Korean-English Bilingual Children Research Articles

The Relationship between Story Comprehension, Story Grammar Production, and Executive Function in Preschool-Age Korean-English Bilingual Children with and without Vocabulary Delay

Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between story comprehension and story grammar abilities, as well as executive function in preschool Korean-English bilingual children with vocabulary delay (VD) compared to typically developing (TD) children and examined predictors of their narrative abilities. Methods: A total of 30 children (13 children with VD, 17 TD children) aged from 4-6 years participated in the study. Children performed non-word repetition (NWR) and word list recall for verbal working memory, matrix for non-verbal working memory, fruit stroop for inhibition, and Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) for shifting. They also performed story comprehension and story grammar production tasks in both languages to assess their narrative abilities. For data analyses, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and stepwise multiple regression were conducted. Results: The VD group showed significantly lower performance in working memory, inhibition, shifting tasks. Moreover, VD group had significantly lower performance in story comprehension and story grammar production tasks in both languages. In the TD group, Korean story comprehension performance was correlated with English story comprehension, Korean story grammar production, English story grammar production performances. On the other hand, in the VD group, only Korean story comprehension showed a significant correlation with Korean story grammar production performance. Lastly, matrix significantly predicted English story comprehension abilities and word list recall significantly predicted Korean story grammar production abilities in the TD group. Conclusion: By examining the relationship between children’s ability to understand stories, produce story grammar and sub-factors of executive function, we can improve the narrative education and intervention for bilingual children’s literacy and academic achievement in the future.

The Effect of Online Bilingual Shared Book Reading on Vocabulary Learning for Korean-English Bilingual Children

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a bilingual shared book reading intervention on vocabulary learning for Korean-English bilingual children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD).Methods: A total of 16 Korean-English bilingual children aged 4-6 (9 typically developing children and 7 children with DLD) participated in this study. Participants participated in a bilingual shared book reading intervention using bridging to L1 techniques twice a week for 3 weeks, for a total of 6 sessions. Korean, English, and conceptual receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, and expressive definitions were assessed at pre and post tests to examine the effect of the intervention on vocabulary learning.Results: First, there was a statistically significant increase between pre-test and post-test results on all measures of Korean, English, and conceptually scored receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, and expressive definitions for typically developing children. Second, there was a statistically significant increase between pre-test and post-test results on measures of Korean receptive vocabulary, English receptive and expressive vocabulary, and conceptually scored receptive and expressive vocabulary for children with DLD.Conclusion: These results provide preliminary evidence that bilingual shared book reading is an effective method of vocabulary intervention for Korean-English bilingual children with and without DLD.

Exploring the influence of the home literacy environment on early literacy and vocabulary skills in Korean-English bilingual children.

Studies have emphasized the significance of maintaining a heritage language for various reasons such as the establishment of linguistic and cultural identity, as well as socio-emotional development. Despite the crucial role that literacy development in a heritage language plays in language preservation, there is a scant research that explores the impact of home literacy environment and literacy development in children with a heritage language. This study aimed to examine the home literacy environment and literacy-related skills in 4-to 5-year-old Korean-English bilingual children living in an English-speaking country, Australia, whose heritage language is Korean, and to investigate the relationships among the home literacy environment factors and the child-internal literacy-related skills. The study employed parental questionnaires and video analyses of parent-child shared book reading sessions to assess the Korean and English home literacy environment. Children's early literacy skills in Korean and English, along with their Korean, English, and conceptual vocabulary skills, were measured as literacy-related skills. The findings indicated that parents utilized an indirect approach for Korean literacy practices, in contrast to a more direct and explicit method for English literacy practices. However, active and direct literacy practices were found to be essential for Korean early literacy development, while indirect methods are sufficient for English early literacy skills. Moreover, the availability of abundant Korean literacy resources at home had a positive impact on the development of Korean and English, as well as conceptual vocabulary skills. In conclusion, this study underscores the importance of providing a robust literacy environment in a heritage language in bilingual families to promote language proficiency in both the heritage language and the dominant social language, while also supporting the development of conceptual language skills.

