Home Biliteracy Environment and Bilingual Vocabulary Development Among Early Elementary Chinese-Canadian Children: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

• In Event: Vocabulary Learning Across Diverse Contexts and Sites: Recent Innovative Methods of Study

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the relationship between home literacy environment (HLE) and early vocabulary development among Chinese-English bilingual children (N = 148) in kindergarten and grade-1 in Canada. Children’s HLE were assessed through four constructs: parent-child shared reading, parent direct teaching, print resources, and digital devices usage. Based on the descriptive analyses, parents engaged in more frequent shared reading with the children in English and provided more English books. Children’s English receptive vocabulary continued to grow from kindergarten to grade 1, their Chinese vocabulary showed a decline. Hierarchical linear regression analyses further revealed that the four dimensions of HLE in each language had differential relationships with bilingual vocabulary development. A more comprehensive biliteracy model of HLE is proposed.

Authors

• Guofang Li, University of British Columbia

• Lee Gunderson, University of British Columbia

• Fubiao Zhen, Texas A&M University

• Zhen Lin, University of British Columbia