Factors influencing bilingual and multilingual children

Bilingualism is COMPLEX and constantly evolving. It is influenced by a number of factors such as culture, age, circumstances, education, a person's social network, employment/vocation, and several other factors.

Bilingualism is never truly balanced or stable, and it varies according to many factors.

This means that the level of bilingualism and proficiency in each language fluctuates over time and according to several factors, and this is a large part of our clinical work to collect data that will influence second language acquisition, mastery, and thus help us clarify our speech therapy conclusions.

Here are the many factors to consider when caring for a bilingual child:

1- Quantity: Refers to the amount of time during waking hours that the child is exposed to each language. It must be systematic and consistent before considering that the child is experiencing difficulties.

It is well established in the scientific literature (Thordardottir, 2011) that the amount of exposure needed to the second language in a typical week, including the weekend, is a minimum of 40% of waking hours. so that the vocabulary Receptiveness falls within the expected norms compared to the monolingual child, and then >60% exposure for expressive vocabulary. 

In a live training session given previously , I demonstrate an example (see my demonstration around 9 minutes) of how to do this calculation done for receptive language in a child.

To do this, I'm sharing a free tool with you (you'll find it in my free tools section) to calculate language exposure in a typical week. (once for the receptive language to which the child is exposed – a second time for the expressive language the child uses)

2- Quality: Quality exposure means that children need good language role models, people who are fluent in each language. Interaction with people is always valued, even beyond screens. But how does quality influence language?

• The parent's proficiency in the home language has an impact on both the quantity and quality of exposure the child will receive.
• For example: If parents are advised to speak the majority language* , and they do not have a good command of that language, they will produce less rich language models, shorter sentences, and use it less frequently because it requires effort.
• For example, second-generation parents in Canada will also produce linguistic differences from monolingual adults in their country of origin. Therefore, they may use morphosyntactic structures differently than a monolingual person from their country of origin, or even lose certain skills. These linguistic differences in the parental model are not associated with a disorder. Simply put, a different language experience can have an influence (no, not a negative one), but simply an impact, manifesting as variety in the language development of bilingual or multilingual children.

3 – The sociolinguistic context: A very important factor that influences language development along a continuum . The sociolinguistic context influences the number of opportunities. due to the status and access to each language.

• For example: A family of new immigrants who speak Urdu at home will not have many opportunities to hear and practice this language outside the family context, because it is a minority language* . This can subsequently lead to the loss of the minority language (subtractive bilingualism) – or what is called language attrition in children.

This example contrasts with a Spanish-speaking family living in the United States: this family, although having a minority language as a home language, will have more access to it in the community.

What are the possible consequences of decreased use of the home language and language attrition?

• The child might stop using their home language (L1 – minority language), and this is a question of attitude towards language, culture, and the development of their personal identity:
• For example: if a teacher or anyone important in a child's life tells them that they should speak French and not language X, then language X may be perceived negatively by the child.
• If a child reduces their use of their home language, they will become less proficient in it and feel less comfortable. Consequently, they may lose the desire to use it.
• Parents can also reduce their frequency of use of the minority language in favor of the community language (often parents with good intentions). This will also have an impact on the child's linguistic development depending on their age and ethnolinguistic background.
• The loss of the home language also has a significant impact on family relationships; if the parent communicates little or not at all in the majority language, this can have serious consequences such as:
• Inability to socialize with one's child
• Inability to pass on family customs, values, and cultural beliefs
• Less rich input (if it is the parent who is trying to speak the majority language* )

4- The age of acquisition 

• At what age was each language introduced? The length of time since introduction. Research shows that earlier exposure, and therefore exposure over a longer period of time, is better in the long term.

5- Other factors (Free translation of Paradis, Genesee, & Crago, 2021) :

• Internal factors:
• Motivation
• Cognitive skills
• Introduction age: younger = better long-term, older = faster short-term learning
• Ligue 1 transfer
• External factors:
• Longer exposure to L2 = better L2 skills
• L2 use with peers and siblings supports L2
• A rich L2 environment outside of school supports L2
• Higher parental education and SSE support for L2 and L1
• Internal/external factors:
• Socio-emotional well-being can influence L2 acquisition

6- The siblings

• The dominant language of the eldest child when the youngest was born will influence the choice of language spoken between them;
• The language in which they prefer to play;
• The age of each child: they will be able to use the minority language in preschool, depending on the exposure, but the child who enters school will also be able at that time to go back and forth between the minority language and the language of schooling;
• The amount of time that parents speaking a minority language will dedicate to the children and to interacting with them will influence the choice of language with siblings;
• The language spoken at daycare will influence the choice of language among siblings;
• Habits created at home.

The combination of all these factors creates significant variability among bilingual children and even within a group of bilingual children that might be considered relatively homogeneous. It then becomes difficult to establish norms for this population due to its highly heterogeneous functioning (Kohnert, 2010).

*Refer to this blog for definitions of: minority language, majority language, dominant language: The bilingual child, myths and knowing when to intervene, refer and consult