TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of a supplemental spanish oral language program on sentence length, complexity, and grammaticality in Spanish-speaking children attending English-only preschools
AU - Restrepo, Maria
AU - Castilla, Anny P.
AU - Schwanenflugel, Paula J.
AU - Neuharth-Pritchett, Stacey
AU - Hamilton, Claire E.
AU - Arboleda, Alejandra
PY - 2010/1/1
Y1 - 2010/1/1
N2 - Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a supplemental Spanish language instruction program for children who spoke Spanish as their native language and were attending English-only preschool programs. Specifically, the study evaluated the program's effects on the children's Spanish sentence length in words, subordination index, and grammaticality of sentences. Method: Forty-five Spanish-speaking children attending English-only prekindergarten classrooms were selected for study. Of those, 15 children received 30 min of Spanish instruction 5 days a week for 16 weeks. The program targeted 5-10 vocabulary words a week, dialogic book reading, phonemic awareness, and letter knowledge. The remaining 30 children participated in regular preschool English instruction. Students were evaluated before intervention, immediately after intervention, and 4 months following intervention. Results: Repeated measures analyses of variance indicated that the children who received the small-group supplemental Spanish language instruction made significant gains in their Spanish sentence length in words and subordination index when compared to those receiving regular English-only classroom instruction. There were no differences in the children's grammaticality of sentences. Discussion and Clinical Implications: The findings demonstrate that a daily short native language program has significant effects on sentence length in words and subordination index in English language learners who are attending English-only preschool programs.
AB - Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a supplemental Spanish language instruction program for children who spoke Spanish as their native language and were attending English-only preschool programs. Specifically, the study evaluated the program's effects on the children's Spanish sentence length in words, subordination index, and grammaticality of sentences. Method: Forty-five Spanish-speaking children attending English-only prekindergarten classrooms were selected for study. Of those, 15 children received 30 min of Spanish instruction 5 days a week for 16 weeks. The program targeted 5-10 vocabulary words a week, dialogic book reading, phonemic awareness, and letter knowledge. The remaining 30 children participated in regular preschool English instruction. Students were evaluated before intervention, immediately after intervention, and 4 months following intervention. Results: Repeated measures analyses of variance indicated that the children who received the small-group supplemental Spanish language instruction made significant gains in their Spanish sentence length in words and subordination index when compared to those receiving regular English-only classroom instruction. There were no differences in the children's grammaticality of sentences. Discussion and Clinical Implications: The findings demonstrate that a daily short native language program has significant effects on sentence length in words and subordination index in English language learners who are attending English-only preschool programs.
KW - Complexity
KW - Grammaticality
KW - Intervention
KW - Sentence length
KW - Spanish
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U2 - 10.1044/0161-1461(2009/06-0017)
DO - 10.1044/0161-1461(2009/06-0017)
M3 - Article
C2 - 19901038
AN - SCOPUS:73649097202
SN - 0161-1461
VL - 41
SP - 3
EP - 13
JO - Language, speech, and hearing services in schools
JF - Language, speech, and hearing services in schools
IS - 1
ER -