Interlocutor differential effects on the expressive language skills of Spanish-speaking English learners.

PURPOSE: The primary objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between language use with different interlocutors, maternal education level and the expressive language skills of US English learners (ELs) in Spanish and English. METHOD: Two hundred and twenty-four Spanish-speaking ELs in kindergarten provided narrative language samples in Spanish and English. Parents completed a questionnaire of maternal education level and language use with parents, older siblings and peers. RESULT: Multiple linear regression analyses demonstrated that language used with different interlocutors and maternal education level had unique effects on participants' expressive language skills. ELs' expressive language skills in English were predicted by interactions with older siblings, peers and maternal education level; Spanish expressive language skills were predicted by interactions with older siblings. CONCLUSION: The findings from this study suggest that the determination of language experience of school-age bilingual children should examine differential language use with multiple interlocutors, particularly interactions with older siblings and peers.

Storytelling in Mexican Homes: Connections Between Oral and Literacy Practices.

The study focuses on storytelling among Mexican families, documenting the frequency of storytelling in the homes of working and middle class Mexican families, the range of topics of the stories, characteristics and genres of stories, and intergenerational continuity of storytelling practices. Also examined are potential associations between storytelling practices and children's performance on language and early reading tasks. This qualitative study draws from interview data with 30 families, supplemented with survey and outcome data from the larger mixed method project of which it forms a part. Storytelling continues to be a widespread but not frequent activity, including genres of family anecdotes, horror stories, folktales, and historical recounts. Storytelling as a cultural resource is discussed.

Mexican parents' and teachers' literacy perspectives and practices: construction of cultural capital.

This article examines the relationships among the literacy practices engaged in by first-grade children and parents at home and the ways in which these practices are communicated, shaped, and fostered by teachers and administrators in two different sociocultural environments in urban Mexico. The differences observed between the home literacy experiences of children in a working class and a middle class community included transgenerational communication of assumptions regarding literacy and schooling, as well as attitudes associated with the parents' own school experiences. Class-based expectations on the part of teachers not only shaped interactions with parents, but were also reflected in the way the national curriculum was delivered, with a greater emphasis on rote skills and traditional reading instruction in the working class community. The authors argue that the school plays a role in the co-production of cultural capital in the home through its shaping of some of the literacy practices that children and families undertake.