Dual+Language+Learners+and+young+children+with+Language+Impairments

Natalie’s articles Articles related to young children with Language Impairments

Ezell, K., Gonzales, M.D. & Randolph, E. (2000). Emergent Literacy Skills of Migrant Mexican American Preschoolers. //Communication Disorders Quarterly, 21// (3), 147-153. Results suggested that the home literacy environment had the greatest influence on children's emergent literacy skills. Roseberry-McKibbin, C. (2000). Multicultural Matters. //Communication Disorders Quarterly,21(//4), 242-245.

This article discusses these challenges and characteristics, and the author encourages members of the field to conduct research that has practical, clinical implications to assist speech-language pathologist who serve clients from low-income backgrounds.

ELL article: Ballantyne, K.G., Sanderman, A.R., D’Emilio, T. & McLaughlin, N. (2008). Dual language learners in the early years: Getting ready to succeed in school. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition. Available at []

Children who begin school ready to learn are taking the first steps toward realizing their fullest potential in later life. A variety of factors in the very early years work together to create conditions that optimally prepare children ready for school. Ready children have the support of their communities and their families, have access to early education and health care services, and enter schools which are ready to meet their unique needs. A major challenge facing the prekindergarten–12 education system in the United States is the fact that as the population changes, the particular needs of children change with it. One of the largest demographic shifts over the last ten years is the sharp increase in the number of students in public schools who speak English as their second language (NCELA, 2007a). The majority of these children are born in the United States and thus from a very young age are acquiring both the language of their family as well as the language of the larger community. These very young children are dual language learners (DLLs). There is an achievement gap between DLLs and monolingual English speaking children, even after these children have spent five or six years in U.S. schools. These children are also more likely than other learners to come from low-income communities. This means that these learners come from communities where:
 * Their parents are less likely to have graduated high school.
 * They are less likely to have access to the full gamut of health care services in  the critical earliest years of life.
 * They are less likely than other children living in poverty to attend preschool,  despite the fact that preschool attendance has more of a beneficial effect for Spanish-speaking dual language learners than for any other comparable demographic group.  These learners, therefore, may not have had access to the early experiences which optimally prepare children for learning in school. They thus require that teachers provide support and instruction in the early school years which is responsive to their particular needs. Research on instruction indicates that young DLLs:
 * Benefit from instructional techniques that work to include them in classroom social interactions and recognize the value of their home language;
 * Require sufficient time (4–6 years) to become proficient in their second language;
 * Benefit from explicit vocabulary instruction;

• Can transfer literacy skills from their first language, and retain the benefits of first language literacy through eighth grade measures of reading proficiency. Dual language learners also require assessment tools that are appropriate and sensitive to their needs. Attaining accurate assessments of young children who are learning two languages is enormously complex, and assessment measures must be sensitive to both maturational processes as well as the trajectory of second language acquisition. We recommend multiple ongoing assessment measures which can be used to target instruction to the particular needs of individual children. In order to ensure that linguistic minority children are afforded the best possible start in life, policymakers and education decision makers need to inform themselves about the particular circumstances and requirements of this group of children. They furthermore need access to accurate data so that they can work to create optimal conditions which result in children who are ready to learn in school.