Model
Digital Document
Publisher
Florida Atlantic University
Description
The current studies tested the hypothesis, that early exposure is sufficient for
nativelike proficiency. Study 1 compared the English skill of 116 5 year olds who had
been exposed to English and Spanish from birth with English monolingual and found that
the bilingual children had significantly lower levels of vocabulary skill. Study 2 assessed
65 adult bilinguals, comparing them to 25 English and 25 Spanish monolinguals on a
battery of language measures. The bilinguals had lower scores in Spanish in 7 of the 8
domains of language skill measured. The bilinguals were not different from the English
monolingual speakers in most, but not all, aspects of language proficiency. These
findings provide evidence that the monolingual-bilingual gap observed in childhood is no
longer evident among adult bilinguals, but that despite early exposure and continued use
into adulthood, second generation immigrants are not native-like in their heritage
language skills.
nativelike proficiency. Study 1 compared the English skill of 116 5 year olds who had
been exposed to English and Spanish from birth with English monolingual and found that
the bilingual children had significantly lower levels of vocabulary skill. Study 2 assessed
65 adult bilinguals, comparing them to 25 English and 25 Spanish monolinguals on a
battery of language measures. The bilinguals had lower scores in Spanish in 7 of the 8
domains of language skill measured. The bilinguals were not different from the English
monolingual speakers in most, but not all, aspects of language proficiency. These
findings provide evidence that the monolingual-bilingual gap observed in childhood is no
longer evident among adult bilinguals, but that despite early exposure and continued use
into adulthood, second generation immigrants are not native-like in their heritage
language skills.
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