Multimedia Input and Bilingual Children's Language Learning

• In Event: Dual Language Learners' Language and Literacy Experiences in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Global Contexts

Abstract

With the rapid advance of multimedia, bilingual children’s input environment is substantially reshaped, and the conventional input environment (e.g., child-directed speech from family members) might not be able to holistically demonstrate children’s daily input pattern. This is especially true since the COVID 19 Pandemic. In this presentation, I will report results of two studies, which explore 1) the impact of multimedia input at home on bilingual children’s language outcomes, on top of the conventional language input; and 2) children’s multimedia and conventional language environment before and since the COVID pandemic.

In the first study, 202 Singaporean 4-5 years old English-Mandarin kindergarteners’ multimedia experience (i.e., the resources and the amount of multimedia input) and conventional language exposure (e.g., language use with family members) were investigated with parental questionnaire (Table 1). A series of English and Mandarin tests were conducted to assess children’s proficiency (i.e., in receptive vocabulary, receptive grammar, verbal fluency) with standardized measures. Results (Table 2 and Table 3) demonstrated that the diversity of multimedia input is more important than the amount of multimedia input in promoting children’s Mandarin language maintenance, while controlling children’s conventional language exposure, SES, and language aptitude. The number of the multimedia source is significantly and positively related to children’s general Mandarin proficiency. In contrast, the English multimedia exposure at home exert little impact on children’s general English proficiency.

In the second study, 163 parents of 3 to 6 years old preschoolers (87 boys and 76 girls) were recruited. Both parent and child had to be living in Singapore since COVID-19 affected the local community to be eligible for the study. The children needed to be bilingual language learners and have no history of developmental or learning impairment. Two online parental questionnaires were employed for data collection. The first questionnaire collected data about children’s demographics and general bilingual environment. The second questionnaire targeted children’s language and literacy environment along the timeline before and since COVID-19. Pair-wise t-tests and path models revealed that there was no significant difference in children’s conventional input pattern before and since COVID-19, but children’s multimedia consumption significantly increased since the pandemic. Secondly, children’s English language input quantity (e.g., the amount of daily media exposure) and quality (e.g., reading frequency and duration) are significantly better than that of Mandarin. Thirdly, children’s differences in English and Mandarin language input quantity and quality are significantly predicted by their SES, which is operationalized as parental education and household income.


The finding of the first study indicates the unique contribution of multimedia diversity to children’s early heritage language maintenance, while the impact of multimedia exposure on children’s societal dominant language might be limited. The results of the second study highlight the change in bilingual children’s multimedia environment since COVID-19. The potential influence of multimedia on bilingual language learning, heritage language learning in particular, will be discussed.

Author

• He Sun, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University
  Presenting Author