In sociolinguistics, an allophone is a person whose mother tongue is a foreign language in the community where he or she lives. A Canadian study reveals now that these allophone children often face learning and communication difficulties in kindergarten, which can negatively impact their later educational journey.
The study in short:
Question Do early childhood education and care services reduce the school-readiness gap between dual and nondual language learners?
Findings In this survey of 80 587 kindergarten-aged children in Quebec, dual language learners were more likely to not be school ready than their peers. While both dual and nondual language learners benefited from early childhood education and care services (especially childcare), dual language learners benefitted the most.
Meaning Early childhood education and care services may reduce the school readiness gap and could be considered as a policy to counter social inequalities.
From the press release:
Learning French while also developing language skills in one’s mother tongue is no easy task. As a result, allophone children often face learning and communication difficulties in kindergarten, which can negatively impact their educational journey. However, solutions are emerging.
According to a study led by Sylvana Côté, preschool education services significantly help bridge the gap between children whose mother tongue is French and those for whom French is a second or even a third language.
Professor Côté, from the School of Public Health at the Université de Montréal (ESPUM), is the director of the Observatory for Children’s Education and Health and a researcher at the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center. The study, with Ophélie A. Collet as the lead author, was recently published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
“Being exposed to other children and a team of educators better prepares children for school than growing up in a home where neither French nor English is spoken. The period from one to five years old is absolutely crucial for language acquisition. It takes a village to raise a child, and in this case, the village is preschool,” summarizes Professor Côté.
Learning to Communicate
The findings are clear. Allophone children who attended daycare (or pre-kindergarten at age four, though to a lesser extent) show better cognitive development, improved social and emotional skills, and greater communication abilities. These benefits are partly attributed to a sufficient level of general knowledge.
At the time of the survey, 6.1% of kindergarten children in Quebec came from allophone families, amounting to 4,360 children. Of these, nearly 14% stayed home before starting school, compared to only 6% of children whose mother tongue was French.
The survey relied on the Early Development Instrument, a Canadian tool used internationally to measure children’s readiness for kindergarten. Teachers, who closely interact with the children, completed the questionnaires and provided information about whether the children had attended preschool services.
“It is crucial to ensure that children whose mother tongue is not French are not disadvantaged by the scarcity of spaces in preschool centers,” emphasizes Professor Côté. She adds that while bilingualism is an excellent mental exercise, the challenges of learning multiple languages are real. Children need support during this critical stage of development.
Academic Persistence
The best predictor of academic persistence is mastering social, emotional, cognitive, and physical skills by kindergarten. Children who lack these skills are less likely to graduate from high school.
Among the 80,000 children surveyed, 11.2% were excluded due to insufficient information, leaving 71,589 participants. Of these, 48.8% were girls, and 25.6% were learning more than one language. This includes 13,981 bilingual children (English and French) and 4,360 allophone children, representing 6.1% of the total. Within this group, 26% spoke Arabic, 18% Spanish, and 7.3% African languages. Others spoke various languages, including Creole, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, or Persian.
Addressing Social Inequalities
Previous studies have shown that quality daycare services benefit all children, especially those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Introduced in 1997 in the province of Quebec (Canada), Quebec’s subsidized Early Childhood Centers (CPEs) were designed to reduce social inequalities and facilitate work-life balance. While the latter goal has been achieved, much work remains to reduce inequalities. Only 30% of children have access to CPEs, and there are 2.5 times fewer centers in disadvantaged areas.
The researchers adjusted their findings to account for families’ financial situations. “The study demonstrates the impact of preschool education services beyond economic status,” explains Professor Côté, noting that the best services are often in affluent neighborhoods.
“This study is a strong call to enhance quality daycare services. It’s a preventive measure to ensure better integration for children,” concludes Côté. This is the first study to specifically examine the impact of preschool services on the readiness of allophone children entering kindergarten.
Professor Côté also directs the Research Group on Child Psychosocial Maladjustment. She plans to revisit the children when they reach fifth grade to determine whether the benefits of daycare persist.
About this study
In addition to Ophélie Collet, the study’s investigators are Thuy Mai Luu, pediatrician at CHU Saint e-Justine; Pascale M. Domond and Tianna Loose, CHU Sainte-Justine Research Centre; Cédric Galéra, Université de Bordeaux; Alejandro Vasquez-Echeverria, University of the Republic of Uruguay; and Massimiliano Orri, Douglas Research Centre, McGill University.
“School Readiness and Early Childhood Education and Care Services Among Dual Language Learners,” by Ophélie Collet et al., was published in JAMA Pediatrics on November 11, 2024.
Abstract of the study:
Importance Dual language learners (DLL) (ie, children learning 2 or more languages) present lower school readiness than non-DLL children, putting DLL children at risk of later school difficulties and adverse outcomes. However, it is unclear whether participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services may reduce this gap.
Objective To assess whether ECEC exposure may reduce the school readiness gap between DLL and non-DLL children in a population-based sample.
Design, Setting, and Participants This census survey study was performed from February to May 2022 in the Canadian province of Quebec using data from the Quebec Survey of Child Development in Kindergarten, which includes all children who attended kindergarten in the 2021 to 2022 school year in public and private schools in Quebec (n = 80 587), except for Cree and Inuit territories.
Exposure Children’s ECEC arrangement before kindergarten was retrieved from register-based data and teachers and arrangements were categorized as exclusive parental care, childcare, pre-kindergarten only, or childcare and pre-kindergarten. Based on their mother tongue and language of instruction, children were classified as French speaking, English speaking, bilingual French-English speaking, or neither French nor English speaking (allophone) children, the last 2 groups of which represented the DLL category.
Main Outcomes and Measures Vulnerability in school readiness was defined as a score below the 10th percentile in any of the 5 domains of the validated Early Development Instrument (EDI): (1) physical health and well-being; (2) social competence; (3) emotional maturity; (4) language and cognitive development; and (5) communication skills and general knowledge.
Results In total, 80 587 children were surveyed, and 71 585 children were included in analyses. Mean (SD) child age was 6.0 (0.3) years, 34 911 children (48.8%) were female, and 18 341 children (25.6%) were DLL. English-speaking, bilingual French-English–speaking, and allophone children were more likely to be vulnerable in the EDI (769 of 2355 children [32.7%], 4814 of 13 981 children [34.4%], and 1622 of 4360 children [37.2%], respectively) than French-speaking children (13 664 of 50 890 children [26.9%]). In logistic regression analyses adjusted for social selection bias in ECEC arrangement, attending ECEC services was associated with a lower risk of being vulnerable among all language groups compared to parental care, with odds ratios ranging from 0.26 (95% CI, 0.25-0.27) to 0.96 (95% CI, 0.80-1.14), except in the emotional maturity domain. ECEC exposure was associated with reduction in vulnerabilities disparities between DLL and non-DLL children after adjusting for confounding factors, including socioeconomic status.
Conclusions and Relevance ECEC services may foster school readiness for all children, especially DLL, and should be considered to reduce school inequalities.