ERIC Number: EJ893645
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Sep
Pages: 24
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-0009
EISSN: N/A
How Vocabulary Size in Two Languages Relates to Efficiency in Spoken Word Recognition by Young Spanish-English Bilinguals
Marchman, Virginia A.; Fernald, Anne; Hurtado, Nereyda
Journal of Child Language, v37 n4 p817-840 Sep 2010
Research using online comprehension measures with monolingual children shows that speed and accuracy of spoken word recognition are correlated with lexical development. Here we examined speech processing efficiency in relation to vocabulary development in bilingual children learning both Spanish and English (n=26 ; 2 ; 6). Between-language associations were weak: vocabulary size in Spanish was uncorrelated with vocabulary in English, and children's facility in online comprehension in Spanish was unrelated to their facility in English. Instead, efficiency of online processing in one language was significantly related to vocabulary size in that language, after controlling for processing speed and vocabulary size in the other language. These links between efficiency of lexical access and vocabulary knowledge in bilinguals parallel those previously reported for Spanish and English monolinguals, suggesting that children's ability to abstract information from the input in building a working lexicon relates fundamentally to mechanisms underlying the construction of language.
Descriptors: Linguistic Input, Word Recognition, Monolingualism, Vocabulary Development, Bilingualism, Correlation, Language Processing, Spanish, English, Internet, Reading Comprehension, Measures (Individuals), Children, Child Language, Speech
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
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Language: English
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