scholarly journals How bilingual development is the same as and different from monolingual development

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Hoff
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Old Spanish ◽  
Language Exposure ◽  
Bilingual Development ◽  
Language Growth ◽  
Growth Differences

Based on data from two longitudinal studies of 2- to 5-year-old Spanish- and English-learning bilingual children and English-learning monolingual children, we compare the processes and outcomes of simultaneous bilingual development to those of monolingual development. We find, in essence, that the processes are the same. The outcomes differ, however, because the immediate environments and larger sociocultural contexts of bilingual and monolingual development differ. Common processes include a dependence of language growth on the quantity and quality of language exposure and a relation between children’s own language use and their language growth. Differences in outcomes include the rate of language development and the profiles of expressive and receptive skills. 

scholarly journals Questionário sociolinguístico parental para famílias emigrantes bilingues (QuesFEB) uma ferramenta de recolha de dados sociolinguísticos de crianças falantes de herança

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 75-102
Author(s):  
Liliana Correia ◽  
Cristina Flores
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Cumulative Exposure ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Input Quantity ◽  
Input And Output ◽  
Language Exposure ◽  
Bilingual Development

Empirical research in the field of bi-/multilingualism has shown that the acquisition of two (or more) languages during childhood is significantly influenced by the sociolinguistic experience of each individual, namely by the quantity and the quality of language exposure to the target languages (Unsworth 2016a). In fact, the heterogeneity of sociolinguistic contexts in which bilingual acquisition takes place leads to variation in the quantity and quality of the input to which bilingual children are exposed on a daily basis, which, in turn, originates individual variation in the levels of language development in the languages under acquisition, mainly, in the minority language (also known as heritage language/HL; cf. Montrul 2016). In order to assess the effect of language experience on bilingual development, studies usually resort to sociolinguistic questionnaires, which allow the researcher to outline the sociolinguistic profile of the subjects under analysis, as well as to obtain crucial information about predictive variables of bilingual development (see Unsworth 2019). In this paper, we present a sociolinguistic questionnaire, in Portuguese, developed for the collection of data on the sociolinguistic experience of bilingual children, between the ages of six and ten, with a migration background – the Questionário Sociolinguístico Parental para Famílias Emigrantes Bilingues (QuesFEB). This parental questionnaire, intended for researchers who conduct studies in the field of heritage bilingualism, has as its main objective the collection of biographical and sociolinguistic information not only for the detailed characterisation of the context in which bilingual children acquire the heritage language, but also, and mainly, for the quantification of their language experience in the target language, enabling the assessment of the effect that variables related to input quantity and quality have on that language. Besides providing a detailed description of the content of the sections that compose the QuesFEB, we will present, in detail, the method of codification and calculation of four key variables that have been found to be predictive of HL development, namely: (i) current quantity of HL use (i.e., input and output) in the household; (ii) quantity of cumulative exposure to the HL in the household; (iii) quantity of HL use (i.e., input and output) with migrant grandparents who are native speakers of the language of origin; and (iv) richness of the language exposure to the HL.

Deutsch als schwächere Sprache bei deutsch-polnisch bilingualen Kindern: Studie zur Negation- und Verbstellung

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-297
Author(s):  
Aldona Sopata ◽  
Kamil Długosz
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Language Use ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Striking Difference ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Development Characteristic ◽  
Processing Mechanisms ◽  
Constrained Input

AbstractThis article examines the acquisition of German as the weaker language in the cases of German-Polish bilingual children. Focusing on negation and verb position, phenomena that have frequently been taken as diagnostic when distinguishing between the course of language development characteristic for first (L1) and second language acquisition (L2), we analyse experimental and productive data from six simultaneously bilingual children. Due to the constrained input, German is their weaker language. The results in Forced Choice and Grammaticality Judgements tasks are compared with the results of monolingual children. We show that in the area of negation the acquisition of German as the weaker language resembles L1, and in the area of inversion and verb final position the development of the weaker language is delayed. The striking difference between bilinguals’ results in the experimental vs. productive tasks points to specific processing mechanisms in bilingual language use. In narrative contexts of the production tasks the language of the performance is activated, while the other is inhibited, which leads to a target-like performance. Structural properties of the stronger language tend to be activated, however, in the experimental tasks involving the weaker language, resulting in non-target-like responses.

