Lexical-semantic skills in bilingual children who are becoming English-dominant: A longitudinal study

Sheng, Li

doi:10.1017/s1366728913000746

Cited by 18 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In other words, the collaborative language policy promotes an additive bilingual environment in Hong Kong, which may have enabled students to maintain their first language while adding a second one and such additive environment is also facilitating the transfer between the two langauges (Lambert, 1975). By contrast, studies of Mandarin-English bilingual children in the United States indicated an early stagnation of these children's Mandarin skills as these children were focusing on learning English and becoming English-dominant (Sheng, 2014). L1, or heritage language attribution has been found in other bilingual groups in the North America context.…”

Section: Moderator Effect Of Geographic Location and Grade Levelmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Chinese (or heritage language) instruction, when available, is provided on an informal basis through the family or the community. These after-school or weekend heritage language programs tend to be very short in duration and insufficient to support the continuous growth of their L1 (Sheng, 2014). At the other end, in Mainland China and Taiwan, Mandarin Chinese is the official language in the greater society and the language of instruction in school.…”

Section: Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…L1, or heritage language attribution has been found in other bilingual groups in the North America context. The subtractive bilingual environement in North America may have led to a suppressed level of crosslinguistic transfer (Cobo-Lewis et al, 2002;Hammer et al, 2008;Sheng, 2014).…”

Section: Moderator Effect Of Geographic Location and Grade Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An investigation of cross-linguistic transfer between Chinese and English: a meta-analysis

Man

Cooc

Sheng

2017

Asian. J. Second. Foreign. Lang. Educ.

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Cross-linguistic transfer embodies language learners' use of linguistic knowledge of their first language to leverage the learning of a second language. The cross-linguisitc transfer between Chinese and English has been studied by scholars from different disciplines. However, variances and inconsistencies exist among prior studies regarding the investigated linguistic domains and reported results. Therefore, a meta-analysis is needed to systematically investigate the cross-linguistic transfer between Chinese and English. This meta-analysis presents research on cross-linguistic transfer between the two languages in four domains: phonological awareness, decoding skills, vocabulary, and morphological awareness. Using 33 articles conducted in different countries, our results show small to moderate levels of transfer in the above four domains. In addition, it was found that the results were moderated by geographic location of the study and participant age. Overall, the meta-analysis indicates that English and Chinese share common linguistic features that can allow for transfer in learning between the languages. Bilingual learners can benefit in educational environments that tap into these linguistic features.

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Section: Moderator Effect Of Geographic Location and Grade Levelmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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An investigation of cross-linguistic transfer between Chinese and English: a meta-analysis

Man

Cooc

Sheng

2017

Asian. J. Second. Foreign. Lang. Educ.

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“…Posthoc tests showed significantly higher ratings in English than Mandarin for the seven-year-old group (Mean difference=.56, p<.01, 95% CI=.19-.94) and no difference between Mandarin and English proficiency rating in the other two groups. The apparent inconsistency between parental subjective rating and performance on an objective naming task for the five-and six-year-old groups may reflect an earlier shift towards English dominance in picture naming than in general oral proficiency (Sheng, 2014). Notes.…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slot-Filler and Taxonomic Organization: The Role of Contextual Experience and Maternal Education

Sheng¹,

Lam²

2015

JEDP

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Previous studies on children's semantic development suggest a shift from slot-filler to taxonomic organization at around eight years of age. However, these studies typically did not include children of early elementary-school ages (six-or seven-year-old); hence the possibility remains that the shift could have emerged earlier in development. The goal of the present study was to examine the age at which the taxonomic advantage in semantic organization occurs in a cross-sectional sample of children covering a wider age range and elucidate the factors related to the use of different semantic organizational strategies. Forty-six Mandarin-English bilinguals belonging to three age groups (five-, six-, and seven-year-old) were administered category generation task in both slot-filler (e.g., "Name all the zoo animals you can think of.") and taxonomic conditions (e.g., "Name all the animals you can think of."). The taxonomic advantage emerged as early as six years of age. Knowledge of specific slot-filler categories (farm vs. zoo animals) showed different age-related changes. Age and maternal education more consistently predicted performance in taxonomic than slot-filler condition. The slot-filler to taxonomic shift in semantic organization is exhibited across populations of distinct language background in early school-age years. Experience with specific categories and parental input both play important roles in the development of semantic organization.

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“…Given previous findings of cross-language associations in bilingual children’s vocabulary development (Kan & Kohnert, 2008; Kohnert, 2010; Sheng, 2012; Sheng et al, 2012), we were also interested in possible cross-language facilitation in semantic convergence in the current group of bilingual children.…”

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confidence: 99%

Semantic Convergence in Spanish–English Bilingual Children With Primary Language Impairment

Sheng

Bedore

Peña

et al. 2013

J Speech Lang Hear Res

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Purpose To examine the degree of convergence in word association responses produced by bilingual children with primary language impairment (PLI) in relation to bilingual age peers. Method Thirty-seven Spanish–English bilingual children with PLI, 37 typically developing (TD) controls, and a normative sample of 112 children produced associations to 24 English and Spanish words. The 5 most frequent responses for each stimulus were identified for the normative sample; then the frequency of occurrence of these frequent normative responses was tabulated and compared between the PLI and TD groups. Results Children with PLI generated fewer frequent normative responses than their TD peers. Spearman rank correlations revealed that the rank frequency of responses in the normative group was significantly correlated with that of the TD and PLI groups; however, in English, the correlation was stronger for the TD cohort. Cross-language associations were also revealed in the generation of frequent norming responses. Conclusions Semantic convergence is determined by multiple factors. Reduced production of frequent normative responses and weakened correlation with group association behavior in English suggest that children with PLI were delayed in converging on a central core of semantic knowledge that is characteristic of bilingual children with typical language skills.

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Lexical-semantic skills in bilingual children who are becoming English-dominant: A longitudinal study

Cited by 18 publications

References 29 publications

An investigation of cross-linguistic transfer between Chinese and English: a meta-analysis

An investigation of cross-linguistic transfer between Chinese and English: a meta-analysis

Slot-Filler and Taxonomic Organization: The Role of Contextual Experience and Maternal Education

Semantic Convergence in Spanish–English Bilingual Children With Primary Language Impairment

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