The Bilingual Home Language Boost Through the Lens of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Li Sheng,Leah Heisler,Pumpki Lei Su,Xin Li,Danyang Wang,Caila Walsh

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.667836

Li Sheng, Leah Heisler + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.667836

Copy DOI

Abstract

Usage-based accounts of language acquisition suggest that bilingual language proficiency is dynamic and susceptible to changes in language use. The COVID-19 pandemic led to unprecedented modifications in the language learning environment of developing bilinguals. Drawing on this unique opportunity, we analyzed existing data of two matched groups of Mandarin-English bilingual children (ages 4 to 8 years, n = 38), one tested before (pre-COVID group) and the other during (COVID group) the pandemic. The dataset comprises responses to a language environment questionnaire, and scores on a sentence comprehension task and a sentence recall task in the bilinguals’ two languages. Questionnaire data revealed a richer Mandarin language environment for children in the COVID group compared to peers in the pre-COVID group. On both comprehension and production tasks, the two groups performed comparably in English but the COVID group showed better performance in Mandarin than the pre-COVID group. Within the pre-COVID group, English was stronger than Mandarin in both comprehension and production. Within the COVID group, the two languages were balanced in comprehension and Mandarin was stronger than English in production. Moreover, language use variables were correlated with production performance in both languages. These patterns illustrate the intimate relationships between language use and bilingual language proficiency through the lens of COVID-19 induced language environment modification.

Highlights

Incremental or usage-based accounts of language acquisition suggest that bilingual language proficiency is dynamic, fluid, and subject to the influences of language use patterns (Wulff and Ellis, 2018; Oppenheim et al, 2020)
We predicted that English language use would be more limited but home language use would be greater and richer in the children undergoing quarantine than in their peers tested before the pandemic
Exploratory analyses indicated more use of Mandarin between the child and their parents in the COVID sample than the pre-COVID sample. These findings align with a recent report (Serratrice, 2020) of elevated use of the home language in bilingual children of comparable age during lockdown

Summary

Introduction

Incremental or usage-based accounts of language acquisition suggest that bilingual language proficiency is dynamic, fluid, and subject to the influences of language use patterns (Wulff and Ellis, 2018; Oppenheim et al, 2020). In early sequential bilinguals who grow up speaking a home language, shortly after the onset of systematic exposure to the societal language, children begin to change their preferred or dominant language in certain contexts (Kohnert and Bates, 2002; Pham and Kohnert, 2014; Sheng, 2014; Sheng et al, 2014). Illustrated by longitudinal studies of young Spanish-English bilingual children, this effect suggests that L2 (English) but not L1 (Spanish) growth rates differ between the academic year and the summer months. Over a 3-year span, Rojas and Iglesias (2013) showed linear growth in English expressive language skills during each academic year, but reduced English growth during the summer, suggesting an effect of the lack of systematic support and exposure to English during the summer. Spanish growth was not negatively impacted by summer vacation

Methods

Results

Conclusion