MacLeod Andrea A N, Castellanos-Ryan Natalie, Parent Sophie, Jacques Sophie, Séguin Jean R
École d'orthophonie et d'audiologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.
CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, Canada.
Int J Biling Educ Biling. 2019;22(4):473-92. doi: 10.1080/13670050.2016.1269718. Epub 2017 Jan 3.
Differences between monolingual and multilingual vocabulary development have been observed but few studies provide a longitudinal perspective on vocabulary development before and following school entry. This study compares vocabulary growth profiles of 106 multilingual children to 211 monolingual peers before and after school entry to examine whether: (1) school entry coincides with different rates of vocabulary growth compared to prior to school entry, (2) compared to monolingual peers, multilingual children show different vocabulary sizes or rates of vocabulary growth, (3) the age of onset of second-language acquisition for multilingual children is associated with vocabulary size or rate of vocabulary growth, and (4) the sociolinguistic context of the languages spoken by multilingual children is associated with vocabulary size or rate of vocabulary growth. Results showed increases in vocabulary size across time for all children, with a steeper increase prior to school entry. A significant difference between monolingual and multilingual children who speak a minority language was observed with regards to vocabulary size at school entry and vocabulary growth prior to school entry, but growth rate differences were no longer present following school entry. Taken together, results suggest that languages children speak may matter more than being per se.
单语和多语词汇发展之间的差异已被观察到，但很少有研究从纵向角度探讨入学前后的词汇发展情况。本研究比较了106名多语儿童和211名单语同龄人在入学前后的词汇增长情况，以检验：（1）与入学前相比，入学时词汇增长速度是否不同；（2）与单语同龄人相比，多语儿童的词汇量或词汇增长速度是否不同；（3）多语儿童第二语言习得的起始年龄是否与词汇量或词汇增长速度相关；（4）多语儿童所讲语言的社会语言环境是否与词汇量或词汇增长速度相关。结果显示，所有儿童的词汇量都随时间增加，入学前增长更为迅速。在入学时的词汇量和入学前的词汇增长方面，讲少数族裔语言的单语和多语儿童之间存在显著差异，但入学后增长率差异不再存在。综合来看，结果表明儿童所讲的语言可能比是否为多语本身更为重要。
