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

项目摘要/摘要 在语言和文化的多样性中，我们对语言发展的理解存在着根本的差距 学龄前儿童，包括那些英语和另一种语言的双语学习者。为了 找出双语儿童语言发展的非典型模式，首先需要了解 双语者自然存在的跨语言交流的典型差异。该计划的目标是 拟议的工作是研究双语母亲和她们年幼的孩子在每一种语言中是否有不同的互动 他们的两种语言。中心假设是存在独特的特定于文化的交际规范， 根据双语者在任何时候说的是哪种语言，表现会有所不同。 使用泰语作为测试用例是因为可以获得单语对比数据，并建立在 单语泰语和单语美英母子二联体的文化发现 关于泰语和英语的交际风格，本研究有三个具体目的：1)考察泰语-英语双语 孩子们用两种语言与母亲进行不同的交流，2)检查泰语-英语 双语母亲用她们的两种语言与孩子进行不同的交流，3)检查 母子两种语言对话模式之间的关系。四个自然主义者， 使用了文化和生态上有效的任务：提示回忆、书籍分享、玩具游戏和儿童 个人叙述。这是第一次系统地研究双语母亲和他们的孩子 儿童在他们的两种语言和不同的交际环境中进行不同的互动，并在其 范围和方法。研究完成后，收集到的数据将向其他机构公开 研究人员通过一个免费的储存库来识别转录，以供进一步研究。这项研究有助于 理解双语对儿童语言、认知和社会发展的影响 与两种语言一起成长，特别是学习一种以上语言对人际关系的影响 学龄前几年的交流和互动。该项目对临床具有实际意义。 对语言和文化上不同的双语学龄前儿童的评估、治疗和教育，将有助于 最大限度地减少将差异误诊为非奇怪(白人、受过教育的、工业化的、富有的、 和民主)人口。

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.