Cynthia Core|Erika Hoff
What Clinicians Need to Know about Bilingual Development
George Washington University|Florida Atlantic University
basic research bilingual development suggests several conclusions inform clinical practice children bilingual environments include following 1 dual language input confuse children 2 necessary two languages kept separate childrens experience avoid confusion 3 learning two languages takes longer learning one average bilingual children lag behind monolingual children single language comparisons 4 dominant language equivalent language 5 measure total vocabulary provides best indicator young bilingual childrens language learning capacity 6 bilingual children different strengths language 7 quantity quality bilingual childrens input language influence rates development language 8 immigrant parents discouraged speaking native language children 9 bilingual environments vary enormously support provide language result bilingual children vary enormously dual language skills empirical findings support conclusion presented