Teaching Dual Language Learners: What Early Childhood Educators Need to Know

As the number of dual language learners (DLLs) in early childhood settings continues to rise, educators need to know how to teach, engage, and assess children from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. They'll have the effective strategies they need with this timely book, a reader‐friendly guide that expertly connects research to practice for teachers of young DLLs.

Early childhood educators will start with a detailed review of the demographics of today's DLLs and the latest research findings on supporting the learning and development of bilingual and multilingual children. Then they'll find practical guidance on the best instructional and assessment practices to integrate into their classrooms. Throughout the book, five in‐depth case studies of diverse children highlight the importance of considering each child's background, skills, and home experiences when designing effective learning environments.

Extending the groundbreaking work of Patton O. Tabors and ideal for use as a textbook or in‐service guide, this concise book compiles everything teachers need to know about working with young DLLs—and setting them up for a lifetime of school success.

TEACHERS WILL LEARN HOW TO

• Connect and work with families, with consideration for their cultural context, practices, beliefs, goals, and diverse experiences
• Internalize eight key beliefs every teacher should have about dual language learning and apply those beliefs to practice
• Apply specific, evidence‐based classroom practices that promote the learning and development of young DLLs
• Use best practices to help DLL children develop language and early literacy skills
• Assess the learning of DLLs in culturally valid and linguistically appropriate ways
• Implement appropriate assessment practices that inform instruction and promote the learning of DLLs

PRACTICAL MATERIALS: Preservice and in‐service teachers alike will benefit from the learning objectives, guiding questions, self‐study and reflection activities, and downloadable forms, including a case study template for child observations and a helpful resource guide to share with families.

Lisa M. López, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of South Florida, Tampa. Dr. López earned her Ph.D. in applied developmental psychology from the University of Miami and completed a National Science Foundation‐funded postdoctoral fellowship in language and literacy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She serves as Chair of the Society for Research in Child Development Latinx Caucus (2019–2021). Her research agenda involves understanding and improving upon the educational and environmental opportunities of Latino dual language learner (DLL) children in the United States. Her main research objective is to identify the developmental trajectory of school readiness skills for Latino DLL children while applying an ecological perspective to better understand this developmental trajectory. Her research has been funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and published in journals focused on both education and developmental psychology. Dr. López has won numerous awards for her scholarly and community work with the Latino DLL population.

Mariela M. Páez, Ed.D., is Associate Professor at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College. She has a doctorate in human development and psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her primary research interests include bilingualism, children’s language and early literacy development, and early childhood education. Dr. Páez has conducted several longitudinal studies with young bilingual children with funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the Office for Educational Research and Improvement of the U.S. Department of Education. Currently, she is conducting a study investigating practices of exemplary teachers for dual language learners across different early childhood programs (i.e., public, private and Head Start). Dr. Páez is author of numerous articles in top journals and, with Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, co-edited Latinos: Remaking America (University of California Press, 2008).