Language Proficiency and Academic Success: Relationships between Proficiency in Two Langauges and Achievement among Mexican American Students

While considerable research has focused on second language development and academic success, the debate continues on how the development of the first language benefits the acquisition of the second. The intent of the present study was to examine the s t rength of the re la t ion among proficiency in English and Spanish and academic success. Relations among oral language, literacy, and academic achievement were examined. A significant connection was found between proficiency in English and standardized achievement scores, as well as grade point averages. Similarly, the results reveal significant correlations between reading and writing in Spanish and achievement scores, as well as grade point average. The strongest relations were found between Written Language and academic success. Early research among large groups of bilingual immigrant children in the first half of the twentieth century concluded that being bilingual contributed to “mental confusion” (Darcy, 1953). Researchers are now aware of the methodological errors made in some of the early research on bilingual children. For example, R. M. Díaz (1985) stated that researchers such as Peal and Lambert have shown evidence that there is a positive influence of bilingualism on children’s cognitive ability. This research responds to a long tradition of negative statements about childhood bilingualism. Díaz attributed the positive findings to the fact that their bilingual sample included children who had similar and age-appropriate abilities in two languages. This research method was not typically employed in previous studies. Hakuta, Ferdman, and Díaz (1986) argued that early research on bilingualism failed to distinguish between the different levels of bilingualism. According to the researchers, if the goal of a study was to establish whether the extent of bilingualism in children had an effect on individual cognitive development, one should define bilingualism in terms of children’s abilities in the two languages. Futher, early research used a societal definition of bilingualism, referring to all Hispanic children from low socio-economic