Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-mzp66 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-27T00:20:46.823Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effects and noneffects of input in bilingual environments on dual language skills in 2 ½-year-olds*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2015

SILVIA PLACE  and
ERIKA HOFF
SILVIA PLACE
Affiliation:
Florida Atlantic University
ERIKA HOFF*
Affiliation:
Florida Atlantic University
*
Address for correspondence: Erika Hoff, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Psychology, 3200 College Avenue, Davie, FL 33314USAehoff@fau.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent findings suggest some properties of input in dual-language environments that influence its value for bilingual development, but the extant data base is small and sometimes inconclusive. The present study sought additional evidence regarding three quality indicators: the percent of input provided by native speakers, the number of different speakers providing input, and the frequency of language mixing. Participants were 90 thirty-month-olds exposed to Spanish and English. Using the Language Diary method to assess input and using multiple measures of children's bilingual skills, results replicated previous findings that the percent of input provided by native speakers is a positive quality indicator and found suggestive evidence that the number of speakers is also a positive quality indicator. There was little evidence that the frequency of language mixing is a negative indicator. These findings advance understanding of sources of variability in bilingual outcomes and have implications for programs to support bilingual development.

Keywords

bilingual first language acquisitionexposure effectscode-switching
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 19 , Issue 5 , November 2016 , pp. 1023 - 1041
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This research was supported by NIH grant HD068421 to Erika Hoff.

