positive effect on children’s English reading growth from Grade 1 to 5. Children who enrolled in DLI experienced greater improvements by Grade 5. We also found that first-grade teacher judgment was related to children’s initial reading performance but not their reading growth. Implications related to DLI programs, teacher practices, and bilingual educational policies are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Dual-language immersion
• reading achievement
• growth curve model
• propensity score matching
• teacher judgment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ye Shen

Ye Shen is a Ph.D. candidate specializing in literacy education in the School of Education at the University of Delaware. Her research uses a multifaceted approach to studying bilingual language and literacy development. She is particularly interested in multilingualism, cross-linguistic influences, and multilingual educational programs.

Rui Wang

Rui Wang, Ph.D, is currently a senior data scientist at Mathematica. His research focuses on using quasi-experimental research designs to investigate the causal inferences of various health and education programs. He is also interested in the use of machine learning techniques (e.g., neural networks) on propensity score calculation. He has expertise in health and education policy, educational program evaluation, as well as health quality measures.

Fan Zhang

Fan Zhang is a doctoral student in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Delaware. Her research interests include English language development instruction for English learners, bilingual education, and educational inequality.

Christina Areizaga Barbieri

Christina Areizaga Barbieri, Ph.D, is an Assistant Professor in the University of Delaware's School of Education in the Education Statistics and Research Methods program as well as the Learning Sciences specialization. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Temple University in 2015. She subsequently completed her post-doctoral training at the University of Delaware through an IES training grant focused on bridging research in education and cognitive science. Dr. Barbieri's research focuses on the evaluation and application of cognitive learning principles to improve mathematical competencies, especially for students at risk for low mathematics achievement and development. A core part of her work aims to understand the misconceptions that students have about varied mathematical content and how best to help learners overcome misunderstandings and refine their thinking through instruction. Dr. Barbieri currently serves and has served on several federally-funded grants focused on developing effective mathematics instruction and materials based on cognitive science principles. Dr. Barbieri has received extensive training in advanced statistical techniques, serves on several Editorial Boards, and has published in high impact outlets.

Adrian Pasquarella

Adrian Pasquarella is an associate professor specializing in literacy education in the School of Education at the University of Delaware. His research interests are focused on language and literacy development and instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse learners.