Native Language Background and Academic Achievement: Is Socioemotional Well-Being a Mediator?

Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals

Y

15

Native Language; Academic Achievement; Well Being; Children; Longitudinal Studies; Surveys; Spanish Speaking; Questionnaires; Self Concept Measures; Structural Equation Models; Comparative Analysis; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Grade 5; Grade 3; English Language Learners; Social Development; Emotional Development; Maximum Likelihood Statistics; Regression (Statistics); Statistical Analysis

Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey; Self Description Questionnaire

10.1080/10888691.2016.1203790

1088-8691

This study examined the extent to which socioemotional well-being mediated the relationship between language status and achievement, while exploring variability in this relationship based on informant (student versus teacher reports of socioemotional problems) and native language background (Spanish-speaking English language learners [ELLs] versus ELLs from Asian-language backgrounds). Participants included 9,046 fifth-grade students from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort of 1998. Results from structural equation modeling showed that Spanish-speaking ELLs reported more social-emotional problems as compared to English-monolingual (EM) and Asian-language ELL classmates in third grade, which partially explained their lower achievement levels in fifth grade. The model accounted for approximately 34% of the variance in students' academic achievement in fifth grade (R[superscript 2] = 0.343, p < 0.001). When comparing ELL and EM students, results differed when using teachers' versus students' reports of socioemotional well-being. For both Spanish-speaking and Asian-language ELLs, teachers perceived fewer social and emotional difficulties than the students themselves reported in comparison to their EM classmates.

As Provided

67

2017

EJ1151940