Non-native language exposure promotes children's willingness to accept labels in two languages

Bilingualism has been associated with a range of cognitive and language-related advantages, including the recognition that words can have different labels across languages. However, most previous research has failed to consider heterogeneity in the linguistic environments of children categorized as monolingual. Our study assessed the influence of non-native language experience on children's acceptance of labels in 2 languages. In a continuous measure of language exposure, parents reported the number of hours during which their children heard non-English languages from different sources. English-speaking 5-year-olds (N = 73) were presented with novel labels in English and Spanish for unfamiliar objects and were asked to endorse either or both labels. Children with greater exposure to non-English languages were more likely than less-exposed children to endorse both the English and Spanish labels. The findings suggest that monolingual children's willingness to learn non-native vocabulary can be enhanced by exposure to non-native languages.