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LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE AND BILINGUAL CHILDREN’S HERITAGE LANGUAGE LEARNING

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2022

He Sun Open the ORCID record for He Sun [Opens in a new window] ,
Nicolette Waschl Open the ORCID record for Nicolette Waschl [Opens in a new window]  and
Roodra Veera
He Sun*
Affiliation:
National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Nicolette Waschl
Affiliation:
National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Roodra Veera
Affiliation:
National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
*
*Corresponding author. Email: he.sun@nie.edu.sg
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Abstract

Both language input and output are important to child language learners’ heritage language development. Nevertheless, existing studies mainly focus on language input, leaving the significance of language output underexplored. The current study assessed 201 kindergarteners’ Mandarin skills (i.e., receptive vocabulary, receptive grammar, and verbal fluency) in Singapore, and investigated the influence of children’s Mandarin experience, and specifically output, on these Mandarin skills. The results based on multilevel models reveal that children’s Mandarin experience plays a crucial role in the three Mandarin skills, after controlling for children’s gender, language aptitude, and English proficiency. Specifically, children’s onset age of Mandarin speaking and the number of places where they used Mandarin alone significantly predict all the Mandarin skills.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 44 , Issue 5 , December 2022 , pp. 1356 - 1383
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

The authors would like to thank Dr. Barbara Pearson for her insight on the outline of the article. This study was funded by Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) under the Education Research Funding Programme (OER 13/16 HS) and administered by National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Singapore MOE and NIE.

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