Xue Jin, Hu Xiaolan, Yan Rong, Wang Hong, Chen Xi, Li Miao
School of Foreign Studies, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30#, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100083, China.
School of English Language, Literature and Culture, Beijing International Studies University, 1# Dingfuzhuan Nanli, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100024, China.
J Psycholinguist Res. 2021 Apr;50(2):239-260. doi: 10.1007/s10936-019-09637-y.
The present study examined the relationship between age of acquisition (AoA) and bilingual development for native Chinese children who learned English as a foreign language. A composite test measuring different aspects of language and cognitive skills in Chinese and English was administered on 85 Chinese native primary schoolers, who received bilingual instruction at different points of development (for Chinese, 0 ≤ AoA ≤ 7 years; for English, 2 ≤ AoA ≤ 10 years). Results found AoA constraints on the outcomes of L1 Chinese acquisition are significantly different from those for L2 English. Not all domains of bilingual skills follow the pattern of "the earlier, the better" in language development. Additionally, L1 AoA made unique contributions to L2 English learning. These findings contribute to our understanding on the nature of the AoA effect on bilingual learning.
本研究考察了将英语作为外语学习的中国本土儿童的习得年龄（AoA）与双语发展之间的关系。对85名接受不同阶段双语教学的中国本土小学生进行了一项综合测试，该测试测量汉语和英语语言及认知技能的不同方面（对于汉语，0≤AoA≤7岁；对于英语，2≤AoA≤10岁）。结果发现，习得年龄对第一语言汉语习得结果的限制与对第二语言英语习得结果的限制显著不同。并非双语技能的所有领域在语言发展中都遵循“越早越好”的模式。此外，第一语言习得年龄对第二语言英语学习有独特贡献。这些发现有助于我们理解习得年龄对双语学习影响的本质。
