Kim Wi-Jiwoon, Yim Dongsun
Department of Communication Disorders, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Front Psychol. 2024 Mar 8;15:1336292. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1336292. eCollection 2024.
Studies have emphasized the significance of maintaining a heritage language for various reasons such as the establishment of linguistic and cultural identity, as well as socio-emotional development. Despite the crucial role that literacy development in a heritage language plays in language preservation, there is a scant research that explores the impact of home literacy environment and literacy development in children with a heritage language. This study aimed to examine the home literacy environment and literacy-related skills in 4-to 5-year-old Korean-English bilingual children living in an English-speaking country, Australia, whose heritage language is Korean, and to investigate the relationships among the home literacy environment factors and the child-internal literacy-related skills. The study employed parental questionnaires and video analyses of parent-child shared book reading sessions to assess the Korean and English home literacy environment. Children's early literacy skills in Korean and English, along with their Korean, English, and conceptual vocabulary skills, were measured as literacy-related skills. The findings indicated that parents utilized an indirect approach for Korean literacy practices, in contrast to a more direct and explicit method for English literacy practices. However, active and direct literacy practices were found to be essential for Korean early literacy development, while indirect methods are sufficient for English early literacy skills. Moreover, the availability of abundant Korean literacy resources at home had a positive impact on the development of Korean and English, as well as conceptual vocabulary skills. In conclusion, this study underscores the importance of providing a robust literacy environment in a heritage language in bilingual families to promote language proficiency in both the heritage language and the dominant social language, while also supporting the development of conceptual language skills.
研究强调了出于多种原因保持传承语言的重要性，比如建立语言和文化身份，以及促进社会情感发展。尽管传承语言的读写能力发展在语言保护中起着关键作用，但很少有研究探讨家庭读写环境对传承语言儿童读写能力发展的影响。本研究旨在调查生活在英语国家澳大利亚、母语为韩语的4至5岁韩英双语儿童的家庭读写环境和与读写相关的技能，并研究家庭读写环境因素与儿童内在读写相关技能之间的关系。该研究采用家长问卷和亲子共读图书环节的视频分析来评估韩语和英语的家庭读写环境。将儿童的韩语和英语早期读写技能，以及他们的韩语、英语和概念词汇技能作为与读写相关的技能进行测量。研究结果表明，与英语读写实践采用更直接明确的方法不同，家长在韩语读写实践中采用的是间接方法。然而，积极直接的读写实践对韩语早期读写发展至关重要，而间接方法对英语早期读写技能就足够了。此外，家中丰富的韩语读写资源对韩语和英语以及概念词汇技能的发展有积极影响。总之，本研究强调了在双语家庭中提供强大的传承语言读写环境对于提高传承语言和主要社会语言的语言能力，同时支持概念语言技能发展的重要性。
