SEL for DLLs: The Influence of Social-Emotional Learning Programs on Key Outcomes for Dual Language Learners in Head Start

Abstract

Dual language learners (DLLs) represent a rapidly growing population of students in United States preschools. DLLs increasingly experience social emotional learning (SEL) programs in their early learning environments, which are now widely implemented in Head Start and other publicly funded preschools. However, limited research has explored the extent to which SEL programs support DLL development. Investigating the impact of SEL programs on DLL skills is critical to both enhance the literature on SEL programs and to identify the types of preschool curricula that benefit DLLs. In the present study, I took an ecological systems and sociocultural approach to evaluating the extent to which SEL programs support DLL language and social outcomes and whether these outcomes depend on classroom contextual factors. Using an existing data set that included a large number of DLLs enrolled in Head Start, I fit a series of multilevel models to evaluate whether participating in an SEL program predicted growth in DLLs’ social skills and vocabulary over time compared to participating in a control group. I conducted a multilevel moderation analysis to examine the extent to which DLL outcomes depended on the overall quality of teacher-child interactions in a classroom and having a teacher who could speak DLLs’ home language (i.e., Spanish). Results indicated that DLLs who participated in an SEL program showed greater growth in social skills over time than DLLs in the control group. There was not evidence to suggest that the social skills outcomes depended on classroom-level teacher-child interactions, nor on having a Spanish-speaking teacher. Findings also revealed no significant difference in vocabulary growth over time among DLLs in the SEL program group versus DLLs in the control group. However, results indicated that DLL vocabulary outcomes depended on classroom-level teacher-child interaction quality. There was not evidence to suggest that vocabulary outcomes depended on having a Spanish-speaking teacher. These findings provide support for preschool SEL programs as a tool to enhance DLL social skills. They suggest the need for SEL programs to embed opportunities for quality teacher-child language interactions in curricula to enhance DLL vocabulary skills. Future research should continue to explore the contextual factors that impact DLL outcomes in SEL programs, as well as explore the relative effectiveness of various SEL programs.