Do Peers Matter? Peer Effects on Young Children's Vocabulary Gains in German Classrooms

Children in early childhood education and care (ECEC) spend a considerable amount of time interacting with their peers. However, open questions remain on whether and how children influence their peers' language development. The present study examined effects of peers' German receptive vocabulary (n = 1,871) on individual children's (n = 431) receptive vocabulary gains. Target children were between 30 and 48 months old at the beginning of the study. Findings revealed no links between peers' vocabulary skills and individual children's vocabulary gains, neither for all children nor depending on children's prior vocabulary skills. However, for children with lower prior skills, there was a negative association between the percentage of dual language learners in the classroom and children's vocabulary gains. This link was not attributable to peers' vocabulary skills. A number of possible mediators and moderators for peer effects were examined but none of them proved to be significant. In sum, these (null-) findings inform future research on compositional and peer effects as well as their underlying processes. Moreover, they have important practical implications for policymakers and ECEC professionals. Educational Impact and Implications Statement A current issue for policy and practice is how the distribution of children from differing backgrounds in early childhood education and care classrooms affects children's development. This study found that children's language development was not linked to the language skills of their peers in early childhood education and care classrooms. However, children with low societal language skills showed less improvement in their language skills if they attended a classroom with a high percentage of bilingual children (children exposed to another language at home). While our findings provide no evidence that peers' language skills relate to individual children's language skills, they suggest that classroom composition may be relevant to language development under certain circumstances. Additional research on the specific mechanisms and risk factors is needed in order to provide clear implications for policy and practice.