scholarly journals Language Use Contributes to Expressive Language Growth: Evidence From Bilingual Children

2017 ◽  
Vol 89 (3) ◽  
pp. 929-940 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krystal M. Ribot ◽  
Erika Hoff ◽  
Andrea Burridge
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Language Growth

scholarly journals Exposure and input in bilingual development

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUSANNE E. CARROLL
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Grammar Learning ◽  
Language Exposure ◽  
Bilingual Development ◽  
The Right

A growing literature on bilingual development explores relationships between language exposure and learning outcomes. Vocabulary size and pace of grammar learning have been claimed to be causally related to amounts or types of exposure to each language. Strong claims are made about the role of exposure on bilingual outcomes. Some researchers posit a unique learning result: a ‘weak language’. In a critical review, I voice reasons for scepticism that quantity or quality of exposure alone will explain findings. Central constructs are not well defined; inappropriate research methods have been used; the right kind of data is not discussed. Crucially, authors prevaricate on the notion of language itself, switching between cognitive and environmental perspectives. Both are needed to interpret bilingual behaviours but play different roles in the construction of learner grammars.

scholarly journals Older sibling influences on the language environment and language development of toddlers in bilingual homes

2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
KELLY BRIDGES ◽  
ERIKA HOFF
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
English Language Development ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
Language Exposure ◽  
Household Members ◽  
Language Environment ◽  
Older Siblings ◽  
Older Sibling

ABSTRACTTwo separate studies examined older siblings’ influence on the language exposure and language development of US-born toddlers who were being raised in bilingual homes. The participants in Study 1 were 60 children between 16 and 30 months who had heard English and another language at home from birth; 26 had older siblings, and 34 did not. The participants in Study 2 were 27 children, assessed at 22 and 30 months, who had heard English and Spanish from birth; 14 had school-aged older siblings, and 13 did not. Both studies found that older siblings used English more in talking to the toddlers than did other household members and that toddlers with older siblings were more advanced in English language development. Study 2 also found that the presence of a school-aged older sibling increased mothers’ use of English with their toddlers and that toddlers without a school-aged older sibling were more advanced in Spanish than the toddlers with a school-aged older sibling. These findings contribute to a picture of the complex processes that shape language use in bilingual homes and cause variability in young children's bilingual development.

scholarly journals Dual language exposure and early bilingual development

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIKA HOFF ◽  
CYNTHIA CORE ◽  
SILVIA PLACE ◽  
ROSARIO RUMICHE ◽  
MELISSA SEÑOR ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Dual Language ◽  
Extant Literature ◽  
Language Exposure ◽  
Bilingual Development

ABSTRACTThe extant literature includes conflicting assertions regarding the influence of bilingualism on the rate of language development. The present study compared the language development of equivalently high-SES samples of bilingually and monolingually developing children from 1 ; 10 to 2 ; 6. The monolingually developing children were significantly more advanced than the bilingually developing children on measures of both vocabulary and grammar in single language comparisons, but they were comparable on a measure of total vocabulary. Within the bilingually developing sample, all measures of vocabulary and grammar were related to the relative amount of input in that language. Implications for theories of language acquisition and for understanding bilingual development are discussed.

Parent report data on input and experience reliably predict bilingual development and this is not trivial

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHANNE PARADIS
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Parent Report ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Input Quantity ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Input Quality ◽  
Report Data ◽  
Language Exposure ◽  
Parent Questionnaires ◽  
Bilingual Development

Carroll (Carroll) takes issue with the use of parent report to obtain quantity of language exposure measures in research on bilingual development. When discussing parent questionnaires, Carroll writes “Temporal units are crude measures of exposure and they tell us nothing about input”. While I agree that temporal units do not tell us much about the fine-grained details of the input within the temporal units, importantly, parent-report-based measures of input quantity have predicted variation in bilingual development of phonology, vocabulary and morphosyntax. These are robust and reliable findings across numerous studies, and yet, Carroll skates over them as if they did not matter, or dismisses them as trivial. Furthermore, Carroll seems to lead readers to believe that only coarse-grained, language-use temporal units have been obtained through this method; on the contrary, researchers have obtained fine-grained input quality details via parent report that also predict bilingual children's development. Finally, in some circumstances, parent report data is the only feasible method for obtaining language exposure information.

