Effects of Peer Tutoring on the Second Language Acquisition of Mexican American Children in Elementary School

The purpose of the two classroom experiments reported in this article was to examine the effects of a peer‐tutoring intervention on the second language acquisition of elementary school children. English acquisition by limited English‐speaking Mexican American children was measured in the first experiment, and Spanish acquisition by limited Spanish‐speaking Mexican American children was measured in the second experiment. A matched‐pairs experimental design was employed. Subjects were matched on an overall language proficiency score and on a verbal‐interaction score. They were then assigned to treatment and control groups. The peer‐tutoring treatment provided a structured setting for natural language practice between the tutor, who was a limited English‐speaking or limited Spanish‐speaking child acquiring a second language, and the tutee, a child fluent in the target language. It was found that in Experiment 1, there were significant group differences in frequency of English utterances to peers in a structured setting, with the difference favoring the treatment group. Correlation analyses indicated a significant relationship between English proficiency and verbal interaction in English with peers. For the children in both treatment and control groups in Experiment 2, the frequency of Spanish utterances to peers in free play decreased, resulting in the almost total absence of Spanish use. These findings suggest that peer tutoring may be an effective means of encouraging interaction between Mexican American children acquiring English and their fluent English‐speaking peers. On the other hand, the study points out the difficulty of helping limited Spanish‐speaking children acquire Spanish in an environment in which English is the language with considerably more status.