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Child Bilingualism and Second Language Learning: Multidisciplinary perspectives
Edited by Fangfang Li, Karen E. Pollock and Robbin Gibb
[Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 10] 2020
► pp. 87–112

Chapter 6
Effects of nonnative input on language abilities in Spanish-English bilinguals

 | The George Washington University
Variations in the quantity and quality of input bilingual children hear account for individual differences in language learning. Some sources of variation in quality of input are related to the parents’ language background (Place & Hoff, 2011; 2016). The parents’ language background determines the sources of children’s exposure to English, how frequently children hear a language in the home, the richness of the English language environment, and access to native speakers of each language in the home (Hammer, Davison, Lawrence, & Miccio, 2009; Place & Hoff, 2011; Place & Hoff, 2016; Paradis, 2011). The present paper examines the effects of parents’ language backgrounds on bilingual children’s language outcomes. We followed 120 bilingual Spanish-English speaking children from 30 to 54 months, with language outcomes in both languages at both time points. We examine the effect of the number of monolingual speakers of each language in the home, the amount of input from native and nonnative speakers of each language, and parent language proficiency in each language. Our findings have theoretical implications for understanding how parents’ language backgrounds and nonnative input in bilingual homes affect children’s language development in each of their two languages and practical implications for offering advice to families raising children who hear more than one language.
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Quantity of input
    • Quality of input
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Age of arrival
    • Mothers’ education
    • Measures of parent language proficiency
    • Measures of language input
    • Procedure
    • Language measures
      • Expressive vocabulary
      • Receptive vocabulary
  • Results
    • Child language outcomes and relations with input
    • Effects of parents language background on children’s language outcomes
    • Expressive vocabulary
      • English expressive vocabulary
      • Spanish expressive vocabulary
    • Receptive vocabulary
      • English receptive vocabulary
      • Spanish receptive vocabulary
      • Within-subject comparison of English and Spanish outcomes
  • Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 1 December 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.10.06cor
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