Effects of Spanish Vocabulary Knowledge on the English Word Knowledge and Listening Comprehension of Bilingual Students

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The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of first-language (i.e., Spanish) receptive vocabulary on both expressive and receptive knowledge of target vocabulary words taught through second-language (L2; i.e., English) instruction and intervention. Participants were bilingual U.S. kindergarten students determined to be at risk based on English receptive vocabulary. To determine student vocabulary level in Spanish, the authors administered a receptive Spanish vocabulary assessment. Students were grouped into matched clusters within classrooms. Clusters were randomly assigned to receive whole-group vocabulary instruction only in L2 (i.e., the control group; n  =  172) or whole-group plus small-group vocabulary instruction in L2 (i.e., the treatment group; n  =  179). Findings indicated that bilingual students with high receptive vocabulary knowledge in Spanish significantly outperformed bilingual students with low receptive vocabulary knowledge in Spanish. Effects of Spanish vocabulary knowledge were maintained a year later, at the end of first grade, as measured by a researcher-developed expressive vocabulary measure in English. The study did not find an interaction effect between condition and student level of Spanish receptive vocabulary. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

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