Abstract
This paper reports the results of a study investigating the Russian-language proficiency of bi/multilingual (Russian–English [+additional language]) children in Saskatchewan, Canada, as compared to monolingual children in Russia. Very few studies of Russo-English bilingual children’s language performance are available in the Canadian context, and no studies have ever been conducted in Saskatchewan, where input is severely restricted compared to other contexts due to demographic reasons. The major impetus for the study was therefore to determine if in these settings, bi/multilingual children can develop minority language proficiency comparable to that of their monolingual peers in Russia. The methodology employed in the study focuses on the linguistic analysis of audio recordings of a picture description task performed by participants. Oral language proficiency parameters (including vocabulary, fluency, and syntactical complexity) in the speech of the 5–6-year-old bi/multilingual children were compared with the ones produced by a control group (monolingual children) from Russia. The results demonstrate that the oral language proficiency in the bilingual group is on a par with that of the monolingual group. However, reading and writing skills of the bi/multilingual group are less developed than in the control group.
Highlights
Canada is becoming increasingly more multilingual, and the proportion of the population speaking immigrant languages as mother tongues at home continues to grow, increasing from 10% to 20% of the Canadian population in just five years (Winzer & Mazurek, 2000) with more than 200 immigrant languages in use (Statistics Canada, 2012)
The aim of the present study was to add to the palette of bi/multilingual studies in Canada by investigating Russian language proficiency of bi/multilingual children in Saskatchewan, as compared with that of their monolingual peers in Russia
Bi/multilingual children were selected according to the following criteria: if they spoke Russian and English; if they were either born in Canada or brought to Canada before they were three years old; if they had been immersed in an English-speaking environment in Saskatoon on a daily basis for at least six months, and if they had at least one Russian-speaking parent who satisfied the conditions of being born in a Russian-speaking country and having Russian as the mother tongue
Summary
Canada is becoming increasingly more multilingual, and the proportion of the population speaking immigrant languages (i.e., languages other than Aboriginal, English and French) as mother tongues at home continues to grow, increasing from 10% to 20% of the Canadian population in just five years (Winzer & Mazurek, 2000) with more than 200 immigrant languages in use (Statistics Canada, 2012). In some areas, such as Toronto, 50% of schoolchildren have a first language other than one of the official languages (Byers-Heinlein & Lew-Williams, 2013). The same amount of exposure to two languages is difficult to achieve in daily life; dominant bilinguals who speak one language better than the other are, more common
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