Korean–English Bilingual Children's Productions of Korean and English /l/

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine acoustic characteristics of Korean–English (KE) bilingual children's productions of Korean and English /l/ sounds. Specifically, individual variability in KE bilingual children's productions of Korean and English /l/ was examined in relation to each child's initial age and duration of exposure to their first and second languages. Method: A total of five KE bilingual children, ranging in age between 5 and 8 years, were included in this study. Each KE child produced word-initial (WI) and -final (WF) English /l/ and WF Korean /l/ embedded in monosyllabic words, using a picture naming task. English /l/ productions of monolingual American English (AE)–speaking children were also included. Productions of AE children were from an existing large data set that includes English WI and WF /l/ productions. The AE group was included as a control group for the productions of English /l/ of the same dialect. First (F1) and second formant frequency (F2) values extracted at the /l/ midpoint and Euclidean distance (ED) between English WI and WF /l/ were analyzed and compared across the productions. Results: KE children produced Korean WF /l/ with significantly higher F2–F1 values than their English counterparts and AE children's WF /l/. Acoustic patterns of KE English WI /l/ were similar to those of AE WI /l/, but variations were seen by the initial age and duration of their exposure to English. Mean ED values between English WI and WF /l/ also differed by KE children's initial age and duration of exposure to English. Conclusions: These results showed that KE children produce Korean and English WF /l/ with acoustic distinctions, but their patterns vary by the initial age and duration of their exposure to English and Korean. These findings suggest that a more detailed language background should be considered when working with bi-/multilingual children to accurately assess and examine their articulation skills.

Korean-english Bilingual Children's Stress Cue Sensitivity and its Relationship with Reading in English.

Lexical stress plays a critical role in multisyllabic word reading in English. However, assignment of English lexical stress, which is neither fixed nor marked in writing, can pose significant challenges for English learners and has not been well-understood. The present study aims to fill the research gap by studying sensitivity to lexical stress cues and its contribution to their word reading performance among young English-language learners whose first language is Korean. The fundamental differences in prosodic systems between Korean and English provide theoretical significance of studying how bilingual children having no lexical stress in their first language process English lexical stress. This study focuses on two major cues to English lexical stress: morphological and orthographic cues. Findings revealed that the participants are sensitive to the two stress cues, with better performance with orthographic cues to stress assignment. However, no statistically significant correlations were found among variables on stress cue sensitivity with those on reading.

Discriminant Analysis of Assessment Tools in Identifying Language Impairment in Korean-English Bilingual Children

Discriminant Analysis of Assessment Tools in Identifying Language Impairment in Korean-English Bilingual Children

Korean-English bilingual children's production of stop contrasts*

Korean-English bilingual children's production of stop contrasts*

Exploring multicultural books through predictions and social interactions: A case study with kindergarteners in the United States

Although previous studies have underlined the importance of social interactions, multicultural education, prediction/imagination, and bilingual/bi-literacy learning, the intersection of all these four areas is yet to be explored. This qualitative case study explored how young bilingual readers create meanings and develop literary responses through prediction, imagination, and social interaction while reading multicultural literature. As part of a larger longitudinal study, this study focused on kindergarten-age Korean-English bilingual children at a Korean Language School in a Midwestern city in the United States. The data were collected over five months using audio/video recordings, open-ended interviews, and children’s artifacts. The findings suggest that creative participation and social interactions using two languages help young bilingual readers to engage deeply with the reading and encourage multiple perspectives.

Neural Mechanism of Second Language Processing in Korean-English Bilingual Children

Neural Mechanism of Second Language Processing in Korean-English Bilingual Children

Repetition with slight variation primarily through final particles in Korean-English bilingual children’s interaction

Employing Conversation Analysis, this study examines self-repetition with slight variation, primarily made through final particles, in the playtime interaction of Korean-English bilingual children with each other and their caregiver(s). Final particles in the Korean language provide speakers with grammatical resources with which they can effectively modify their actions as well as stances while they repeat their own prior utterances only with a change in (a) final particle(s). The analysis shows how resayings are prompted by interactional contingencies, such as some perceived issue with the first saying or the ways in which participants deal with the first saying, e.g., lack of response. The article illustrates how speakers achieve footing shifts across turns, greater precision in the actions they seek to perform via the practice of slightly variant repetition. Implications of the complex phenomenon of repetition as a site of language learning and use in children’s talk are also discussed.

