Bilingual Development in Childhood

Abstract

In the first decade of life, children become bilingual in different language learning environments. Many children start learning two languages from birth (Bilingual First Language Acquisition). In early childhood hitherto monolingual children start hearing a second language through daycare or preschool (Early Second Language Acquisition). Yet other hitherto monolingual children in middle childhood may acquire a second language only after entering school (Second Language Acquisition). This Element explains how these different language learning settings dynamically affect bilingual children's language learning trajectories. All children eventually learn to speak the societal language, but they often do not learn to fluently speak their non-societal language and may even stop speaking it. Children's and families' harmonious bilingualism is threatened if bilingual children do not develop high proficiency in both languages. Educational institutions and parental conversational practices play a pivotal role in supporting harmonious bilingual development.

Bilingualism and Aging: Implications for (Delaying) Neurocognitive Decline

“…Firstly, there is the issue of ubiquity on at least two levels. Although this is not so readily appreciated by honing in on the Western world, in particular where English is the (de facto) dominant, native language, bi-/multilingualism characterizes the majority of the world's population (De Houwer, 2021). It is, therefore, naturally occurring at large scale.…”

Quebec-based Parents’ Attitudes Towards Childhood Multilingualism: Evaluative Dimensions and Potential Predictors

“…There are different strategies parents can employ to ensure their children receive approximately equal exposure to their languages in order to promote multilingual development. It is common for each parent to use multiple languages with the child, or for one parent to use multiple languages while the other only uses one ( De Houwer, 2021 ). In heritage language (HL) families, parents often use only the HL in the home, and they employ the societal language(s) outside their own four walls ( Ballinger et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Such support matters because children's multilingual development has micro- and macro-level implications. At an individual level, children's language outcomes can affect their well-being and healthy identity development as well as family dynamics and interpersonal relationships among family members (for an overview of the literature, see De Houwer, 2021 ). At a societal level, children who grow up to be active, proficient multilinguals and whose linguistic repertoires include minority languages can collectively contribute to the maintenance of these minority languages ( King et al, 2008 ).…”

Bilingual Language Development in Infancy: What Can We Do to Support Bilingual Families?

“…Consequently, many families who speak a heritage language feel pressure to assimilate, and thus may choose not to transmit their heritage language, in the hope that this will bring social and economic advantages for their children (Kutlu & Kircher, 2021). However, if children grow up without developing competence in their family's heritage language, this can have detrimental long-term effects: they may feel embarrassed about not being able to communicate with all family members; they may feel less connected to their cultural identity; and they may be upset with their parents for not supporting their heritage language development (De Houwer, 2021; Nakamura, 2020). By contrast, if children do develop competence in their heritage language, this positively impacts their healthy identity development as well as their well-being—and it has positive effects on family dynamics and interpersonal relationships among family members (Müller et al, 2020) while also increasing children's cultural knowledge.…”