Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T19:19:48.974Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The relation of input factors to lexical learning by bilingual infants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Barbara Z. Pearson ,
Sylvia C. Fernandez ,
Vanessa Lewedeg  and
D.Kimbrough Oller
Barbara Z. Pearson*
Affiliation:
University of Miami
Sylvia C. Fernandez
Affiliation:
University of Miami
Vanessa Lewedeg
Affiliation:
University of Miami
D.Kimbrough Oller
Affiliation:
University of Miami
*
Barbara Z. Pearson, University of Miami Mailman Center, c. o English, Box 248145, Coral Gables, FL 33124
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The bilingual child is seen as a unique source of information about the relation between input and intake. The strength of the association between language exposure estimates and vocabulary learning was examined for 25 simultaneous bilingual infants (ages 8 to 30 months) with differing patterns of exposure to the languages being learned. Using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories, standardized parent report forms in English and Spanish, the percentage of all words that were known in each language was calculated and then plotted against the estimates of language input (also in percentages). A significant correlation was found, r(25)= .82, p < .001. The correlation was also strong when examined point-by-point, even for children whose language environments changed by more than 20%; between observations, although it was not reliable at lower levels of exposure to Spanish. Especially for children with less input in the minority language, the factors which appeared to affect the strength of the association between input and amount learned in a language are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , January 1997 , pp. 41 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bayley, N. (1969). Bayley Scales of Infant Development. New York: New York Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Bloom, L., & Capatides, J. B. (1987). Expression of affect and the emergence of language. Child Development, 58, 1513–1522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1975). Reflections on language. New York: Pantheon.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1981). Lectures on government and binding. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
De Houwer, A. (1995). Bilingual language acquisition. In Fletcher, P. & MacWhinney, B. (Eds.), Handbook of child language. London: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Döpke, S. (1992). One parent, one language: An interactional approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dromi, E. (1987). Early lexical development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Eilers, R., Oller, D. K., Levine, S., Basinger, D., Lynch, M., & Urbano, R. (1993). Canonical babbling in infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 16, 297–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ervin-Tripp, S. 1971. An overview of theories of grammatical development. In Slobin, D. I. (Ed.), The ontogenesis of grammar (pp. 189–212). New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Fenson, L. (1991, June). CDI Basic Statistics: Final. Unpublished manuscript, San Diego State University, San Diego, California.Google Scholar
Fenson, L., Dale, P. S., Reznick, J. S., Thai, D., Bates, E., Hartung, J. P., Pethick, S., & Reilly, J. S. (1991). Technical manual for the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories. San Diego, CA: San Diego State University.Google Scholar
Fernández, M. C., & Umbel, V. M. (1991). Inventario del Desarrollo de las Habilidades Comunicativas, Adaptación Cubana [Communicative Development Skills Inventory, Cuban Adaptation]. Miami, FL: University of Miami, Mailman Center for Child Development.Google Scholar
Coodz, N. (1989). Parental language mixing in bilingual families. Infant Mental Health Journal, 10, 25–44.Google Scholar
Gopnik, A., & Meltzoff, A. (1987). The development of categorization in the second year and its relation to other cognitive and linguistic developments. Child Development, 58, 1523–1531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffith, P. L. (1985). Mode-switching and mode-finding in a hearing child of deaf parents. Sign Language Studies, 48, 195–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, B., & Risley, T. (1995). Before Headstart: Differences in the family experiences of 1 and 2-year-old children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Held, R. (1965). Plasticity in sensory-motor systems. Scientific American, 213, 84–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoff-Ginsberg, E. (1991, October). Social class differences in maternal speech and their lack of consequences for children's early syntactic development.Paper presented to the 16th Annual Boston University Conference on Child Language Development,Boston, MA.Google Scholar
Hoff-Ginsberg, E. (1992). How should frequency in input be measured? First Language, 12, 233–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoff-Ginsberg, E. (1993, March). Object labels in early lexicons. Paper presented to the Society for Research in Child Development, New Orleans, LA.Google Scholar
Huttenlocher, J., Haight, W., Bryk, A., Seltzer, M., & Lyons, T. (1991). Early vocabulary growth: Relation to language input and gender. Developmental Psychology, 27, 236–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyams, N. (1986). Language acquisition and the theory of parameters. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson-Maldonado, D., & Bates, E. (1988). Inventario del Desarrollo de las Habilidades Comunicativas [Communicative Development Skills Inventory]. San Diego: University of California, Center for Research in Language.Google Scholar
Lanza, E. (1988). Language strategies in the home: Linguistic input and infant bilingualism. In Holmen, A., Hansen, E., Gimbel, J., & Jorgensen, J. N. (Eds.), Bilingualism and the individual (pp. 69–84). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Lenneberg, E. (1967). Biological foundations of language. New York: Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory. (1989). San Diego: University of California, Center for Research in Language.Google Scholar
Newport, E., Gleitman, H., & Gleitman, L. (1977). Mother, I'd rather do it myself: Some effects and non-effects of maternal speech. In Snow, C. E. & Ferguson, C. A. (Eds.), Talking to children. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pearson, B. Z., & Fernandez, S. C. (1994). Patterns of interaction in the lexical growth in two languages of bilingual infants and toddlers. Language Learning, 44, 617–653.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, B. Z., Fernändez, S. C., & Oller, D. K. (1993). Lexical development in bilingual infants and toddlers: Comparison to monolingual norms. Language Learning, 43, 93–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, B. Z., Fernändez, S. C., & Oller, D. K. (1995). Cross-language synonyms in the lexicons of bilingual infants: One language or two? Journal of Child Language, 22, 345–368.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pearson, B. Z., Navarro, A. M., & Gathercole, V. M. (1995). Assessment of phonetic differentiation in bilingual learning infants, 18 to 30 months. In MacLaughlin, D. & McEwen, S. (Eds.), Boston University Conference Proceedings (pp. 427–438).Sommerville, MA:Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Penfield, W. 1967. The learning of languages. In Michel, J. (Ed.), Foreign language teaching: An anthology (pp. 192–214). London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Pinker, S. (1991). Rules of language. Science, 253, 530–535.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pinker, S. (1994). The language instinct. New York: William Morrow.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reznick, J. S., & Goldfield, B. (1992). Rapid change in lexical development in comprehension and production. Developmental Psychology, 28, 406–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sachs, J., & Johnson, M. (1976). Language development in a hearing child of deaf parents. In von Raffler-Engel, W. & Lebrun, Y. (Eds.), Baby talk and infant speech. Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger.Google Scholar
Schiff, N. B. (1979). The influence of deviant maternal input on development of language during the preschool years. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 22, 581–603.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schiff, N. B., & Ventry, I. M. (1976). Communication problems in hearing children of deaf parents. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 41, 348–358.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scovel, T. (1988). A time to speak: A psycholinguistic inquiry into the critical period for human speech. New York: Newbury/Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Stromswold, K. (1994, January). Language comprehension without production: Implications for theories of language acquisition.Paper presented at the Boston University Conference on Language Development,Boston, MA.Google Scholar
Tartter, V. C. (1986). Language processes. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. (1992). Literacy initiatives for families of deaf parents with hearing children. (ERIC Document #ED 353 391)Google Scholar