The effects of the usage patterns of the heritage language and the second language on preschool children’s vocabulary learning

Abstract

In bilingual families, the usage patterns of the native language and the second language indeed make a significant difference in children’s vocabulary learning. Different home environment uses different language patterns, for example, one-parent-one-language or situation-based language use, which affected by many factors, like child characteristics, parents’ attitude, preschool education, community support and so on, bringing different linguistic inputs and experiences to children, thereby influencing their vocabulary acquisition and language development. For this phenomenon, taking the case of Singapore. Singapore is a bilingual country, however, it shows a noticeable increase in English usage at home in recent years, which results in a difference of input between English and heritage languages like Chinese or Mandarin in many families, especially for those Migration families.