Abstract Understanding dual language learners’ (DLLs’) social competence across home and school settings is essential to provide tailored support. This qualitative study, using data collected from three early care programs, examined parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of DLLs’ social competence and explored the challenges and resources needed to foster this social competence. Participants observed that DLLs often behave differently across home and school settings, which is likely shaped by sociocultural and linguistic factors. Findings also revealed both shared and divergent perspectives among parents and teachers regarding DLLs’ social competence, likely influenced by their cultural backgrounds and life experiences. The findings of this study underscore the complexity of DLLs’ social functioning in culturally and linguistically diverse environments. Notably, although monolingual children were not the focus of this study, some teacher participants raised broader concerns about how all children navigate culturally and linguistically diverse environments, highlighting the importance of supporting both DLLs and monolingual children’s interactions in multilingual settings. Policy and practices should focus on collaborative, multi-level efforts to support DLLs’ social competence, from equipping teachers and families with shared strategies to ensuring that schools and systems provide relevant resources that meet the diverse needs of DLLs, families, and teachers. Within these efforts, family child care providers may particularly benefit from more structured professional development and systemic support to effectively foster DLLs’ social competence.
Wang et al. (Sat,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: