Bilingual advantage? The academic and social-emotional outcomes of Australian bilingual primary school children

A vast body of literature has identified the far-reaching advantages of bilingualism in the cognitive, academic, social, emotional and economic domains. Within the literature exploring the bilingual advantage, much of the research focuses on simultaneous bilinguals, that is, children who have learned both of their language from birth. However, less research has been undertaken to identify the extent to which these benefits may exist among sequential bilinguals. To date, no large-scale data have been examined in the Australian context to explore the diversity of outcomes between monolingual and bilingual Australian primary school children.
Aim
This research draws upon a nationally representative sample of 4,251 children from the birth cohort of the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). The aim of the research is to identify whether sequentially bilingual children living in Australia exhibit academic or social emotional advantages over their monolingual peers during the primary school years.
Method
This research follows children longitudinally over a period of 10 years from birth (0-1 years) until the age of 10-11 years. Two groups of children were compared. The first group were English speaking Australian children (n = 3,862) the second were children who spoke a first language other than English up until the commencement of primary school (n = 389). These children largely became bilingual at school entry, as Australian schools are deliver education in English.
The academic outcome measures used were their Grade 3 and Grade 5 National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results across the five subtests of Reading, Writing, Spelling, Grammar and Numeracy. Social-emotional outcomes were measured using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire at Wave 2 (age 6-7), Wave 3 (age 8-9) and Wave 4 (age 10-11). Outcomes were first analysed bivariately and significant variables were then entered into a multivariate analysis controlling for factors including sex, socioeconomic position and existing disabilities, medical conditions or restrictions at school entry.
Results
Bivariate analyses found that children in the bilingual group scored significantly higher than their monolingual peers in their Grade 3 and Grade 5 NAPLAN results on multiple subtests. These findings continued to be consistent in multivariate analyses controlling for sex, socioeconomic position and existing disabilities, medical conditions or restrictions at school entry. At Wave 2 (age 6-7) parents of the bilingual children reported significantly poorer social-emotional outcomes for their children than parents in the monolingual group. At waves 3 and 4 three were no significant differences between the groups according to parental report. In contrast, teachers consistently reported bilingual children has having better social-emotional outcomes than their monolingual peers.
Conclusion
Bilingual advantages on both academic and social emotional outcomes were found for sequentially bilingual Australian primary school children. There were consistent differences between parent and teacher reported social-emotional outcomes on the SDQ. This could be accounted for by cultural expectations of behaviour and the influence of western culture upon children’s social and emotional expression.