scholarly journals Maternal Depressive Symptomatology, Social Support, and Language Development of Bilingual Preschoolers From Low-Income Households

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren M. Cycyk ◽  
Dana Bitetti ◽  
Carol Scheffner Hammer
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Maternal Depression ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Depressive Symptomatology ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Language Growth ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Low Income Households

Purpose This study examined the impact of maternal depressive symptomatology and social support on the English and Spanish language growth of young bilingual children from low-income backgrounds. It was hypothesized that maternal depression would slow children's development in both languages but that social support would buffer the negative effect. Method Longitudinal data were collected from 83 mothers of Puerto Rican descent and their children who were attending Head Start preschool for 2 years. The effects of maternal depressive symptomatology and social support from family and friends on receptive vocabulary and oral comprehension development in both languages were examined. Results Growth curve modeling revealed that maternal depressive symptomatology negatively affected Spanish receptive vocabulary development only. Maternal depression did not affect children's English receptive vocabulary or their oral comprehension in either language. Social support was not related to maternal depressive symptomatology or child language. Conclusions These findings suggest that maternal depression is 1 risk factor that contributes to less robust primary language development of bilingual children from low-income households. Speech-language pathologists must (a) increase their awareness of maternal depression in order to provide families with appropriate mental health referrals and (b) consider their roles as supportive adults for children whose mothers may be depressed.

scholarly journals Predicting bilingual preschoolers’ patterns of language development: Degree of non-native input matters

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (05) ◽  
pp. 1189-1219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Unsworth ◽  
Susanne Brouwer ◽  
Elise de Bree ◽  
Josje Verhagen
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Input Quantity ◽  
Input Quality ◽  
Family Constellation ◽  
The Impact

AbstractWhile numerous studies have recently shown that variation in input quantity predicts children’s rate of acquisition across a range of language skills, comparatively little is known about the impact of variation in input quality on (bilingual) children’s language development. This study investigated the relation between specific quality-oriented properties of bilingual children’s input and measures of children’s language development across a number of skills while at the same time taking family constellation into account. Participants were bilingual preschoolers (n = 50) acquiring Dutch alongside another language. Preschoolers’ receptive and productive vocabulary and morphosyntax in Dutch were assessed. Parental questionnaires were used to derive estimates of input quality. Family constellation was first operationalized as presence of a native-speaker parent and subsequently in terms of patterns of parental language use. Results showed that proportion of native input and having a native-speaker parent were never significant predictors of children’s language skills, whereas the degree of non-nativeness in the input, family constellation in terms of parental language use, and language richness were. This study shows that what matters is not how much exposure bilingual children have to native rather than non-native speakers, but how proficient any non-native speakers are.

scholarly journals Morphological Accuracy in the Speech of Bimodal Bilingual Children with CIs

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 435-447
Author(s):  
Corina Goodwin ◽  
Diane Lillo-Martin
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Perceptual Salience ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Language Exposure

AbstractSign language use in the (re)habilitation of children with cochlear implants (CIs) remains a controversial issue. Concerns that signing impedes spoken language development are based on research comparing children exposed to spoken and signed language (bilinguals) to children exposed only to speech (monolinguals), although abundant research demonstrates that bilinguals and monolinguals differ in language development. We control for bilingualism effects by comparing bimodal bilingual (signing-speaking) children with CIs (BB-CI) to those with typical hearing (BB-TH). Each child had at least one Deaf parent and was exposed to ASL from birth. The BB-THs were exposed to English from birth by hearing family members, while the BB-CIs began English exposure after cochlear implantation around 22-months-of-age. Elicited speech samples were analyzed for accuracy of English grammatical morpheme production. Although there was a trend toward lower overall accuracy in the BB-CIs, this seemed driven by increased omission of the plural -s, suggesting an exaggerated role of perceptual salience in this group. Errors of commission were rare in both groups. Because both groups were bimodal bilinguals, trends toward group differences were likely caused by delayed exposure to spoken language or hearing through a CI, rather than sign language exposure.

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