How bilingual development is the same as and different from monolingual development

Abstract

Based on data from two longitudinal studies of 2- to 5-year-old Spanish- and English-learning bilingual children and English-learning monolingual children, we compare the processes and outcomes of simultaneous bilingual development to those of monolingual development. We find, in essence, that the processes are the same. The outcomes differ, however, because the immediate environments and larger sociocultural contexts of bilingual and monolingual development differ. Common processes include a dependence of language growth on the quantity and quality of language exposure and a relation between children’s own language use and their language growth. Differences in outcomes include the rate of language development and the profiles of expressive and receptive skills.