Sarah V. Alfonso|Christopher J. Lonigan
Executive function, language dominance and literacy skills in Spanish-speaking language-minority children: A longitudinal study
Florida State University|Florida State University
united states children whose home language spanish increased risk development reading difficulties studies reported link executive function ef reading studies examined linkage spanishspeaking languageminority lm children longitudinal study examined association preschool ef kindergarten readingrelated skills 241 spanishspeaking lm children mage preschool 5423 months sd 617 preschool children completed measures inhibitory control ic working memory wm dominant language early literacy skills spanish english fall kindergarten year children completed code languagerelated literacy measures languages 2factor model ic wm accounted childrens preschool ef zeroorder correlations ef factors kindergarten outcomes spanish rs 003040 english rs 005035 statistically significant englishlanguage outcomes wm strongly associated coderelated skills ic languagerelated skills spanishlanguage outcomes wm strongly related code languagerelated skills ic little difference associations ef reading outcomes based language ef measured ie childs dominant language controlling early literacy skills language kindergarten outcomes ef contributed significant unique variance kindergarten skills english spanish spanish language outcomes early literacy skills appear mediate role preschool ef results suggest childrens development cognitive domains ef may important role acquisition core early reading skills spanishspeaking lm children