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Relations between vocabulary and executive functions in Spanish–English dual language learners

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2017

VRINDA KALIA ,
M. PAULA DANERI  and
MAKEBA PARRAMORE WILBOURN
VRINDA KALIA*
Affiliation:
Miami University
M. PAULA DANERI
Affiliation:
New York University
MAKEBA PARRAMORE WILBOURN
Affiliation:
Duke University
*
Address for correspondence: Vrinda Kalia, Department of Psychology-Miami University, 90 North Patterson Avenue, Oxford, OH 45056[email protected]
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Abstract

The role of dual language exposure in children's cognitive development continues to be debated. The majority of the research with bilingual children in the US has been conducted with children becoming literate in only one of their languages. Dual language learners who are becoming literate in both their languages are acutely understudied. We compared dual language learners (n = 61) in a Spanish–English dual language immersion program to monolingual English speaking children (n = 55) who were in a traditional English only school. Children (kindergarten to 3rd grade) completed standardized vocabulary tasks and two measures of executive functions. Despite having significantly smaller English vocabularies, the dual language learners outperformed the monolingual children on the executive function measures. Implications for our understanding of the relations between oral language development and executive function in bilingual children are discussed.

Keywords

dual language learnersdual language immersionexecutive functionoral language development
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 1 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

We thank the International Literacy Association for supporting this project through the Elva Knight Research Grant.

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