Effects of Home Language, Oral Language Skills, and Cross-Linguistic Phonological Abilities on Whole-Word Proximity in Spanish-English-Speaking Children

This study examined language use and language ability factors that predict phonological whole-word proximity in young Spanish-English-speaking children. Participants were 199 Latino children aged 3;0-6;6 (years;months) and their mothers. The children's speech sound production in English and Spanish, and their vocabulary and story retelling abilities were assessed. A parent survey was used to determine language exposure and use. Results indicated that language use, vocabulary, and phonological whole-word proximity in one language are significant factors in predicting bilingual children's whole-word proximity in English and Spanish. Their phonological abilities in one language were highly predictive of those same abilities in the other language.