TY - JOUR
T1 - Does code-switching influence novel word learning?
AU - Kaushanskaya, Margarita
AU - Crespo, Kimberly
AU - Neveu, Anne
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Developmental Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - Code-switching occurs regularly in the input to bilingual children. Yet, the effect of code-switched input on language development is unclear. To test whether word learning would be affected by code-switching, Spanish–English bilingual children (N = 45, 19 boys, MeanAge= 5.05 years; ethnicity: 37 Hispanic/Latino, six Non-Hispanic/Latino, two unreported) were taught English-like novel words in two conditions. In the English-only condition, definitions for novel words were provided entirely in English. In the code-switch condition, definitions for novel words were provided in English and Spanish, incorporating code-switches. Children required fewer exposures to retain novel words in the code-switch than the English-only condition and this effect was not moderated by children's language ability or exposure to code-switching, suggesting that code-switched input does not pose word-learning risks to bilingual children, including children with lower levels of language ability.
AB - Code-switching occurs regularly in the input to bilingual children. Yet, the effect of code-switched input on language development is unclear. To test whether word learning would be affected by code-switching, Spanish–English bilingual children (N = 45, 19 boys, MeanAge= 5.05 years; ethnicity: 37 Hispanic/Latino, six Non-Hispanic/Latino, two unreported) were taught English-like novel words in two conditions. In the English-only condition, definitions for novel words were provided entirely in English. In the code-switch condition, definitions for novel words were provided in English and Spanish, incorporating code-switches. Children required fewer exposures to retain novel words in the code-switch than the English-only condition and this effect was not moderated by children's language ability or exposure to code-switching, suggesting that code-switched input does not pose word-learning risks to bilingual children, including children with lower levels of language ability.
KW - bilingualism
KW - code-switching
KW - word learning
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131541698&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/desc.13292
DO - 10.1111/desc.13292
M3 - Article
C2 - 35639763
AN - SCOPUS:85131541698
SN - 1363-755X
VL - 26
JO - Developmental Science
JF - Developmental Science
IS - 2
M1 - e13292
ER -