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Semantic Development in Spanish–English Bilingual Children: Effects of Age and Language Experience
Author(s) -
Sheng Li,
Bedore Lisa M.,
Peña Elizabeth D.,
Fiestas Christine
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12015
Subject(s) - psychology , language development , developmental psychology , neuroscience of multilingualism , lexico , linguistics , cognition , neuroscience , philosophy
This study examines semantic development in 60 S panish– E nglish bilingual children, ages 7 years 3 months to 9 years 11 months, who differed orthogonally in age (younger, older) and language experience (higher E nglish experience [ HEE ], higher S panish experience [ HSE ]). Children produced 3 associations to 12 pairs of translation equivalents. Older children produced more semantic responses and code switched more often from Spanish to English than younger children. Within each group, children demonstrated better performance in the more frequently used than the less used language. The HEE children outperformed the HSE children in E nglish and the HSE children outperformed the HEE children in S panish. These effects of age and language experience are consistent with predictions of the revised hierarchical model of bilingual lexical organization.