Ebook: Language, Gender, and Academic Performance : A Study of the Children of Dominican Immigrants

Research has found immigrant youth perform better in school compared to their native-born peers. However, academic performance deteriorates with acculturation to US culture, whereas bilingualism has been associated with better performance in school. Peréa examined whether language acculturation could explain the variation in academic grades among Dominican children of immigrants, and tested whether children who preferred Spanish and English equally had better grades than those who preferred English only. Results indicate benefits associated with bilingualism, however they also indicate a gender-by-acculturation interaction for grades as sex moderated the effects of language preference on academic performance: girls who preferred bilingualism had better grades than those who preferred English, but language preference had little explanatory power for boys.