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Caregiver US-Acculturation and Language use in the Bilingual Home

Fri, April 9, 10:15 to 11:15am EDT (10:15 to 11:15am EDT), Virtual

Abstract

Introduction. Home language experiences are fundamental to children’s early language skills, including Latino Dual Language Learners’ (DLLs’; Lewis et al., 2016). The quantity of input in one language is related to that language’s development (De Houwer, 2011; Hoff et al., 2012). Less is known about the influence of DLLs’ other home language experiences, including family constellation and language activity contexts (Place & Hoff, 2011), despite a link between these experiences and monolingual children’s development (Glas et al., 2018; Montag et al., 2018). While children’s English vocabulary size is associated with their caregivers’ English use, as a function of the caregivers’ US-acculturation, this finding has typically been confirmed with parental report of language use (Boyce et al., 2013; Cote & Bornstein, 2014). Thus, we examine the relation between primary caregivers’ US-acculturation and their bilingual language use—collected through parent-report and naturalistic language samples—in the context of DLLs’ lived home language experiences.
Hypotheses. Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory suggests that social contexts inform development. Cultural contexts are especially informative for DLLs, as their socialization goals may be derived from their heritage culture (Fuller & García Coll, 2010). Children also gain sociocultural knowledge through language interaction (Schieffelin & Ochs, 1986). Thus, we hypothesize that, in Spanish-English bilingual homes, caregivers showing more US-acculturation will not only report, but also use more English with their children, whereas those showing less US-acculturation will use more Spanish.
Study Population. Participants were 41 primary caregivers (female=40; male=1) and their 18-month-old English and Spanish exposed children (larger study n=60). The majority of caregivers were US-born (63.4%), identified as Latino (87.8%), and first (36.6%) or second (58.5%) generation.
Methods. Caregivers reported their home language use on a 5-point scale survey (5=“Spanish Only”, 3=“Spanish and English Equally”, and 1=“English Only”). Language samples from Language Environment Analysis (LENA; Xu et al., 2008) recorders were obtained, along with language diaries indicating languages spoken, activity contexts, and interlocutors for the recording day (Place & Hoff, 2011). On-going transcription of recordings (currently n=6) yield caregivers’ unique number of words (i.e., types) in English and Spanish. Caregivers completed Scale 1 of the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II (ARSMA-II; Cuéllar et al., 1995). Scores below 0=“heritage culture-oriented” and above 0=“bicultural or US-oriented.”
Results. Language diaries revealed more caregiver Spanish use with their children (“Only” or “Mainly Spanish”=~67% of the day) over English (“Only” or “Mainly English”=~11%). They spent the most time in indoor play (Mhours/day=2.62, SD=1.62) and mealtime (Mhours/day=1.39, SD=0.71), compared to other activities (all Mshours/day<0.75). Multiple regression analyses, with self-reported caregiver language use as the outcome, showed that caregiver acculturation was a significant predictor, when controlling for generation and education level (p<0.01; Table 1). Preliminary analyses of transcripts show a similar trend, with heritage culture-oriented caregivers using more Spanish types than in English; bicultural or US-oriented caregivers used similar numbers of types in both languages (Table 2). Findings suggest that as caregivers’ US-acculturation increases, they are more likely to use English with their children, according to parent-report and naturalistic recordings.

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