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An Introduction to Bilingual Development

An Introduction to Bilingual Development

Dr. Annick De Houwer

(2009)

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Book Details

Abstract

Increasingly, children grow up hearing two languages from birth. This introductory textbook shows how children learn to understand and speak those languages against the backdrop of their language learning environments. A narrative around the bilingual development of four young children with different language profiles helps to explain the latest research findings in a lively and accessible manner. The narrative describes how bilingually raised children learn to understand and use sounds, words and sentences in two languages, and how they are able to use each of their languages in socially appropriate ways. Positive attitudes towards bilingual development from the people in bilingual children's environments and their recognition that child bilingualism is not monolingualism-times-two are the main ingredients ensuring that children grow up to be happy and expert speakers of two languages.


Overall this book is written in an understandable and easy-to-follow manner, particularly due to the use of stories of the four children throughout…this book would be an excellent addition to a course on bilingual child language acquisition, as it contains clearly explained information on bilingual language acquisition in an easily accessible format.


Alyssa Martoccio, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA

Annick De Houwer has recently been appointed as Chair of Language Acquisition and Teaching at the University of Erfurt in Germany. She is also the new Director of the Language Center there. In addition, Professor De Houwer holds the title of Collaborative Investigator to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U.S.A.). Her PhD was based on a dissertation on bilingual acquisition, a topic she has since continued to work on steadily. Her book The Acquisition of Two Languages from Birth (CUP, 1990) is widely cited in the bilingual acquisition literature. Dr. De Houwer has also published on Dutch child language, attitudes towards child language, teen language, and intralingual subtitling. She has extensive editorial experience.


The kind of bilingual development which starts very early, namely bilingual first language acquisition (BFLA), seems to attract much attention and spark much curiosity. How do children manage to acquire two languages simultaneously? In what ways does early bilingual exposure affect the course of their overall language development? Behind such questions lurks the yardstick of monolingualism, by which BFLA is often inappropriately evaluated. Now prominent BFLA expert Annick de Houwer has given us an introductory book with a most balanced and fair view of BFLA as a standard in its own right, tracing the bilingual development of four fictitious prototypical children. As always, her clarity of thought and writing makes the book accessible to anyone.


Masayo Yamamoto, Professor of Bilingualism Studies, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan

De Houwer’s book introduces readers to the research findings about bilingual first language acquisition through the charming stories of four imaginary bilingual children growing up in different contexts. Parents, students, and practitioners alike will discover what to expect from typical bilingual acquisition, including how individual “typical” can be!


Elena Nicoladis, Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Canada

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Contents vii
Acknowledgements viii
Preface ix
Some technical notes about this book x
1 Introducing the fancy term for bilingual development: Bilingual First Language Acquisition 1
What is Bilingual First Language Acquisition (BFLA)? 2
The family as the primary setting for bilingual development 3
Developing in two languages from birth: An outline 4
Milestones in bilingual language development 5
Normal variation in bilingual language development 5
Varying levels of development in each language 7
Negotiating language choice in conversations 8
Introducing four bilingual families 10
Key points 13
Activities and discussion points 14
Further reading 14
2 From birth to the comprehension of words 15
Early interaction, socialization and maturation 16
Infant detectives: Learning about sound 17
The words that BFLA children hear 18
Lily: Lots of words 19
Arno: Big babbler 21
Ramon: Asking for words in two languages 22
Toshie: Highly sensitive to language choice 23
Key points: Bilingual language development in the first year of life 24
Activities and discussion points 25
Further reading 26
3 Saying words and starting to combine them 27
Lily: Changing places 28
Arno: Picking up speed 30
Ramon: Saying words in two languages 32
Toshie: A slow start 35
Key points: From first words to word combinations 37
Activities and discussion points 39
Further reading 40
4 Making sentences 43
Lily: World traveller 44
Arno: Racing along 46
Ramon: Saying sentences in two languages 48
Toshie: Catching up 50
Key points: Word combinations become real sentences 52
Activities and discussion points 55
Further reading 56
5 Preschool and beyond 57
Lily: Storyteller 58
Arno: The school counselor making trouble 59
Ramon: Big translator 60
Toshie: Slowly starting to speak Language Alpha 62
Key points: Consolidating and expanding 63
Activities and discussion points 64
Further reading 65
6 In conclusion: Bilingual learning in context 67
Bilingual development: Good or bad? 68
Comparisons with monolinguals 68
Variation in proficiency 69
Variation in bilingual learning contexts 70
Parental work 71
In conclusion 72
Activities and discussion points 73
Further reading 73
Glossary 75
Bibliography 79
Index of the four BFLA children and their families 87
Subject index 89