ABSTRACT
Little research has focused on the development of bilingual and biliteracy skills in young children of low-socio-economic status (low-SES) language minority groups attending preschool and early elementary programmes in a bilingual vs. English environment. This article will address this gap with research focused on the bilingual and biliteracy skills of low-SES Spanish-speaking children to determine whether their language and (pre) literacy outcomes are associated with language of instruction in preschool and then kindergarten and first grade. In addition, this research systematically examines a major gap in our understanding of children’s bilingual and biliteracy outcomes relating to the various configurations of instructional language from preschool through first grade (bilingual throughout, combinations of bilingual and English instruction). Finally,
another gap this research addresses is to examine in young children the extent to which proficiency in the primary language is associated with proficiency in the second language (English).
