Résultats de recherche

1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The general aim of the current study was to explore the quantitative nature of dual language input to bilingual infants.» (p. 10)

Questions/Hypothèses :
Les questions de recherches sont les suivantes: «How reliable are parent reports in assessing a bilingual infant’s proportion exposure to each language? […] How reliable are caregivers in reporting their own language use and the family language practices implemented at home? […] How well do proportional measures of language input correspond to absolute amount of input in each language? […] How consistent is infant’s bilingual exposure when considering infant‐directed versus overheard speech? [And how] consistent is language exposure to bilingual infants between weekdays and weekend days?» (p. 3-4)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
L’échantillon est composé de 21 familles (13 garçons et 8 filles) provenant de Montréal.

Instruments :
- Guide d’entretien semi-directif
- Grille d’observation
- Journal de bord

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

First, the authors confirm that caregivers «are reliable in assessing their bilingual infants’ proportion exposure to each language […].» (p. 10) Secondly, they find that the «reliability of caregivers’ report of family language practices is variable […]. [They explain that] there was considerable overlap between caregivers who reported speaking one and two languages to their child. This is likely due to caregivers having different interpretations of what is meant by ''speaking a language with their child''. [Thirdly, the authors show that there] is substantial variability in the absolute amount of input among infants hearing the same proportion of input […]. [Fourth, they find that infants] hear different proportions of language input when considering infant-directed versus overheard speech.» (p. 11) «Finally, [they] examined the consistency in which infants hear different languages across different days of the week. While there can be wide variability in the amount of adult speech across the day, [the] data set reveals that bilingual caregivers are consistent in their language use across typical weekdays and weekends within a short time period.» (p. 12)