Latino toddlers’ bilingual output and their caregivers’ bilingual input and acculturation

Abstract

The current study’s aim was to investigate how Latino toddlers’ bilingual language development relates to their caregivers’ bilingual language use (i.e., input) and cultural orientation (to the US and their heritage country). Video recordings of caregiver-child interactions, collected when toddlers were approximately 1.5 (Mage = 18.73 months; SDage = 1.11) and 2 years old (Mage = 25.13 months; SDage = 1.29), were used to measure caregivers’ (Mage = 33.29 years; SDage = 4.95) and toddlers’ language use (i.e., output), respectively. Specifically, the total number of words used (i.e., tokens) in Spanish and English were derived from the video-recordings. In addition, caregivers’ cultural orientation (i.e., acculturation; Mexican/heritage culture-oriented to US-oriented) was assessed using a multidimensional measure of acculturation. Descriptive analyses of tokens showed that caregivers and toddlers used both Spanish and English during interactions with each other, though caregivers used a higher ratio of Spanish-to-English (i.e., more Spanish than English) than did toddlers. Mediational analyses further revealed that caregivers’ acculturation level was indirectly related to toddlers’ bilingual language use, specifically as a function of caregivers’ bilingual language use. These findings suggest that caregivers’ bilingual input acts as a mediator between caregivers’ acculturation and their toddlers’ bilingual output.