Fostering crosslinguistic knowledge about language in young learners: effects of explicit L2 Spanish grammar learning on L1 English grammar

Figures & data

Figure 1. Study design.

Figure 2. Worksheet on verbal Inflection and null subjects.

Figure 3. Worksheet from activity on adjectives, with answers.

Figure 4. Boxplots showing children’s scores on the tests of spelling (above) and grammar (below) at pre- and post-test, separated by group (intervention/control).

Table 1. Descriptive statistics (mean (standard deviation)) for GPS scores; median (range) for Spanish score) for pre- and post-test measures of L1 spelling and grammar and L2 skills, split by intervention group.

	Intervention Group n = 40	Control Group n = 42	Group difference (t)	Effect size (Cohen’s d)
Time 1 (end of Year 5)
GPS Spelling (/20)	14.15 (4.99)	13.14 (5.84)	.84 (p = .40)	.19
GPS Grammar (/50)	28.33 (8.75)	29.05 (10.14)	.35 (p = .73)	.08
Spanish score^3	2 (1-4)	2 (1-4)	U = 741.50 (p = .69)
Time 3 (end of Year 6)
GPS Spelling (/20)	13.55 (5.00)	12.81 (5.26)	.65 (p = .52)	.21
GPS Grammar (/50)	35.23 (7.56)	34.26 (9.32)	.51 (p = .61)	.11
Spanish score^3	2 (1-4)	3 (1-4)	U = 786.00 (p = .58)

¹Raw score; ²Summed z-scores; ³Teacher rating (1–4).

Figure 5. (a) Performance on GPS spelling subtest from pre-test to post-test by intervention group. (b) Performance on GPS grammar subtest from pre-test to post-test by intervention group.