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Dónde está la ball? Examining the effect of code switching on bilingual children's word recognition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2019

Giovanna MORINI*
Affiliation:
University of Delaware, USA
Rochelle S. NEWMAN
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, USA
*
*Corresponding author: University of Delaware, Communication Sciences and Disorders Program, 100 Discovery Blvd., Room 533, Newark, DE, 19713. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Hearing words in sentences facilitates word recognition in monolingual children. Many children grow up receiving input in multiple languages – including exposure to sentences that ‘mix’ the languages. We explored Spanish–English bilingual toddlers’ (n = 24) ability to identify familiar words in three conditions: (i) single word (ball!); (ii) same-language sentence (Where's the ball?); or (iii) mixed-language sentence (Dónde está la ball?). Children successfully identified words across conditions; however, the advantage linked to hearing words in sentences was present only in the same-language condition. This work hence suggests that language mixing plays an important role on bilingual children's ability to recognize spoken words.

Type
Brief Research Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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