Bilingual Language Development Among Asian American Children – Research Findings and Implications for Educators and Parents

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In New York City, as well as nationwide, an increasingly significant number of children speak a language other than English at home. Sound educational policies, speech/language interventions and parenting practices largely rely on our understanding of the processes through which Asian American children develop proficiency in both their home language and English. In this presentation, I will summarize research findings that 1) describe and explain these processes among Asian home language children, and 2) illuminate commonalities and differences between these children and those with Spanish or Russian as their home language. I will also discuss how research findings inform speech/language pathologists and educators working with this population, as well as parents in the Asian communities.

For children who were born in the United States, I will address the following questions. (1) If at home an infant or toddler hears Mandarin, Cantonese, or Korean, sometimes mixed in with some English, would we expect this child to reach the language development milestones at the same age as monolingual children do? (2) If a young child speaks predominantly an Asian home language, when and how does transition to English proficiency occur? (3) Why some of these children become proficient in both English and their home language whereas others develop little or zero proficiency in their home language?

For non-English speaking Asian children who just immigrated to the United States, I will address the following questions. (1) How long does it take for these children to acquire proficiency in English? (2) Which aspects of English language are particularly challenging for them? (3) What happens to their home language once English immersion begins? (4) How is the development of bilingual proficiency related to age of immigration and these children’s language environment?

Online Notes

Author Bio

Gisela Jia received her B. A. in English Language and Literature and her M.A. in Linguistics from Beijing University, and her doctoral degree in Developmental and Cognitive Psychology from New York University. Dr. Jia is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Lehman College, City University of New York.

Throughout the past 12 years, Dr. Jia has been conducting research in bilingual language development among first and second generation immigrants speaking Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Russian or Spanish as their home language. Her research has been funded consecutively for six years by National Institute of Health. Her work has been published in a number of professional journals, books and proceedings read by psychologists, linguists, educators and speech/language pathologists. Dr. Jia has involved many graduate and undergraduate students, as well as high school students in her research, most of whom have multi-cultural and multi-lingual backgrounds. She has served as a consultant for California Department of Education to develop language learning standards for bilingual children. She has offered seminars to parents, teachers and leaders in Asian communities, informing them of the scientific processes of language acquisition and the effective approaches to promote bilingual language development.