Comparing attitudes of first-grade dual language immersion versus mainstream English students

Students’ attitudes in first-grade dual language immersion (DLI) classes were compared with those of similar students in mainstream English classes. Results for the sample of 81 Latinx students indicated that for attitudes toward activities in Spanish, including reading and speaking in public and with relatives, both ELLs and non-ELLs in DLI had more positive attitudes, often at statistically significant levels and with strong effect sizes. Program placement predicted student attitude on some variables even with parent and demographic variables factored out. There were also significant advantages for DLI on measures of multiculturalism. The findings indicated that attitudinal differences previously found for students at higher grades in DLI can emerge by the end of the first grade. The study also compared responses from parent questionnaires for the two programs and found significant differences, with more Spanish spoken at home and more interest in Spanish reading among DLI parents