Child, family, and school factors in bilingual preschoolers’ vocabulary development in heritage languages

• Published in: Journal of child language Vol. 47; no. 4; pp. 817 - 843
• Main Authors: SUN, He, NG, Siew Chin, O'BRIEN, Beth Ann, FRITZSCHE, Tom
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.07.2020
• Subjects: Bilingualism; Caregivers; Child language; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Cultural heritage; Dravidian Languages; Educational Attainment; Educational Environment; Educational Status; Families & family life; Family Characteristics; Family Environment; Family Influence; Female; Foreign Countries; Gender; Heritage language; Humans; Indonesian Languages; Institutional Characteristics; Language Acquisition; Language Development; Language dominance; Language Tests; Language Usage; Linguistics; Literature reviews; Malay language; Male; Mandarin; Mandarin Chinese; Memory; Mothers; Multilingualism; Native Language; Nonverbal Ability; Parent Background; Parenting; Phonology; Predictor Variables; Preschool Children; Preschool Education; Reading; Reading Comprehension; Schools; Tamil language; Thinking Skills; Vocabulary; Vocabulary Development; Young Children; Singapore; child characteristics; input quantity; heritage language maintenance; language input-poor setting

Child characteristics, family factors, and preschool factors are all found to affect the rate of bilingual children's vocabulary development in heritage language (HL). However, what remains unknown is the relative importance of these three sets of factors in HL vocabulary growth. The current st...