Research Methods for Exploring the Role of Input in Child Bilingual Development

Dear Colleagues,

The relationship between language input and bilingual development is complex. The methods for exploring this relationship may differ considerably from study to study, making the comparison of results challenging. Furthermore, the children who are the focus of the studies may be very different from one another in terms of age, the languages they speak, the duration and age of exposure to each language and the types of exposure they have had from birth, for instance.

Studies on early bilingual acquisition suggest that the amount of input preschool children are exposed to is predictive of vocabulary acquisition in each language (e.g., Pearson et al., 1997; Thordardottir, 2011). Therefore, if a bilingual child is exposed more to one language, it is likely that that language will be dominant. Other studies have shown that it takes longer to acquire more complex morphosyntactic structures (Gathercole, 2007).

However, the relationship between bilingual children’s language input, on the one hand, and language development, on the other, has been shown to be more complex than the simple linear relationship of "more input = higher proficiency".

Several questions arise: What exactly does "input" mean and, more precisely, how can we measure it? Regarding bilingual development, does it make a difference if we focus on vocabulary size, morphosyntax or pragmatic competence? In addition to the amount of input, what qualitative aspects of input to the two languages affect development in each language? As for the outcome, what is the impact of individual differences and patterns of caretaker speech (Paradis, 2023; Verhagen et al., 2022)?

Among the studies that have focused on the role of input in early bilingual acquisition, it is clear that input cannot be studied in isolation. For example, Unsworth (2016) showed that the quantity and quality of input interacted with the age of onset of acquisition for certain grammatical structures in young Dutch–English bilinguals (see also Paradis et al. 2021). In a similar vein, Agren, Granfeldt and Thomas (2014) used parent and teacher interviews to explore other factors potentially impacting bilingual development, in order to propose 'input profiles' of Swedish–French bilingual children. De Houwer (2011) and Hoff et al. (2014) emphasized the importance of exposure to quality linguistic models, providing rich and varied contacts in both languages, to facilitate the acquisition of balanced bilingualism.

In this Special Issue, we aim to further explore how input impacts bilingual development. This question is increasingly important as more and more young children are being raised and sometimes schooled in two or more languages. We welcome papers focusing on diverse methods of examining and measuring the role of input in bilingual development, including: quantitative, experimental, behavioral and electrophysiological (EEG) approaches, and cross-sectional studies; qualitative approaches providing fine-grained and nuanced analyses (e.g., case studies or group studies); and longitudinal studies showing how input may affect bilingual development differently as children move into adolescence. Mixed-methods studies are also welcome.

Proposals can include different tools for gathering data on language input, such as questionnaires, interviews, focus groups and language biographies, and diverse tools for assessing language development, such as narrative tasks, acceptability judgement tasks and vocabulary assessments.

We are interested in investigating the contribution of other variables which may impact bilingual maintenance and development, including the status of the languages (prestigious, minority, minorized, heritage languages); the role played by changes in exposure following family mobility; the contribution of bilingual education and literacy; and the role of social networks, gaming and the media.

All linguistic fields are of interest: vocabulary, phonetics, morphosyntax and pragmatics. Moreover, less studied language combinations and typological distance versus proximity between the child’s two (or more) languages will enrich our understanding of how language input impacts child language development.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Languages editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo a double-blind peer review.

• Abstract Submission Deadline: 13 November 2023
• Notification of Abstract Acceptance: 27 November 2023
• Full Manuscript Submission Deadline: 15 April 2024

REFERENCES

Agren, M., Granfeldt, J. & Thomas, A.  (2014). Combined effects of age of onset and input on the development of different grammatical structures: A study of simultaneous and successive bilingual acquisition of French. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 4(4), 462-493. https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.4.4.03agr.

De Houwer, A. (2011). Language input environments and language development in bilingual acquisition. Applied Linguistics Review, 2, 221–240.

Gathercole, V.C.M. (2007). Miami and North Wales, so far and yet so near: a constructivist account of morphosyntactic development in bilingual children. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 10(3), 224–247.

Hoff, E., Welsh, S., Place, S., & Ribot, K.M. (2014). Properties of dual language input that shape bilingual development and properties of environments that shape dual language input. In T. Grüter & J. Paradis (eds.), Input and experience in bilingual development (pp. 119–140). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Paradis, J., Soto-Corominas, A., Daskalaki, E., Chen, R. & Gottardo, A. (2021). Morphosyntactic development in first generation Arabic-English children. The effect of cognitive, age and input factors over time and across languages. Languages, 6, 51. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages6010051.

Paradis, J. (2023). Sources of individual differences in the dual language development of heritage bilinguals. Journal of Child Language, 1–25. https://doi:10.1017/S0305000922000708.

Pearson, B.Z., Fernández, S.C., Lewedeg, V. & Oller, D.K. (1997). The relation of input factors to lexical learning by infant bilinguals. Applied Psycholinguistics, 18(1), 41–58.

Thordardottir, E. (2011). The relationship between bilingual exposure and vocabulary development. International Journal of Bilingualism, 15(4), 426–445.

Unsworth, S. (2016). Early child L2 acquisition: Age or input effects? Neither, or both? Journal of Child Language, 43(3), 608-634. https://doi:10.1017/S030500091500080X.

Verhagen, J., Kuiken, F. & Andringa, S. (2022). Family language patterns in bilingual families and relationships with children’s language outcomes. Applied Psycholinguistics, 43(5), 1109–1139. https://doi:10.1017/S0142716422000297.

Dr. Maria Kihlstedt
Dr. Cathy Cohen
Guest Editors

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• language input
• child bilingualism
• bilingual development
• methodological approaches: data driven, experimental, qualitative, quantitative
• language status and typology