The role of home and school factors in predicting English vocabulary among bilingual kindergarten children in Singapore

L. QUENTIN DIXON ^[1]
1. [1] Texas A&M University
  
  Texas A&M University
  
  Estados Unidos
Localización: Applied psycholinguistics, ISSN 0142-7164, Vol. 32, Nº 1, 2011, págs. 141-168
Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
- Research in monolingual populations indicate that vocabulary knowledge is essential to reading achievement, but how vocabulary develops in bilingual children has been understudied. The current study investigated the role of home and school factors in predicting English vocabulary among 284 bilingual kindergartners (168 Chinese, 65 Malay, 51 Indian) in the multilingual context of Singapore. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test—Third Edition was administered in English and in translations into Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. Home factors including caretaker language, television language, and mother tongue vocabulary were found to be significant predictors of English vocabulary, controlling for mother's years of education and family income. The curriculum emphasis of the kindergarten center was also found to be a significant predictor of English vocabulary.