“You Can’t be Rich Only Doing Good Deeds”: Bilingual Kindergarteners’ Discussions About Poverty and Wealth

This interdisciplinary study explores the intersection of economic equality, bilingual discussion, and early literacy instruction by examining Korean kindergarteners’ discussions about poverty and wealth during read-alouds. As part of a larger qualitative study, the current study was conducted in a kindergarten classroom at the Korean Language School, in the midwest of the United States. The study focused on Korean–English bilingual children’s read-alouds of picture books that dealt with poverty and wealth issues. The data were collected across four months through multiple sources, including audio/video recordings, open-ended interviews, children’s artifacts, and observational field notes. The findings suggest that bilingual discussions about children’s books on poverty and human equality in early-childhood classrooms are a medium to help children develop critical perspectives about poverty, wealth, and economic equality from an early age.

The Effects of the Early Acquisition of English on Korean-English Bilingual Children’s Production of Korean Prosody

The Effects of the Early Acquisition of English on Korean-English Bilingual Children’s Production of Korean Prosody

Phonological Skills in Korean-English Bilingual Children: Phonetic Inventory and Segmental Accuracy

Phonological Skills in Korean-English Bilingual Children: Phonetic Inventory and Segmental Accuracy

The role of person in subject auxiliary inversion in English wh-questions: Evidence from Korean-English bilingual children

Aims: The present study investigates whether Korean-English (K-E) bilingual children develop subject auxiliary inversion (SAI) in English wh-questions differently from monolingual English (M-E) speaking children. Specifically, an experimental study was designed to determine whether there is an effect of subject person in their acquisition of SAI in English wh-questions, a factor that had been suggested but not tested as a contributing factor in SAI in a previous study. Design: Twenty-six K-E bilingual and 20 M-E preschool-aged children were recruited for an elicitation study testing the effect of person on the use of SAI in wh-questions in English. The experiment consisted of having children interact with puppets in a guessing game that elicited first, second, and third person object- what questions in English. Data and analysis: Data from the experiment were analyzed through a binomial logistic regression, which accounts for the binary nature of the data (auxiliary inversion: present or absent) and identified which variables contribute significantly to the presence and absence of SAI. Findings/conclusions: Results indicated a significant difference between K-E and M-E groups and a significant main effect for person on SAI for the K-E group. The paper proposes that the [prs] feature is part of the bundle of features that drives the movement of the features in T to C. Originality: The paper contributes evidence for a link between the person feature and SAI, a link that has not been seen before for wh-question research. Significance/implications: The new evidence of a possible link between subject person and auxiliary inversion may open a window to new avenues for wh-question acquisition research.

Maternal beliefs in children’s bilingualism: A case study on Korean mothers in the United States

This study examined maternal beliefs in children`s bilingualism. Five Korean mothers who were raising young bilingual children in the United States were interviewed. The findings in this study showed that the Korean mothers believed in children`s bilingualism had positive values. They perceived Korean- English bilingualism as a positive influence on children`s well-being, children`s emotional makeup with their family, and children`s educational development. They played a critical role in teaching Korean in various ways based on their positive beliefs. However, they worked individually on their children`s bilingual education and had difficulty in receiving support from the school or the community. They needed support from the school system to maintain their beliefs. The results of the study suggested that American mainstream schools should work together with parents from minority groups and foster a supportive environment for Korean-English bilingual children.

Age-related changes in segmental accuracy and error production in Korean-English bilingual children: implications for clinical speech sound assessment procedures

ABSTRACTA lack of information about typical phonological development in bilingual children presents as a challenge to many speech-language pathologists assessing bilingual children with suspected speech sound disorder. This study investigated age-related changes in speech accuracy and error production in 16 preschool Korean-English bilingual children, aged between 3;1 and 5;11, in New Zealand. We found considerable individual variations in the longitudinal data. In particular, we found some error patterns emerged during the course of development, instead of being progressively resolved with age. Our findings suggest that speech-language pathologists should take a considered approach to identifying bilingual children with speech sound disorder solely based on the information provided in cross-sectional studies. We suggest that a follow-up session may provide valuable information facilitating the clinical assessment procedure to identify bilingual children with speech sound disorder.

