Carol Scheffner Hammer|Frank Lawrence|Adele W. Miccio
Exposure to English Before and After Entry into Head Start1: Bilingual Children's Receptive Language Growth in Spanish and English
Pennsylvania State University|Pennsylvania State University|Pennsylvania State University
investigation examined spanish english receptive vocabulary language comprehension abilities bilingual preschoolers attended head start twoyear period hypothesised bilingual childrens development would follow linear trajectories development children exposed spanish home prior school entry would differ children exposure spanish english birth results revealed two groups language abilities spanish english differed beginning study measured raw standard scores differences maintained two years exceptions found childrens vocabulary abilities difference two groups english standard scores narrowing time difference spanish standard scores increasing twoyear period similar research monolingual bilingual children low socioeconomic status ses childrens development languages essentially followed linear trajectories childrens raw scores english receptive vocabulary test accelerated similar research findings monolingual children middle ses also childrens standard scores spanish language comprehension measure decelerated initial period linear growth future directions research discussed