John M. Goodrich|Christopher J. Lonigan|Jo Ann M. Farver
Do early literacy skills in children's first language promote development of skills in their second language? An experimental evaluation of transfer.
Florida State University
purpose study evaluate crosslanguage transfer emergent literacy skills preschoolers spanishspeaking language minority children context experimental intervention study ninetyfour children randomly assigned either control condition highscope preschool curriculum receive smallgroup pullout instruction literacy express preschool curriculum english initially spanish transitioning english examined whether childrens initial skills one language moderated impact intervention skills language posttest results demonstrated children englishonly intervention condition initial spanish receptive vocabulary elision skills moderated impact intervention english receptive vocabulary elision skills posttest respectively children transitional intervention condition initial english definitional vocabulary elision skills moderated impact intervention spanish definitional vocabulary elision skills posttest respectively results vocabulary interactions well elision interaction englishonly intervention group comparisons supported notion transfer specific linguistic information across languages results elision interaction transitional intervention group comparisons supported languageindependent transfer implications theory crosslanguage transfer emergent literacy skills discussed