Korean bilingual children’s conversations about gender in online books: a case study of critical media literacy in the United States

Although a great deal of research has been undertaken in media literacy, early bilingual instruction, gender, and critical thinking, nothing has been documented about the intersection of these four areas. This interdisciplinary study explored the transformative potential of early critical media literacy practices as a medium to prompt authentic discussions about gender with young bilingual children. Adopting a qualitative case study approach, the current article focuses on kindergarten-age Korean-English bilingual children at the Korean Language School in a city in the Midwest United States. Multi-modal data were collected for a semester through classroom observations, one-to-one interviews with the parents and teacher, and the children’s artifacts. The findings suggest that critical media practice can offer young bilingual children a wide range of opportunities for critically examining gender representations in online storybooks and questioning dominant gender ideologies. The practical implications for early-years’ teachers and educators in the twenty-first century are also discussed.

The emergence of phonetic categories in Korean–English bilingual children

The present study examined the speech production of three-year-old Korean-English bilingual (KEB) children. English and Korean stops, as well as front vowels in both languages, were compared acoustically among the KEB children, then also measured against those of their age-equivalent monolingual counterparts. Evidence of distinctive phonetic categorization in bilingual children was more salient in vowels than in stops. Vowels and stops produced by the bilingual children were not significantly different from those of their monolingual counterparts. The findings suggest that, similar to other language domains, two linguistic systems are apparent in the phonetic production component of three-year-old KEB children, but that phonetic distinctiveness in production may not emerge holistically in an across-the-board fashion, appearing earlier in vowels than stops. Thus, the phonetic production systems of the two languages may develop with only limited interaction in simultaneous KEB children exposed to two languages at an early age.

Error Analysis of Korean-English Bilingual Children’s Speech Productions

Purpose: Type of surface-level speech errors can be diagnostically valuable information to identify children with speech sound disorder (SSD). There is a lack of such information for bilingual children, which makes identifying bilingual children with SSD a significant challenge. This article reports on error production in Korean-English bilingual (KEB) children. Methods: Single-word samples were collected from 52 KEB children aged between 3;0 and 7;11. The word productions were analysed for error and compared to the existing date from monolingual English-speaking (ME) and monolingual Korean-speaking (MK) children. Results: While some children's error production was similar to what would be expected in respective monolingual children, other children produced errors that would be considered delay, atypical or even advanced for their monolingual counterparts in both of their languages. No reliable factors could be identified to determine the characteristics associated with delay, atypical or advanced error production compared to monolingual children. Conclusions: There are qualitative differences in phonological development between monolingual and bilingual children. The clinical use of available monolingual normative data is likely to lead to an inaccurate diagnosis of SSD. Small cohort studies in bilingual phonological development should not be taken as normative data in clinical practice due to heterogeneity.

Expanding the Horizons for Critical Literacy in a Bilingual Preschool Classroom: Children’s Responses in Discussions with Gender-Themed Picture Books

The current study explores how picture books can be used in bilingual classrooms to support more critical understandings of gender stereotypes by preschool children. The research uses a reader-response perspective that stresses the importance of the reader’s role in interpreting texts as well as sociocultural theory to analyze the social dynamics of teacher–child interactions. The participants were four-year-old, Korean–English bilingual children attending a Korean Language School in the midwest of the USA. The findings suggested that literary discussions about gender-themed picture books using both Korean and English languages promoted children’s critical thinking about gender roles. By sharing empirical examples of children’s authentic discussions, the study provides early childhood teachers with insights on how gender-themed picture books can be used as a medium to open up authentic discussions about gender roles in bilingual settings. Through valuing children’s responses to the reading of the picture books, the teachers encourage children to become more active learners. Their personal responses were valued in discussions, and they began to see themselves as having the authority to make judgments about what they read.