The role of exposure on school-aged bilingual language abilities – it depends on what you measure

ABSTRACT

Few studies have focused on bilingual language development in school-aged simultaneous bilingual children. The current study tackles this gap in the literature by examining the influence of language exposure on the development of both languages in school-aged simultaneous bilingual living in additive bilingual contexts. The language abilities of 19 school-aged simultaneous bilingual children were assessed using standardised language measures in French. Their amount of language exposure was also measured using a parent questionnaire. No correlation was found between language abilities in French and exposure to French. Results did, however, show that most of the children who received as little as 20% of their lifetime exposure to French, obtained scores within the average range on all of the measures. Additionally, children who were exposed to both of their languages on a daily basis were more likely to have better performances than their peers who used one of their languages less frequently. This effect was observed even though children in the former group received less exposure to their strongest language than children who were not exposed to both of their languages daily. Therefore, while exposure is important, other factors may have a positive influence on simultaneous bilinguals’ language proficiency levels.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the families and especially the children who participated in this study. We would also like to thank the English Montreal School Board for permitting us to recruit students from their school board. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Elizabeth Kay-Raining Bird, Dr. Aparna Nadig, Dr. Karine Marcotte and Dr. Ingrid Verduyckt for their feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded through a doctoral grant by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [grant number 767-2016-1749].

Notes on contributors

Myriam L. H. Beauchamp

Myriam L. H. Beauchamp is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University. Her research examines bilingualism in children with and without neurodevelopment disorders. She is also interested in advocating for equitable access to healthcare services and supports for minority-language speakers with neurodevelopmental disorders. In addition, Dr. Beauchamp has been a practicing Speech-Language Pathologist for more than 10 years.

Andrea A. N. MacLeod

Andrea A. N. MacLeod is a professor at the University of Alberta in Communication Sciences and Disorders and head of the Multilingual Families Lab. Her research has focused on the speech and language abilities of bilingual children and adults. She has developed an expertise in the study of speech and language development among bilingual children from Official Language Minority Communities in Canada and among children from minoritized language communities, including immigrant and refugee children. She conducts community-based research within a social-justice framework to understand how to best support language maintenance and transmission.