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Simultaneous bilingual language acquisition: The role of parentalinput on receptive vocabulary development
| Content Provider | PubMed Central |
|---|---|
| Author | Macleod, Andrea An Leah, Fabiano-smith Sarah, Boegner-pagé Fontolliet, Salomé |
| Copyright Year | 2012 |
| Abstract | Parents often turn to educators and healthcare professionals for adviceon how to best support their child’s language development. Theseprofessionals frequently suggest implementing the‘one-parent–one-language’ approach to ensure consistentexposure to both languages. The goal of this study was to understand howlanguage exposure influences the receptive vocabulary development ofsimultaneous bilingual children. To this end, we targeted nineGerman–French children growing up in bilingual families. Their exposureto each language within and outside the home was measured, as were theirreceptive vocabulary abilities in German and French. The results indicate thatchildren are receiving imbalanced exposure to each language. This imbalance isleading to a slowed development of the receptive vocabulary in the minoritylanguage, while the majority language is keeping pace with monolingual peers.The one-parent–one-language approach does not appear to support thedevelopment of both of the child’s languages in the context described inthe present study. Bilingual families may need to consider other options forsupporting the bilingual language development of their children. Asprofessionals, we need to provide parents with advice that is based on availabledata and that is flexible with regards to the current and future needs of thechild and his family. |
| Related Links | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0265659012466862 |
| Ending Page | 142 |
| Page Count | 12 |
| Starting Page | 131 |
| File Format | |
| ISSN | 02656590 |
| Journal | Child language teaching and therapy |
| Issue Number | 1 |
| Volume Number | 29 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 2013-02-01 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Research in Higher Education |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
| Subject | Education Developmental and Educational Psychology Speech and Hearing Clinical Psychology Linguistics and Language |
