How vocabulary size in two languages relates to efficiency in spoken word recognition by young Spanish–English bilinguals
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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.
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The observed significant antagonistic effect of high use of Dutch at home on the relation between Turkish and Dutch outcomes in PSG3 children replicates the inverse positive moderator effect found in previous studies of high L1 use on the relation between L1 and L2 vocabulary.
“The observed significant antagonistic effect of high use of Dutch at home on the relation between Turkish and Dutch outcomes in PSG3 children replicates the (inverse) positive moderator effect found in previous studies of high L1 use on the relation between L1 and L2 vocabulary (Cha & Goldenberg, 2015; Marchman et al., 2010; Prevoo et al., 2015).”
From Linguistic interdependence of receptive vocabulary skills in emergent bilingual preschool children: Exploring a factor-dependent approach (2019) · cites this paper as Marchman et al., 2010
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn between-group comparisons, bilingual children often have smaller vocabularies than their monolingual peers.
“in between-group comparisons they often have smaller vocabularies than their monolingual peers (Bialystok et al., 2010;Marchman et al., 2010;Scheele et al., 2010;Thordardottir et al., 2006;Vagh et al., 2009).”
From Cross-language distance influences receptive vocabulary outcomes of bilingual children (2020) · cites this paper as Marchman et al., 2010
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“At the same time, variation in lexical outcomes has been linked to differences in the quantity or quality of children’s experiences with language (Hart & Risley, 1995; Hoff, 2006).”
BackgroundA construction based analysis of child directed speech
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The language and literacy development of young dual language learners: A critical review
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Receptive Vocabulary Size of Male and Female Saudi English Major Graduates
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- Authors
- MARCHMAN, V. A., FERNALD, A., & HURTADO, N.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Corresponding author
- MARCHMAN, VIRGINIA A.
- Venue
- Journal of Child Language
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2009-09-03
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 817-840
- ISSN
- 0305-0009 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7602
- PMC
- PMC2910833
- OpenAlex
- W2161957668
- Cited by
- 339
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 55 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 59 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 13.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Child Language (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R01DC008838, DC008838)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD 42235, R01HD042235)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Keywords
- spoken word recognition, vocabulary size, bilingual children, Spanish-English bilingualism, lexical access, online comprehension, vocabulary development, processing speed, language acquisition
- MeSH terms
- Child, Child Language, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Psycholinguistics, Reaction Time, Semantics, Speech Perception, Statistics as Topic, Vocabulary, Mexican Americans, Multilingualism, Comprehension, Emigrants and Immigrants
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