Description:

Snapshots are summaries of research articles, books, and other publications by researchers at the FPG Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill. This Snapshot summarizes: Chang, F., Crawford, G., Early, D., & Bryant, D. (2007). Spanish speaking children's social and language development in pre-kindergarten classrooms. Journal of Early Education and Development, 18(2).

Abstract:

A study in the April 2007 issue of Early Education and Development shows that English-only policies may not help children with English proficiency, and may actually harm children in other ways. Researchers showed that Spanish-speaking children with teachers who spoke some Spanish in the classroom were rated by their teachers as having better social skills and closer relationships with their teachers than children with teachers who did not speak Spanish in the classroom.