Abstract
The current study seeks to explore the impact of multimedia input at home on bilingual children’s language outcomes. Two hundred and two Singaporean English-Mandarin kindergarteners’ multimedia experience (i.e., the resources and the amount of multimedia input) and conventional language exposure (e.g., language use with family members) were investigated with a parental questionnaire. A series of English and Mandarin tests were conducted to assess children’s proficiency (i.e., in receptive vocabulary, receptive grammar, verbal fluency) by standardized measures. Results demonstrated that the diversity of multimedia input is more important than the amount of multimedia input in promoting children’s Mandarin language maintenance, while controlling for children’s conventional language exposure, SES, and language aptitude. The number of multimedia sources is significantly and positively related to children’s general Mandarin proficiency. In contrast, English multimedia exposure at home exerts little impact on children’s general English proficiency. The findings indicate the unique contribution of multimedia diversity to children’s early heritage language maintenance. The strong social relevance of the study is discussed at the end of the paper.
Highlights
Multimedia Input and Child Bilingual Language DevelopmentInput is considered crucial in bilingual children’s language development (Grüter and Paradis, 2014)
Previous studies tend to focus on the impact of active communications on bilingual children’s language development, and very few studies explore the influence of input from the multimedia perspective
We continue to investigate this question in the current study where we look at both the quantity and quality dimensions of multimedia input, for the acquisition of English and a heritage language (Mandarin Chinese) in Singapore
Summary
Multimedia Input and Child Bilingual Language Development. Input is considered crucial in bilingual children’s language development (Grüter and Paradis, 2014). The quantity and quality of input have been found to influence child bilingual’s route and rate of vocabulary and grammar acquisition (e.g., Paradis, 2011; Sun et al, 2018b). Researchers in child bilingualism tend to operationalize input quantity as the length of language exposure and the amount of daily communication in the given language with families, friends or in community settings (Unsworth, 2013). Previous studies tend to focus on the impact of active communications (e.g., with family members) on bilingual children’s language development, and very few studies explore the influence of input from the multimedia perspective. We focus on the role of multimedia in children’s bilingual development in the current study
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