Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T17:54:32.675Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Words as Things: Development of Word Concept by Bilingual Children1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Ellen Bialystok
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, York University

Abstract

The development of the concept of word is discussed in terms of specific metalinguistic advantages that might be available to bilingual children when compared with their monolingual peers. Three studies are reviewed in which bilingual children show more advanced understanding of some aspects of the concept of word than do monolingual children. The specific advantages demonstrated by these three studies are summarized and related to processes in more general cognitive development.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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

Ben-Zeev, S. (1977). Mechanisms by which childhood bilingualism affects understanding of language and cognitive structures. In Hornby, P.A. (Ed.), Bilingualism: Psychological, social, and educational implications (pp. 2955). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. (in preparation). Levels of bilingualism and levels of linguistic awareness.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. (1986). Children's concept of word. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 15, 1332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cazden, C.B. (1974). Play with language and metalinguistic awareness: One dimension of language experience. The Urban Review, 7, 2839.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummins, J. (1978). Bilingualism and the development of metalinguistic awareness. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 9, 131149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donaldson, M. (1978). Children's minds. Glasgow: Fontana.Google Scholar
Ehri, L.C. (1979). Linguistic insight: Threshold of reading acquisition. In Waller, T.G. & MacKinnon, G.E. (Eds.), Reading research: Advances in theory and practice, Volume 1 (pp. 63114). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Fox, B., & Routh, D.K. (1976). Phonemic analysis and synthesis as word-attack skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 68, 7074.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holden, M.H., & MacGinitie, W.H. (1972). Children's conceptions of word boundaries in speech and print. Journal of Educational Psychology, 63, 551557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huttenlocher, J. (1964). Children's language: Word-phrase relationship. Science, 143, 264265.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ianco-Worrall, A. (1972). Bilingualism and cognitive development. Child Development, 43, 13901400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lesgold, A.M., & Perfetti, C.A. (1981). Interactive processes in reading: Where do we stand? In Lesgold, A.M. & Perfetti, C.A. (Eds.), Interactive processes in reading (pp. 387407). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Mehler, J. (1982). Studies in the development of cognitive processes. In Strauss, S. (Ed.), U-Shaped behavior growth (pp. 271294). New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neisser, U. (1976). Cognition and reality. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (1974). Concept, word and sentence. Interrelations in acquisition and development. Psychological Review, 81, 267285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Papandropoulou, I., & Sinclair, H. (1974). What is a word? Experimental study of children's ideas on grammar. Human Development, 17, 241258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piaget, J. (1929). The child's conception of the world. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Searle, J.R. (1983). Intentionality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stemberg, R.J., & Powell, J.S. (1983). The development of intelligence. In Flavell, J.H. & Markman, E.M. (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology, Volume III (pp. 341419). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L.S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar