It is a common belief that exposing children to multiple languages can impede their language development. But how true is that exactly?
Rinker and her colleagues (2016) were interested in researching bilingual children’s language development in their first language (L1) and second language (L2). They studied 20 German-Turkish bilingual children, aged between 24 and 36 months, from daycares and preschools in Germany.
They were interested in answering the following questions:
- What is the distribution of L1 and L2 words in the vocabularies of 24–36-month-old children?
- Between L1 and L2, are there differences in the types of words acquired in early development?
- What is the relationship between the acquisition of noun and verb words in 24-36-month-old children?
Parents were given vocabulary checklists to complete, checking off any words they had heard their child say before. These checklists measured children’s vocabulary size in both German and Turkish. Subsequently, parents’ responses to the checklists were compiled and analysed.
Vocabulary Size Differences
The measures showed that children had a significantly larger L1 vocabulary compared to L2.
A follow-up questionnaire to parents revealed that:
- The greater the amount of L1 used at home, the smaller children’s L2 vocabulary
- The higher the L1 language ability of parents, the smaller the children’s L2 vocabulary
- Greater L1 language ability of children was related to the higher exposure of L1 from their home environments, as well as from parents with higher L1 abilities
These findings highlighted the importance of the quantity and quality of language exposure to children in their environments. Greater and more fluent use of L1 in bilingual children’s home environments was related to their larger L1 vocabulary size.
Types of Words Acquired
The L1 and L2 words produced by children in the study were sorted into multiple categories, such as Food & Drink, People and Toys (see full list below). The number of words in each category for both languages was analysed.
Types of Words Acquired
The L1 and L2 words produced by children in the study were sorted into multiple categories, such as Food & Drink, People and Toys (see full list below). The number of words in each category for both languages was analysed.
In all categories, the vocabulary size of L1 consistently surpassed the vocabulary size of L2.
Unsurprisingly, the bulk of vocabulary of 2-3yo children came from categories that children encountered on a day-to-day basis. This reflects other research that found that language inputs from children’s environment plays a significant role in their language development.
Does This Mean Children Understand in Their First Language (L1), Before Translating to Speak Their Second Language (L2)?
There are three terms to learn before answering this question.
Total conceptual vocabulary (TCV) refers to all the concepts that a child can name, regardless of language. Hence, if a child knows that the Mandarin word “马 (mǎ)” means “horse” in English, this will count as +1 point to his/her TCV.
Total vocabulary (TV) refers to all the words in L1 and L2 combined.
Translation Equivalents (TE) refer to words in two languages that denote the same concept. For example, “老师” and “teacher” are TEs in Mandarin and English.
It was found that a children’s TV exceeds their TCV, showing that not all the words they knew in both languages were TEs. Both their L1 and L2 contributed words to their total vocabulary, and some concepts were only represented in one language.
Tying It All Up!
Children’s language development is strongly related to the quantity and quality of language inputs from their surroundings. Environments that expose children to a rich array of vocabulary will support their lexical development, and help grow children’s vocabulary.
Parents of young infants can practice sportscasting, which refers to parents’ constant narration throughout their daily lives. For example, a mother dressing her infant child can say, “We are going to put on your shirt now. This shirt is such a pretty red colour. Do you like the colour red?”
Parents can also provide language resources and materials to support their children’s language development. These include books, music, alphabet charts, etc. However, do be cautious of turning to television or other digital media for young children as early exposure has been linked to attentional deficits later in life.
As shown from the above research, children can learn concepts in one language, independent of other languages. Do not hesitate to speak plenty of both languages around your children to teach them words in both languages!
This article was written by our intern Kai and edited by our lab manager Fei Ting.
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References:
Rinker, T., Budde-Spengler, N., & Sachse, S. (2016). The relationship between first language (L1) and second language (L2) lexical development in young Turkish-German children. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 20(2), 218–233. doi:10.1080/13670050.2016.1179260