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The role of home and school factors in predicting English vocabulary among bilingual kindergarten children in Singapore

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2010

L. QUENTIN DIXON
L. QUENTIN DIXON*
Affiliation:
Texas A&M University
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE L. Quentin Dixon, Texas A&M University, 352 Harrington Tower, 4232 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4232. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Research in monolingual populations indicate that vocabulary knowledge is essential to reading achievement, but how vocabulary develops in bilingual children has been understudied. The current study investigated the role of home and school factors in predicting English vocabulary among 284 bilingual kindergartners (168 Chinese, 65 Malay, 51 Indian) in the multilingual context of Singapore. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test—Third Edition was administered in English and in translations into Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. Home factors including caretaker language, television language, and mother tongue vocabulary were found to be significant predictors of English vocabulary, controlling for mother's years of education and family income. The curriculum emphasis of the kindergarten center was also found to be a significant predictor of English vocabulary.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 141 - 168
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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