References

Alba, R., Logan, J., Lutz, A., & Stults, B. (2002). Only English by the third generation? Loss and preservation of the mother tongue among the grandchildren of contemporary immigrants. Demography, 39, 467–484.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anthony, J., Solari, E., Williams, J., Schoger, K., & Zhang, Z. (2009). Development of bilingual phonological awareness in Spanish-speaking English language learners: The roles of vocabulary, letter knowledge, and prior phonological awareness. Scientific Studies of Reading, 13, 535–564.Google Scholar
Byers-Heinlein, K. (2012). Parental language mixing: Its measurement and the relation of mixed input to young bilingual children's vocabulary size. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 16, 1–17.Google Scholar
Bosch, L., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2003). Simultaneous bilingualism and the perception of a language-specific vowel contrast in the first year of life. Language and Speech, 46, 217–243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brownell, R. (2001). Expressive one-word picture vocabulary test manual: Spanish-bilingual edition. Novato, CA: Academic Therapy Publications.Google Scholar
Core, C., & Hoff, E. (2014, November). Phonetic properties of L2 child directed speech and effects on child language development. Poster presented at the Boston University Conference on Language Development. Boston, MA.Google Scholar
De Houwer, A. (2009). Bilingual first language acquisition. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
De Houwer, A., & Bornstein, M. (2003, April). Balancing on the tightrope: Language use patterns in bilingual families with young children. Paper presented at the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism, Tempe, AZ.Google Scholar
DeAnda, S., Arias-Trejo, N., Poulin-Dubois, D., Zesiger, P., & Friend, M. (2015). Minimal second language exposure, SES, and early word comprehension: New evidence from a direct assessment. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.Google Scholar
Fenson, L., Marchman, V. A., Thal, D. J., Dale, P. S., Reznick, J. S., & Bates, E. (2007). MacArthur communicative development inventories: User's guide and technical manual (2nd ed.). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Fisher, C., Church, B., & Chambers, K. E. (2004). Learning to identify spoken words. In Hall, D. G. and Waxman, S. R. (eds.) Weaving a lexicon (pp. 3–40). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Fishman, J. A., Cooper, R. L., & Ma, R. (1971). Bilingualism in the barrio. Language Science Monographs, 7. Bloomington: Indiana University.Google Scholar
Gathercole, V. C. M., & Thomas, E. M. (2009). Bilingual first-language development: Dominant language takeover, threatened minority language take-up. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12, 213–237.Google Scholar
Gollan, T., Starr, J., & Ferreira, V. S. (2015). More than use it or lose it: The number-of-speakers effect on heritage language proficiency. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22, 147–155.Google Scholar
Grüter, T., & Paradis, J. (eds.) (2014). Input and experience in bilingual development. John Benjamins, Publisher.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammer, C. S., Komaroff, E., Rodriguez, B. L., Lopez, L. M., Scarpino, S. E., & Goldstein, B. (2012). Predicting Spanish–English bilingual children's language abilities. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 55, 1251–1264.Google Scholar
Hernandez, A. E., Dapretto, M., Mazziotta, J., & Bookheimer, S. (2001). Language switching and language representation in Spanish–English bilinguals: An fMRI study. Neuroimage, 14, 510–520.Google Scholar
Hoff, E. (2006). How social contexts support and shape language development. Developmental Science, 26, 55–88.Google Scholar
Hoff, E. (2013). Commentary on Issues in the assessment of bilinguals and Solutions for the assessment of bilinguals . In Gathercole, V. C. M. (ed.), Solutions for the assessment of bilinguals (pp. 213–226). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Hoff, E., Core, C., Place, S., Rumiche, R., Señor, M., & Parra, M. (2012). Dual language exposure and early bilingual development. Journal of Child Language, 39, 1–27. doi: 10.1017/S0305000910000759 Google Scholar
Hoff, E., & Giguere, D. (2015, May). Bilingual mothers’ language of education, not level of education, predicts children's bilingual development. Paper to be presented at the 10th International Symposium on Bilingualism, New Brunswick, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Hoff, E., & Rumiche, R. L. (2012). Studying children in bilingual environments. In Hoff, E. (ed.), Research methods in child language: A practical guide (pp. 300–316). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hoff, E., Rumiche, R., Burridge, A., Ribot, K., & Welsh, S. (2014). Expressive vocabulary development in children from bilingual and monolingual homes: A longitudinal study from two to four years. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL.Google Scholar
Hoff, E., Coard, W., & Señor, M. (2013). Bilingual parents’ child-directed speech in two languages. Poster presented to the meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, Washington, April 18–20.Google Scholar
Hoff, E., Welsh, S., Place, S., & Ribot, K. M. (2014). Properties of dual language input that shape development and properties of environments that shape dual language input. In Grüter, T. & Paradis, J. (eds.), Input and experience in bilingual development (pp. 119–140). John Benjamins, Publisher.Google Scholar
Huttenlocher, J., Waterfall, H., Vasilyeva, M., Vevea, J., & Hedges, L. V. (2010). Sources of variability in children's language growth. Cognitive Psychology, 61, 343–365.Google Scholar
Jackson-Maldonado, D., Thal, D. J., Marchman, V., Fenson, L., Newton, T., & Conboy, B. (2003). MacArthur inventarios del desarrollo de habilidades comunicativas: User's guide and technical manual. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Jia, G., Aaronson, D., & Wu, Y. (2002). Long-term language attainment of bilingual immigrants: Predictive variables and language group differences. Applied Psycholinguistics, 23, 599–621.Google Scholar
Marchman, V. A., & Martínez-Sussmann, D. (2002). Concurrent validity of caregiver/parent report measure of language for children who are learning both English and Spanish. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 45, 983–997.Google Scholar
Marchman, V. A., Fernald, A., & Hurtado, N. (2010). How vocabulary size in two languages relates to efficiency in spoken word recognition by young Spanish–English bilinguals. Journal of Child Language, 37, 817–840.Google Scholar
Meuter, R. F. I., & Allport, A. (1999). Bilingual language switching in naming: Asymmetrical costs of language selection. Journal of Memory and Language, 40, 25–40.Google Scholar
Nazzi, T., Jusczyk, P. W., & Johnson, E. K. (2000). Language discrimination by English-learning 5-month-olds: Effects of rhythm and familiarity. Journal of Memory and Language, 43, 1–19.Google Scholar
Paradis, J. (2011). Individual differences in child English second language acquisition: Comparing child-internal and child-external factors. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 1, 213–237.Google Scholar
Paradis, J., & Nicoladis, E. (2007). The influence of dominance and sociolinguistic context on bilingual preschoolers’ language choice. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 10, 277–297.Google Scholar
Pearson, B. Z., Fernández, S. C., Lewedeg, V., & Oller, D. K. (1997). The relation of input factors to lexical learning by bilingual infants. Applied Psycholinguistics, 18, 41–58.Google Scholar
Place, S., & Hoff, E. (2011). Properties of dual language exposure that influence two-year-olds' bilingual proficiency. Child Development, 82, 1834–1849.Google Scholar
Rost, G. C., & McMurray, B. (2009). Speaker variability augments phonological processing in early word learning. Developmental Science, 12, 339–349.Google Scholar
Rost, G. C., & McMurray, B. (2010). Finding the signal by adding noise: The role of noncontrastive phonetic variability in early word learning. Infancy, 15, 608–635.Google Scholar
Saffran, J. R., Aslin, R. N., & Newport, E. L. (1996). Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants. Science, 274, 1926–1928.Google Scholar
Scheele, A. F., Leseman, P. P. M., & Mayo, A. Y. (2010). The home language environment of monolingual and bilingual children and their language proficiency. Applied Psycholinguistics, 31, 117–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, L. (2008). Influences of high and low variability on infant word recognition. Cognition, 106, 833–870.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomas, M. S. C., & Allport, A. (2000). Language switching costs in bilingual visual word recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 43, 44–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisleder, A. (2012). Richer language experience leads to faster understanding: Links between language input, processing efficiency, and vocabulary growth. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Stanford University.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, I. L., Steiner, V. G., & Pond, R. E. (2002a). Preschool language scale: Examiner's manual (4th ed.). San Antonio, Texas: Harcourt Assessment.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, I. L., Steiner, V. G., & Pond, R. E. (2002b). Preschool language scale Spanish: Examiner's manual (4th ed.). San Antonio, Texas: Harcourt Assessment.Google Scholar