Journal article
Multilingualism and speech-language competence in early childhood: Impact on academic and social-emotional outcomes at school
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Vol.34, pp.53-66
First Quarter 2016
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Source: InCites
Abstract
This large-scale longitudinal population study provided a rare opportunity to consider the interface between multilingualism and speech-language competence on children’s academic and social-emotional outcomes and to determine whether differences between groups at 4–5 years persist, deepen, or disappear with time and schooling. Four distinct groups were identified from the Kindergarten cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) (1) English-only + typical speech and language (n = 2012); (2) multilingual + typical speech and language (n = 476); (3) English-only + speech and language concern (n = 643); and (4) multilingual + speech and language concern (n = 109). Two analytic approaches were used to compare these groups. First, a matched case-control design was used to randomly match multilingual children with speech and language concern (group 4, n = 109) to children in groups 1–3 on gender, age, and family socio-economic position in a cross-sectional comparison of vocabulary, school readiness, and behavioral adjustment. Next, analyses were applied to the whole sample to determine longitudinal effects of group membership on teachers' ratings of literacy, numeracy, and behavioral adjustment at ages 6–7 and 8–9 years. At 4–5 years, multilingual children with speech and language concern did equally well or better than English-only children (with or without speech and language concern) on school readiness tests but performed more poorly on measures of English vocabulary and behavior. At ages 6–7 and 8–9, the early gap between English-only and multilingual children had closed. Multilingualism was not found to contribute to differences in literacy and numeracy outcomes at school; instead, outcomes were more related to concerns about children’s speech and language in early childhood. There were no group differences for socio-emotional outcomes. Early evidence for the combined risks of multilingualism plus speech and language concern was not upheld into the school years.
Details
- Title
- Multilingualism and speech-language competence in early childhood: Impact on academic and social-emotional outcomes at school
- Creators
- Sharynne McLeod - Charles Sturt UniversityLinda J Harrison - Charles Sturt UniversityChrystal Whiteford - Queensland University of TechnologySue Walker - Queensland University of Technology
- Publication Details
- Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Vol.34, pp.53-66
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- Grant note
- Collaboration for this research was supported by the Excellence in Research in Early Years Education Collaborative Research Network project. The first author acknowledges support from Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT0990588).
- Identifiers
- 991013006390202368
- Copyright
- © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Education
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article