Positive Effects of Early Entrance to Preschool on Turkish Immigrant Children's German Language Acquisition:A Latent Change Analysis

We employed a latent difference score approach to investigate the development of German language competencies among Turkish immigrant (n=85) and German children (n=89) in preschool. Language development was measured twice at the age of 57 and 68 months (T1 and T2 respectively; prachentwicklungstest fur drei- bis funfjabrige Kinder [SETK 3-5]; Grimm, 2001). We controlled for sociodemographic variables, children's cognitive abilities, language exposure at home, and ethnic class composition at preschool. Results revealed that immigrant children scored lower at both time points yet had a steeper increase when compared to non-immigrant children. We found no longitudinal association between children's participation in language support programs and their language development. Age of entrance to preschool moderated the growth in language competencies for immigrant children: Children who entered preschool at the age of 36 months or earlier showed a significant increase in performance and achieved T2 values about the lower limit of the German mean range, whereas children who entered preschool at the age of 37 months or later did not improve significantly over time. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of an early start into preschool for Turkish immigrant children.