Use of the Home Language in Preschool Classrooms and First- and Second-Language Development Among Dual-Language Learners

This large study of 1,961 low-income dual language learners attending Educare examined the effects of teachers' language and children's language acquisition. The children's home language was Spanish. Classrooms were grouped into three types: (1) teachers only spoke English with little or no Spanish, (2) teachers spoke English with some Spanish, and (3) teachers spoke English and Spanish equally. Children in all three types showed gains in English and Spanish, but children in classrooms where teachers spoke English and Spanish scored higher on Spanish auditory comprehension measures.