Language development in bilingual preschoolers: A cross-linguistic and cross-cultural comparison

项目总结/摘要 我们对语言和文化多样性的语言发展的理解存在根本性的差距。 学龄前儿童，包括英语和另一种语言的双语学习者。为了 要确定双语儿童语言发展的非典型模式，首先需要了解 双语者在交流中自然存在的典型差异。的目的 建议的工作是研究双语母亲和他们的幼儿在每一个不同的互动， 两种语言。核心假设是，存在独特的文化特定的交际规范， 不同的表现取决于双语者的两种语言中的哪一种在任何给定的时间被使用。 使用泰语作为测试案例，因为可以获得单语比较数据， 文化研究发现，单语泰国和单语美国英语母子二人组在他们的 本研究的目的有三：1）探讨泰英双语者的语言交际风格， 儿童与他们的母亲在他们的两种语言不同的沟通，2）检查是否泰国英语 双语母亲用两种语言与孩子进行不同的交流，3）检查 母亲和孩子在两种语言中的对话模式之间的关系。四个自然主义， 利用文化和生态有效的任务：提示回忆，书籍分享，玩具游戏，和孩子 个人叙述这是第一个系统的研究，以检查双语母亲和他们的孩子是否 儿童在两种语言和不同的交际环境中进行不同的互动， 范围和方法。研究完成后，收集的数据将向其他人公开， 研究人员通过一个免费的存储库作为去识别的转录本，以供进一步研究。这项研究有助于 了解双语对儿童语言、认知和社会发展的影响 在两种语言中成长，特别是学习一种以上的语言如何影响人际关系 在学前阶段的交流和互动。该项目对临床具有实际意义。 评估，治疗和教育的语言和文化多样性的双语学龄前儿童，并将有助于 最大限度地减少将差异误诊为非WEIRD（白色，受过教育，工业化，富裕， （民主）人民。

Project Summary/Abstract There is a fundamental gap in our understanding of language development in linguistically and culturally diverse preschoolers, including those who are dual language learners of English and another language. In order to identify atypical patterns of language development in bilingual children, there first needs to be an understanding of the typical variation in communication that naturally exists across languages in bilinguals. The objective of the proposed work is to examine whether bilingual mothers and their young children interact differently in each of their two languages. The central hypothesis is that there are unique culture-specific communicative norms that manifest differently depending upon which of a bilingual's two languages is being spoken at any given time. Using Thai as a test case because of the availability of monolingual comparison data, and building on cross- cultural findings that monolingual Thai and monolingual American-English mother-child dyads differ in their communicative styles, the proposed research has three Specific Aims: 1) examine whether Thai-English bilingual children communicate with their mothers differently in their two languages, 2) examine whether Thai-English bilingual mothers communicate with their children differently in their two languages, and 3) examine the relationship between maternal and child patterns of conversation in their two languages. Four naturalistic, culturally-, and ecologically-valid tasks are utilized: prompted reminiscing, book sharing, toy play, and child personal narrative. This is the first systematic study to examine whether bilingual mothers and their young children interact differently in their two languages and in different communicative settings and is innovative in its scope and approach. Upon study completion, the collected data will be made publicly available to other researchers as de-identified transcripts via a free repository for further study. This research contributes to understanding the consequences of bilingualism for linguistic, cognitive, and social development of children growing up with two languages, specifically how learning more than one language influences interpersonal communication and interactions during the preschool years. The project carries practical implications for clinical assessment, treatment, and education of linguistically and culturally diverse bilingual preschoolers and will help minimize the risk of misdiagnosing differences as disorders in non-WEIRD (white, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) populations.