The Effects of Native Language Books on the Pre-Literacy Skill Development of Language Minority Kindergartners

Abstract

The number of limited-English proficient students in the United States has increased over 10% each year during the last decade. To address one of the resulting challenges, this study sought to determine if exposure to age-appropriate books in their native language would affect the pre-literacy skill development of language minority kindergartners. Using a quasi-experimental design, this study discovered that native Spanish-speaking children exposed to books written in Spanish scored significantly higher on a test of pre-literacy skills than did their native Spanish-speaking classmates who were exposed to books written in English; these students also scored no differently than their native English-speaking classmates exposed to books in English. Conclusions and implications of these findings are discussed.