Dual Language Learners and the Development of Self-Regulation

In the United States, educational practices in many schools focus on high-stakes testing and accountability without regarding core skills such as self-regulation. Equating the results of standardized test scores with actual learning without considering or measuring for other critical skills in a child is misleading. Self-regulation is a skill used as a predictor of school success rather than academic content itself. Measuring self-regulation in dual language learners (DLLs) is a challenge because DLLs enter preschools with lower expressive and receptive language skills that are necessary to learn regulatory skills. Specifically, they lack the language to socially interact with adults and peers in the classroom setting; thus, they are unable to learn socially acceptable behaviors and emotions from classmates and teachers. This leads to the lack ...