Vocabulary learning in a novel language: is language similarity helpful in bilingual children?

ABSTRACT

Bilinguals are more successful than monolinguals in novel language learning due to the transfer of prior learning strategies and experiences with two languages. The extent of such transfer may depend on the similarity between previously acquired languages and a novel language. This hypothesis was tested in relation to vocabulary learning in elementary school children. The sample included 10 Hebrew-Yiddish speakers, 10 Hebrew-English speakers, and 10 monolingual Hebrew speakers who learned ancient Aramaic as part of religious studies. Hebrew-Yiddish speakers, for whom both languages were similar to Aramaic, recalled more Aramaic words than both monolingual speakers and Hebrew-English speakers, for whom only one language was similar to Aramaic. There was no statistically significant difference between Hebrew-English and monolingual speakers. The advantage in the Hebrew-Yiddish group remained significant even after controlling for background variables, such as years of maternal education, phonological short-term memory, and vocabulary size in Hebrew. These findings provide evidence that previously acquired languages may facilitate vocabulary learning in a novel language if they are similar to the novel language.

KEYWORDS:

• Advantages of bilingualism
• childhood bilingualism
• heritage languages
• language acquisition
• multilingual language acquisition

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 We use the term novel word learning to refer to learning in a controlled experiment and the term vocabulary learning in a novel language to describe learning in a more natural, environment-based context. The term novel vocabulary learning is used as a general term that refers to both types of settings.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Katy Borodkin

Katy Borodkin, PhD is a lecturer (tenured) at the Department of Communication Disorders of Tel Aviv University. She studies bilingual language acquisition and processing and how language and other behavioral systems interact in bilingual speakers.

Rachel Orgal

Rachel Orgal is a trilingual speech language pathologist specializing in language learning in toddlerhood through adolescence. Her other specialty is autism, especially in bilingual speakers. Her work includes guidance and supervision of educational staff.

Naomi Martzini

Naomi Martzini is a speech language pathologist who completed her BA degree in Communication Disorders at Tel Aviv University.