The impact of home literacy on bilingual vocabulary development

ABSTRACT

For bilingual children, home literacy experiences contribute to the development of both languages. In this study, survey data were gathered on the frequency of home literacy activities in two languages for forty-two early-elementary students in a French-English dual language immersion program. Using growth modeling, this study focuses on the effects of print and media exposure on the students’ vocabulary development. Findings suggest no effect of English literacy activities on English baseline vocabulary, whereas there was a positive effect of French literacy activities on French baseline vocabulary. Home language status was a significant factor in French, but not English, vocabulary growth. Results imply that regardless of home language background, for children to develop vocabulary skills in a language other than English, emphasis should be placed on home literacy activities in that language.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the participants in this study. The author would also like to thank Abigail Drexler and Michelle Luna for their help with data collection.

Notes

1. It should be noted that though all of the study participants in the present research are considered bilingual or multilingual given their participation in a DLI program, their profiles greatly vary, as explained in the participants section below. In the context of this study, English is the dominant societal language for all participants. Some participants come from monolingual households where English is the only spoken language, whereas other participants come from households where English and another language or multiple other languages are spoken. Consequently, in the current study, French represents the minority language that is taught as the partner language in the DLI program. In addition, for some of the children who are exposed to French to some extent in their household, French also represents a heritage language.

2. When the study began, the DLI program had been running for two years and only included Transitional Kindergarten/Kindergarten (N = 60 students), and First grade (N = 37 students). Parents of 44 students (i.e., 45% of the population sample) agreed to have their child take part in the study. Two students who had recently immigrated from France were excluded from the sample, since their profiles greatly differed from the rest of the cohort.

3. “TK is the first year of a two-year kindergarten program that uses a modified kindergarten curriculum that is age and developmentally appropriate.” (California Department of Education, n.d.) Among the four students who were in TK at the beginning of the study, two did not continue with the program, while the other two stayed in the French-English program at the school: one went on to Kindergarten in the fall, and one went on to 1st grade in the fall.

4. Three children did not contribute to all the waves.

5. Parents were emailed the link to the survey. In addition, for two weeks at the beginning of the study, the researcher was present at the school during drop-off and pick-up times, assisting some parents who wished to take the survey on an electronic tablet at these times.

6. While research has highlighted the multiple factors that constitute HLE, as discussed earlier, in this study, home literacy is more narrowly conceptualized as the amount of print and media exposure in French and English outside of school.

7. Students received significantly more exposure to print and media in English than in French (t(4) = −10.22, p < .001). In both languages, students engaged in media-related activities significantly more than in activities related to print (t(4) = −14.67, p < .001 for English; t(4) = 5.291, p < .001 for French).

8. Such a finding may not be surprising considering that, unlike French, English was spoken in every household, as explained above.

9. Forms A and B of the ÉVIP and the PPVT-IV were alternated at each wave.

10. The large standard deviations on the ÉVIP also reflect the wide range of French proficiency levels in the sample.

11. The plurality of children in the sample (45%) is White.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Pearson Research Assistance program.

Notes on contributors

Ève Ryan

Ève Ryan is Term Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.