Does Exposure to Code-Switching Influence Language Performance in Bilingual Children?

Does code-switching help or hurt bilingual children? This study investigated the effect codeswitching has on a large sample of school-aged (mean age is 7.78 years). The bilingual children were administered language measures in Spanish and English. Their verbal working memory (WM) was also assessed. The level of children's exposure to code-switching was gathered through parent reports. The researchers found that children with high verbal WM who were exposed to more codeswitching tended to have higher levels of language ability in both languages. However, the connections between more code-switching and better language performance for children with lower verbal WM were reversed: more code-switching was associated with lower language ability levels. Cognitive processing appears to have a role in determining if codeswitching facilitates or hinders language development.