Language dominance predicts cognate effects and metalinguistic awareness in preschool bilinguals

ABSTRACT

The current work investigates whether language dominance predicts transfer of skills across cognitive-linguistic levels from the native language (Spanish) to the second language (English) in bilingual preschoolers. Sensitivity to cognates (elephant/elefante in English/Spanish) and metalinguistic awareness (MLA) have both been shown to transfer from the dominant to the nondominant language. Examining these types of transfer together using a continuous measure of language dominance may allow us to better understand the effect of the home language in children learning a majority language in preschool. Forty-six preschool-aged, Spanish-English bilinguals completed English receptive vocabulary and metalinguistic tasks indexing cognate effects and MLA. Language dominance was found to predict crosslinguistic (cognate) facilitation from Spanish to English. In addition, MLA skills also transferred from Spanish to English for children with lower English proficiency, and no transfer of MLA was evident for children with higher English proficiency. Altogether, findings suggest that transfer from a dominant first language to a nondominant second language happens at linguistic and cognitive-linguistic levels in preschoolers, although possibly influenced by second language proficiency. The current study has implications for supporting the home language for holistic cognitive-linguistic development.

KEYWORDS:

• Language transfer
• cognates
• metalinguistic awareness
• bilingual development
• language dominance

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the participants, their families, the teachers, the members of the Child Language Development, Disorders and Disparities Lab for research assistance of this work, and Dr. Lizbeth Finestack for her experimental metalinguistic probes.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from Sonja L. Pruitt-Lord ([email protected]) upon reasonable request. The data are not publicly available due to ongoing collection and analyses, as well as the privacy of the families involved.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a San Diego Fellowship from UCSD, a research grant supported by a local philanthropy, as well as an NIH NIDCD [grant number 2T32DC007361] and an NIH NIDCD [grant number 5F31DC016194-02].

Notes on contributors

Jonathan J.D. Robinson Anthony

Jonathan J.D. Robinson Anthony is a student in the San Diego State University-University of California, San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Language & Communicative Disorders. His research focuses on language processing and cognitive control in bilinguals.

Henrike K. Blumenfeld

Henrike K. Blumenfeld is an Associate Professor in the School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at San Diego State University. Dr. Blumenfeld's research focuses on the cognitive mechanisms that underlie bilingual language processing.

Irina Potapova

Irina Potapova is a postdoctoral researcher in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at San Diego State University. Her research focuses on language assessment and treatment approaches, with an emphasis on supporting children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Sonja L. Pruitt-Lord

Sonja L. Pruitt-Lord is a Professor in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at San Diego State University (SDSU) and the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the College of Health and Human Service at SDSU. Dr. Pruitt-Lord's research program examines child language development and disorders within the context of cultural and linguistic diversity.