Bilingual mothers’ language choice in child-directed speech: continuity and change

Abstract

An important aspect of Family Language Policy in bilingual families is parental language choice. Little is known about the continuity in parental language choice and the factors affecting it. This longitudinal study explores maternal language choice over time. Thirty-one bilingual mothers provided reports of what language(s) they spoke with their children. Mother-child interactions were videotaped when children were pre-verbal (5M), producing words in two languages (20M), and fluent speakers (53M). All children had heard two languages from birth in the home. Most mothers reported addressing children in the same single language. Observational data confirmed mothers' use of mainly a single language in interactions with their children, but also showed the occasional use of the other language in over half the sample when children were 20 months. Once children were 53 months mothers again used only the same language they reported speaking to children. These findings reveal a possible effect of children's overall level of language development and demonstrate the difficulty of adhering to a strict “one person, one language” policy. The fact that there was longitudinal continuity in the language most mothers mainly spoke with children provided children with cumulative language input learning opportunities.

What do bilingual infants actually hear? Evaluating measures of language input to bilingual‐learning 10‐month‐olds

“…Recent work suggests that mothers are fairly reliable in reporting which languages they themselves speak to their child (e.g. in short sessions: De Houwer & Bornstein, 2016). In a more comprehensive study, Marchman et al (2016) examined caregivers' accuracy in estimating their child's language experiences through daylong recordings.…”

“…Only a handful of studies have addressed whether caregivers can accurately estimate their child's language experiences (De Houwer & Bornstein, 2016;Marchman et al, 2016). However, in these studies, the recordings were mostly conducted in one context (i.e.…”

Heterogeneity in the trajectories of US Latine mothers’ dual-language input from infancy to preschool

“…A handful of studies have adopted a person-centered approach to investigate trajectories of mothers’ dual-language input to children. For instance, Dutch–French bilingual mothers’ dual-language input to their children was documented at infant ages 5, 20, and 53 months during spontaneous, non-structured interactions (De Houwer & Bornstein, 2016). At 5 months, most mothers used only one language with their children.…”

“…However, over half of the sample started using a second language when their children were 20 months of age, which might be driven by children’s emerging ability to speak the second language. At 53 months, many mothers switched back to the same single language they had used at 5 months, perhaps because children had become fluent speakers in that language (De Houwer & Bornstein, 2016). Another study with older children found that, from kindergarten to 8th grade, some mothers reported increasing in their use of English with their children during interactions at home; some used more home language; and some remained unchanged (Mancilla-Martinez & Kieffer, 2010).…”

Bilingual language input environments, intake, maturity and practice

“…Repeatedly using a language diary is likely to be more accurate (De Houwer, 2011). Actual recordings of CDS in bilingual families (De Houwer, 1997, 2014; De Houwer & Bornstein, 2016) are preferable, but require huge resources. It is in and through interaction, after all, that children hear language.…”