Properties of dual language exposure that influence 2-year-olds' bilingual proficiency
Open accessAbstract
The mothers of 29 Spanish English bilingual 25-month-olds kept diary records of their children’s dual language exposure and provided information on their children’s English and Spanish language development using the MacArthur–Bates inventories. Relative amount of exposure predicted language outcomes in English and Spanish. In addition, the number of different speakers from whom the children heard English and the percent of their English input that was provided by native speakers were unique sources of variance in children’s English skills. These properties of children’s dual language exposure and their bilingual proficiency varied as a function of whether the children’s mother, father, or both parents were native Spanish speakers. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.
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Input quality-specifically, the number of different English speakers in the input source and the proportion of native English input-has a more significant effect on English vocabulary and grammar learning than input quantity.
“They found that input quality—specifically, the number of different English speakers in the input source and the proportion of native English input—had a more significant effect on English vocabulary and grammar learning than input quantity.”
From The roles of L1 transfer, L2 exposure, and morphological salience in bilingual children's L2 English morphological development (2025) · cites this paper as Place and Hoff, 2011
The Results section (page not supplied) finds that the number of English speakers predicts both vocabulary and grammatical complexity beyond input quantity, but native-speaker input is a significant correlate of vocabulary, not grammar. It also does not show a greater effect of input properties than quantity: quantity accounted for 39% of vocabulary variance and 34% of grammar variance, versus an additional 29% and 21% for the properties combined. (LLM, conf=0.90)
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Cites
How social contexts support and shape language development☆
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“Despite this prevalence of dual language environments, the course of language development in children exposed to two languages is less studied than the course of language development in monolingual environments, and, as a result, it is not well understood (McCardle & Hoff, 2006).”
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Cited by
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Hoff, E. (2013) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0027238 · Cited by 976 · see citing works
Self-citationThe language and literacy development of young dual language learners: A critical review
Hammer, C. S., Hoff, E., Uchikoshi, Y., Gillanders, C., Castro, D. C., & Sandilos, L. E. (2014) · Early Childhood Research Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2014.05.008 · Cited by 410 · see citing works
Self-citationCross-language distance influences receptive vocabulary outcomes of bilingual children
Blom, E., Boerma, T., Bosma, E., Cornips, L., van den Heuij, K., & Timmermeister, M. (2020) · First Language · doi:10.1177/0142723719892794 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
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Caloi, I., & Torregrossa, J. (2021) · Languages · doi:10.3390/languages6010050 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Place, S., & Hoff, E.
- Affiliations
- Florida Atlantic University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hoff, Erika
- ORCID
- Hoff, Erika
- Venue
- Child Development
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2011-11-01
- Volume
- 82
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1834-1849
- ISSN
- 0009-3920 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8624
- PMC
- PMC4144198
- OpenAlex
- W2097203685
- Cited by
- 614
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 29 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 69 · 2021: 46 · 2020: 81 · 2019: 101 · 2018: 48 · 2017: 41 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 34.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- Locations
- Child Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD068421, HD054427, HD054427-S1, R21HD060718, R03HD054427)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Hearing Impairment and Communication
- Keywords
- bilingual language acquisition, Spanish-English bilingualism, bilingual competence, early childhood language learning, two-year-old children
- MeSH terms
- Child, Preschool, Female, Hispanic or Latino, Humans, Individuality, Language Development, Language Tests, Male, Social Environment, Vocabulary, Multilingualism, Emigrants and Immigrants
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