DP11183 The Educational Consequences of Language Proficiency for Young Children
Author(s): | Asako Ohinata, Jan C. van Ours, Yuxin Yao |
Publication Date: | March 2016 |
Keyword(s): | |
JEL(s): | I15, J24 |
Programme Areas: | Labour Economics |
Link to this Page: | cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=11183 |
This paper studies the educational consequences of language proficiency by investigating the relationship between dialect-speaking and academic performance of 5-6 year old children in the Netherlands. We find that dialect-speaking has a modestly negative effect on boys' language test scores. In addition, we study whether there are spillover effects of peers' dialect-speaking on test scores. We find no evidence for spillover effect of peers' dialect-speaking. The test scores of neither Dutch-speaking children nor dialect-speaking children are affected by the share of dialect-speaking peers in the classroom.