Why bilingualism?
A growing body of research has supported the benefits of the bilingual brain. Such findings include increased grey matter in language-specific areas and regions for executive control, better mental flexibility and delayed onset of dementia in later life. Furthermore, in the context of Singapore, bilingualism is heralded as a socio-economic advantage, and to tie us back to our cultural roots.
Pamela Sharpe, a researcher from National Institute of Education, conducted a study in 1994 to investigate the environmental factors that we can take notice of, to support the bilingual development of our Singaporean children.
Who was studied? How were they studied?
Children from three different kindergartens were selected to participate in this study. Their teachers and parents completed a survey on their learning and home environments, respectively.
What was found?
She found that one of the greatest predictors of children’s competent bilingual development was parents’ provision of materials and resources for language enrichment. Other notable predictors included the choice of preschool, parents’ educational level, parents’ views on language teaching, frequency of language use and parent/staff relationship. In sum, the onus appears to largely rest on parents’ shoulders to raise competent bilingual children.
This finding supports previous studies on the important role parents play in providing support for their children’s language development. Parents who regularly converse with their children in different languages expand their children’s spoken language and serve as good role models for their children. In practice, this means that parents should have quality interactions with their children, focused on mutually-desirable topics.
Other resources that parents can provide include books and other media in both English and their Mother Tongue. Research has found that exposure to certain TV programmes, such as Sesame Street and Arthur supported the English development of bilingual children.
Encouragement and deliberate use of both languages also support their children’s competence in both languages. For example, parents can enforce the use of a language on certain days of the week, to increase children’s exposure to and use of the different languages. Alternatively, one parent can speak predominantly in English while the other in the child’s Mother Tongue!
Take-aways!
In conclusion, parents play a paramount role in their children’s bilingual development, specifically in providing materials and resources. Materials and resources that parents can consider providing are summarised in this picture below!
While this study was conducted quite a while ago, it is worth noting that it is among one of the few works that studied such a wide range of environmental factors contributing to bilingual development. Thus, it was the sole study capable of isolating parental resources, a significant factor for young children’s bilingual development, in the Singapore context.
Several other papers have pointed out TV programmes that can support children’s language development. These programmes include:
- Ni Hao, Kai-lan
- Barney and Friends
- Arthur
- Dora the Explorer
- Go, Diego, Go!
References:
Sharpe, P. (1994). A study of some of the environmental features found to be conducive to the bilingual development of preschool children in Singapore. Early Child Development and Care, 98(1), pp. 59–72. doi:10.1080/0300443940980107
This post was written by our intern Kai and edited by our lab manager Fei Ting.
At BLIP Lab, we’re keen on investigating these language mixes at home! If you have a child between the ages of 0-4 years old, we’d love to invite you on our journey to understand more about this. Click here to know more about the Baby Talk-a-thon: https://blogs.ntu.edu.sg/blip/baby/talkathon/
We’re also on Instagram @bliplabntu – follow us there!
How do you call the people in your family to your child? Our research fellow Dr Choo Rui Qi is currently running a fun Family Name Game – you can check it out here: https://ntusingapore.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6WgBjxXcjSM3IvI