A large receptive–expressive gap in bilingual children
The present study focuses on the discrepancy between receptive and expressive language competence among bilingual children and tests possible explanatory factors of this gap. The sample consisted of 406 bilingual children with German as their second language (L2) and 46 different first languages. Re...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2015-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01284/full |
| _version_ | 1819059829664120832 |
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| author | Karin eKeller Larissa Maria Troesch Alexander eGrob |
| author_facet | Karin eKeller Larissa Maria Troesch Alexander eGrob |
| author_sort | Karin eKeller |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The present study focuses on the discrepancy between receptive and expressive language competence among bilingual children and tests possible explanatory factors of this gap. The sample consisted of 406 bilingual children with German as their second language (L2) and 46 different first languages. Receptive and expressive German language competence (L2) were measured with a standardized language development test at the age of 43 months. As expected, a significant gap in receptive and expressive German language competence (L2) emerged in all language groups. The size of the gap reached one standard deviation and correlated with the amount of language contact and thus provides support for the language exposure hypothesis. However, we found no evidence for the language familiarity hypothesis. The present study contributes to the understanding of mechanisms in bilingual language development and, hence, is consequential for both basic research and language assessment practice. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T14:17:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c13195f2eaf946cbb358932aea0357c8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T14:17:19Z |
| publishDate | 2015-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-c13195f2eaf946cbb358932aea0357c82022-12-21T19:00:53ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782015-08-01610.3389/fpsyg.2015.01284158903A large receptive–expressive gap in bilingual childrenKarin eKeller0Larissa Maria Troesch1Alexander eGrob2University of BaselUniversity of BaselUniversity of BaselThe present study focuses on the discrepancy between receptive and expressive language competence among bilingual children and tests possible explanatory factors of this gap. The sample consisted of 406 bilingual children with German as their second language (L2) and 46 different first languages. Receptive and expressive German language competence (L2) were measured with a standardized language development test at the age of 43 months. As expected, a significant gap in receptive and expressive German language competence (L2) emerged in all language groups. The size of the gap reached one standard deviation and correlated with the amount of language contact and thus provides support for the language exposure hypothesis. However, we found no evidence for the language familiarity hypothesis. The present study contributes to the understanding of mechanisms in bilingual language development and, hence, is consequential for both basic research and language assessment practice.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01284/fullbilingualismExpressive languagereceptive languagesecond languageLanguage exposurereceptive–expressive gap |
| spellingShingle | Karin eKeller Larissa Maria Troesch Alexander eGrob A large receptive–expressive gap in bilingual children Frontiers in Psychology bilingualism Expressive language receptive language second language Language exposure receptive–expressive gap |
| title | A large receptive–expressive gap in bilingual children |
| title_full | A large receptive–expressive gap in bilingual children |
| title_fullStr | A large receptive–expressive gap in bilingual children |
| title_full_unstemmed | A large receptive–expressive gap in bilingual children |
| title_short | A large receptive–expressive gap in bilingual children |
| title_sort | large receptive expressive gap in bilingual children |
| topic | bilingualism Expressive language receptive language second language Language exposure receptive–expressive gap |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01284/full |
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