With an increasing number of immigrant children in many countries, questions of how to prepare them for further education become highly salient. Few studies have examined the effect of first-language instruction on children’s engagement in school and how that may later transfer into better majority-language outcomes. A randomized controlled trial in Denmark (n = 230) took an asset-based approach to students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds. We found that first-language instruction of majority-language learners (average age 7.1 years) reduced their behavioural problems in school and increased their school satisfaction and their parents’ engagement. We saw no immediate effect on their spoken first-language skills, but one year after the intervention ended, their reading skills in the majority language were substantially improved. Half of this improvement could be explained by reduced behavioural problems. The results thereby indicate that an asset-based approach to students’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds can help to ensure that first-language instruction transfers into majority-language skills.

随着许多国家的移民儿童数量不断增加，如何让他们为继续教育做好准备的问题变得非常突出。很少有研究检查第一语言教学对儿童在学校参与度的影响，以及这种影响以后如何转化为更好的多数语言结果。丹麦的一项随机对照试验（n = 230) 对学生的文化和语言背景采取了基于资产的方法。我们发现，主要语言学习者（平均年龄 7.1 岁）的第一语言教学减少了他们在学校的行为问题，提高了他们的学校满意度和父母的参与度。我们发现他们的母语口语能力没有立即受到影响，但干预结束一年后，他们的主要语言阅读能力得到了显着提高。这种改善的一半可以通过减少行为问题来解释。因此，结果表明，基于资产的学生语言和文化背景方法有助于确保将第一语言教学转化为主要语言技能。