Options
Language experience and bilingual children's heritage language learning
Citation
Sun, H., Waschl, N., & Veera, R. (2022). Language experience and bilingual children's heritage language learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 44(5), 1356-1383. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263121000942
Abstract
Both language input and output are important to child language learners’ heritage language development. Nevertheless, existing studies mainly focus on language input, leaving the significance of language output underexplored. The current study assessed 201 kindergarteners’ Mandarin skills (i.e., receptive vocabulary, receptive grammar, and verbal fluency) in Singapore, and investigated the influence of children’s Mandarin experience, and specifically output, on these Mandarin skills. The results based on multilevel models reveal that children’s Mandarin experience plays a crucial role in the three Mandarin skills, after controlling for children’s gender, language aptitude, and English proficiency. Specifically, children’s onset age of Mandarin speaking and the number of places where they used Mandarin alone significantly predict all the Mandarin skills.
Date Issued
2022
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Journal
Studies in Second Language Acquisition
Project
OER 13/16 HS
Funding Agency
Ministry of Education, Singapore