Studying the oral language growth of Spanish-speaking preschoolers in the United States is increasingly important given the critical role early language development plays in reading outcomes. In this article, we report on the Spanish and English growth trajectories observed in 124 bilingual preschoolers collected over 2 years in 36 classrooms across 5 states and the associations of growth in each language to language of instruction and home language exposure. Patterns indicate the need for Spanish instruction to maintain robust rates of Spanish growth and English growth rates in Spanish, bilingual, and English-only instruction. Significant differences in English and Spanish oral language abilities were also noted at the intercept between children who were Spanish dominant versus balanced bilinguals. Implications for research and practice are provided.

中文翻译：

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双语学龄前儿童的西班牙语和英语口语增长率：教学语言的影响

鉴于早期语言发展在阅读结果中发挥的关键作用，研究美国讲西班牙语的学龄前儿童的口语发展变得越来越重要。在本文中，我们报告了在 5 个州的 36 个教室中收集的 124 名双语学龄前儿童在 2 年内观察到的西班牙语和英语的成长轨迹，以及每种语言的成长与教学语言和家庭语言接触的关联。模式表明西班牙语教学需要在西班牙语、双语和纯英语教学中保持强劲的西班牙语增长率和英语增长率。在西班牙占主导地位的儿童与平衡的双语儿童之间的截距中，也注意到英语和西班牙语口语能力的显着差异。