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A growth curve analysis of novel word learning by sequential bilingual preschool children*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2011

PUI FONG KAN  and
KATHRYN KOHNERT
PUI FONG KAN*
Affiliation:
University of Colorado
KATHRYN KOHNERT
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
*
Address for correspondence: Pui Fong Kan, Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, 2501 Kittredge Loop Road, 409 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309, USApuifong.kan@colorado.edu
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Abstract

Longitudinal word learning studies which control for experience can advance understanding of language learning and potential intra- and inter-language relationships in developing bilinguals. We examined novel word learning in both the first (L1) and the second (L2) languages of bilingual children. The rate and shape of change as well as the role of existing vocabulary in new word learning were of primary interest. Participants were 32 three-to-five-year old children. All participants had Hmong as their L1 and English as their L2. A novel word learning paradigm was used to measure children's acquisition of new form–meaning associations in L1 and L2 over eight weekly training sessions (four in each language). Two-level hierarchical linear models were used to analyze change in the comprehension and production of new words in Hmong and English over time. Results showed that there were comparable linear gains in novel word comprehension and production in both the L1 and the L2, despite different starting points. Success in novel word learning was predicted to some extent by existing vocabulary knowledge within each language. Between-language relationships were both positive and negative. These findings are consistent with highly interactive dynamic theories of sequential bilingual language learning.

Keywords

bilingual childrenword learningfast mappingsecond language learnersEnglish language learningvocabulary acquisition
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , July 2012 , pp. 452 - 469
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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Footnotes

*

This study was funded by dissertation fellowship and research grants to P. F. Kan from the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota, a grant from the College of Liberal Arts of the University of Minnesota, and the Bryng Bryngelson Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences Research Fund at the University of Minnesota. We are grateful to the children who participated in this study and to their families for allowing them to do so. Special thanks go to teachers Eepay Yang, Maiyia Yang, and Mary Vue, and to the program coordinator, Xeng Chang at Southeast Asian Preschool at Reuben Lindh Family Services in Minneapolis for assistance with participant recruitment and study logistics. We also thank Jy Xiong, Kia Xiong, Chao Khang, Kristy Benoit, Marisa Irwin, Alaina Kelley, Lacey Thomas, Olga Campbell, and Margie Southward for their help with data collection. We thank the reviewers and the editor for their comments and suggestions, which led to significant improvements in this paper.

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