The early language environments of low-income Hispanic children can be negatively affected when their Spanish-speaking caregivers face racism, assimilation pressure, and/or misinformed advice based on English-only ideologies. This article reports on the design and efficacy of Háblame Bebé, a language-promoting phone application that encourages low-income Hispanic mothers to talk more to their children in their native Spanish with the goals of (1) improving their children’s early language environment, (2) promoting bilingualism, and (3) monitoring developmental milestones. The app was designed and tested across three phases as mandated by the US HRSA Bridging the Word Gap Challenge. In Phase I, we developed a curriculum that promotes high-quality language interactions in Spanish and designed the app components. In Phase II, we tested the app with 20 Hispanic mothers (half high school-educated, half college-educated) in a pretest–posttest design in which we examined their language interactions before and after two months of using the app. Preliminary results indicated that mother–child verbal interactions increased, but not always in their native Spanish, and the difference was not statistically significant. Focus group data revealed that many of the mothers had experienced linguistic racism and that tropes surrounding Spanish-speaking identity in the USA needed to be explicitly addressed within the intervention. In Phase III, a sociolinguistic pride component was added and the app was again tested with 12 additional Hispanic mothers (all high school-educated only). This time, a statistically significant increase in mother–child verbal interactions was found. Mothers also reported feeling prouder to use Spanish with their children. These results suggest that Háblame Bebé may be a viable means to reach low-income Hispanic caregivers who face obstacles in accessing health information and/or home-visiting programs for their children.

中文翻译：

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Háblame Bebé：支持西班牙裔儿童早期语言环境和双语能力的电话应用程序干预

当讲西班牙语的照顾者面临种族主义、同化压力和/或基于纯英语意识形态的错误建议时，低收入西班牙裔儿童的早期语言环境可能会受到负面影响。本文报道了 Háblame Bebé 的设计和功效，这是一个语言推广电话应用程序，鼓励低收入的西班牙裔母亲更多地用母语西班牙语与孩子交谈，其目标是（1）改善孩子的早期语言环境，（ 2) 促进双语，以及 (3) 监测发展里程碑。该应用程序按照美国 HRSA 弥合单词差距挑战的要求在三个阶段进行设计和测试。在第一阶段，我们开发了一个课程，以促进高质量的西班牙语语言交互，并设计了应用程序组件。在第二阶段，我们在前测-后测设计中对 20 位西班牙裔母亲（一半受过高中教育，一半受过大学教育）测试了该应用程序，在该设计中，我们检查了他们在使用该应用程序两个月前后的语言互动。初步结果表明，母子之间的语言交流有所增加，但并不总是以母语为西班牙语，并且差异无统计学意义。焦点小组数据显示，许多母亲都经历过语言种族主义，并且需要在干预措施中明确解决围绕美国讲西班牙语身份的比喻。在第三阶段，添加了社会语言自豪感组件，该应用程序再次与另外 12 名西班牙裔母亲（均受过高中教育）进行了测试。这一次，发现母子语言互动在统计学上显着增加。母亲们还报告说，与孩子一起使用西班牙语感到更加自豪。这些结果表明，Háblame Bebé 可能是接触低收入西班牙裔照顾者的可行方法，这些照顾者在获取健康信息和/或为孩子的家访计划方面面临障碍。