Accounting for the unaccounted: Examining linguistic diversity in the classroom and the communicative experiences of dual language learners in the United States

Communication-rich early learning environments are essential to preschoolers’ language and social development but there is limited information about what happens to their communicative experiences when they are in classrooms that are comprised of preschoolers who are learning simultaneously other languages, in addition to English (i.e., dual language learners or DLLs). Employing a time sampling technique, the present study explores how linguistic diversity in the classroom, measured by the Simpson’s index, can promote or hinder verbal, nonverbal, and paraverbal communicative experiences of both DLLs and non-DLLs. Findings revealed that in more linguistically diverse classrooms both DLLs and non-DLLs displayed less positive affect in general, and teachers displayed less attunement to both DLLs and non-DLLS, albeit in different ways. Moreover, in more linguistically diverse classrooms, DLLs displayed less engagement in classroom activities than did non-DLLs, and non-DLLs were observed to interact less with DLLs than with non-DLLs. Directions for the potential of using a more nuanced way to measure linguistic diversity and an observational tool to capture a broader, holistic view of communicative experiences of children in the classroom are discussed, as are implications for research, practice, and policy.