Supporting Positive Language and Literacy Development in Young Language Minority Children: Research, Policy, and Practice Roundtable Meeting - Summary of Roundtable Meeting

The Language Minority Roundtable was a working meeting where invited participants engaged in critical dialogue regarding how research can support efforts of policymakers and practitioners to serve the language and literacy needs of young language minority children (i.e., birth to 5 years of age). The central goal of the meeting was to gain a better understanding of how available research can or cannot presently inform policy and practitioner concerns.

The present report highlights key research issues and questions that arose from the roundtable meeting on the topic of how research can support positive language and literacy outcomes for young language minority children. The roundtable discussions, held in Washington DC in April 2008, were unique in that they highlighted research issues specific to the needs of programming and policy audiences. Several federal agencies and prominent researchers in the field assisted in planning the content of the meeting. In addition, many efforts were made to ensure that the voices of stakeholders outside the academy were included in the proceedings, which greatly enriched and enlivened the discussions. To this end, half of the attendees at the roundtable consisted of scholars from various institutions (about 40 total), while the other half comprised directors and practitioners in early childhood programs and federal representatives.