Estrella Rodriguez

This article reports on the grammatical knowledge displayed by a group of Spanish heritage speakers (HSs) when they submitted answers to online homework assignments in a hybrid language course for specific purposes (LSP). Participants received grammatical input through a combination of classroom and online instruction, a hybrid modality. We examined the performance of the HSs on the online assignments, and compared it with a group of L2 learners. The structures of interest were the preterite, imperfect and subjunctive mood in various propositions (volition, doubt, emotion, adverbial temporal clauses, and imperfect subjunctive). Analyses of variance showed no significant differences between the HSs and the L2 learners in the preterite-imperfect contrasts. On the use of subjunctive morphology, HSs were less accurate in subjunctive sentences with adverbial temporal clauses and with the imperfect subjunctive. We conclude that complex subjunctive subordinations remain a vulnerable area i...

This study investigates the relationship between parental language dominance in Spanish and heritage language (HL) child performance on receptive vocabulary and emergent literacy skills in English through two norm-based assessments. We used the Bilingual Language Profile (BLP) (Birdsong, Gertken, & Amengual, 2012) to assess parental language dominance in a quantifiable and structured way. Kindergarten HL children (n = 58) were tested on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, PPVT-4 (Dunn & Dunn, 2007), as a receptive measure of English vocabulary. They were also tested on three sub sets of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test, Third Edition (WRMT-III) (2011), as measures of emergent literacy skills. BLP scores indicated that parents were mostly Spanish dominant. Correlations conducted between parent BLP scores and child receptive vocabulary (PPVT-4) showed a negative relationship. In contrast, parental BLP scores were positively related to two of the WRMT-III subsets (letter identificati...

This study aimed to describe home literacy (HL) activities of Spanish-/English-speaking children of low–socioeconomic status backgrounds and examine the relationship between HL and performance on standardized assessments. Parents of 65 dual-language learners (DLLs) in kindergarten completed an HL questionnaire. Parents reported an average of 17 books at home and engaged in active HL activities for 24 minutes a day on average. The relations between HL activities and performance were evaluated using correlations and regression. Analyses revealed a significant relation between HL and children’s language abilities, as measured by a bilingual measure of morphosyntax and semantics. Children’s reported interest in reading was also positively associated with their phonological awareness skills. HL was significantly related to child interest in reading and language performance. These findings suggest that home literacy plays a role in the language and literacy development of DLLs.

This study aimed to examine the effect of an intensive vocabulary intervention embedded in e-books on the vocabulary skills of young Spanish-English speaking English learners (ELs) from low-socioeconomic status backgrounds. Children (N = 288) in kindergarten and 1st grade were randomly assigned to treatment and read-only conditions. All children received e-book readings approximately 3 times a week for 10-20 weeks using the same books. Children in the treatment condition received e-books supplemented with vocabulary instruction that included scaffolding through explanations in Spanish, repetition in English, checks for understanding, and highlighted morphology. There was a main effect of the intervention on expressive labeling (g = 0.38) and vocabulary on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Fourth Edition (g = 0.14; Dunn & Dunn, 2007), with no significant moderation effect of initial Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test score. There was no significant difference between conditions on chi...