ANH KIEU AND ASHLEY NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Bilingualism and Sibling Relationships

● Coupled with the growing rate of bilingualism is the abundance of studies, articles and books that focus on how parents could support their first child’s dual language use and first words. ● By the second or third child parents will have already become proficient at this and will have established a method of communicating and teaching their younger child both languages.

Parents and Bilingualism Parents help shape their offspring’s second language abilities in a variety of ways: - Providing first exposure to languages - Acting as a resource/guide - Educating their child and so many more! … But what about the other family members?

Parents or Siblings?

Did you know.. ● Children spend more time with their siblings than their parents, teachers, friends or even alone! ● Even by the age of 11, a Penn State study found that siblings are still spending about 11 hours of their lives with one another. Imagine how much this impacts their bilingual abilities!

How Do Siblings Shape the Language Learning Environment in Bilingual Families?

General Methodology Bridges: Study 1- Interview with parent about percentage of time a language was used in the household and then they conducted a vocabulary test. After the test, participants were separated into those with older siblings and those without to compare results. Study 2- Questionnaire given to caregiver to report vocabulary and grammatical development in children Obied: 7 month longitudinal study using interviews and observations as well as audio recordings. Observations were done two hours per month (usually carried during weekends or holiday periods). In situ questionnaire was used as secondary data Halsted: Participants completed a 100-item, multi scale online survey on bilinguality which measured the level of proficiency in a secondary language (reading, writing and speaking) Gregory and Williams: Did a one year longitudinal study using taped data, which recorded interactions between an older sibling and a younger sibling during reading activities Stevens and Ishizawa: Used data from recent Current Population Survey

General Findings ● Older siblings act as mediators of language and culture for the younger siblings (Gregory and Williams, 2000) ● Older siblings provide a language model for the younger siblings, but this becomes more complex when the siblings are close in age (Obied, 2009) ● Older siblings can inhibit or promote minority language (Obied) ● Older sisters are more effective teachers than older brothers (Azmita and Hesser, 1993) ● The presence of older siblings reduced the amount of language mothers used

The preferred language Siblings have a preferred language that they communicate in (Barron, 2011)

Older Siblings Facilitate Language Learning in Younger Siblings In supportive sibling relationships, the older sibling helps the younger sibling to successfully blend together different strategies of language learning (Gregory and Williams, 2000) i.e. using mixed languages

Older Siblings Can Inhibit or Promote Minority Language Learning ● Having an older sibling far in age can help retain one’s native language ● Having an older sibling close in age can shift the dominant language from native to non-native language ● A comparison between children with siblings and children without siblings found that those without siblings were more fluent in the native language while those with older siblings were more fluent in the dominant language

Supporting Evidence The above excerpt supports the finding that siblings overtime inhibit native language usage (Barron, 2011)

Supporting Evidence (Continued) The above excerpt supports the finding that siblings promote native language usage

Family Size Higher levels of bilinguality are correlated with having more family members ● Native language preference is often common in large bilingual families ● Siblings and parents play a bigger role than grandparents, aunts and uncles (Halsted 2013)

Language environment between siblings is less sensitive but more stimulating ● Language between mother and child is more social/interactive, with more questions, answers and feedback and less commentary on behavior ● Language between siblings are developmentally more complex, in which the presence of older siblings directly and indirectly creates a less sensitive but more stimulating environment (Woolet, 2011)

Gender of Older Sibling Sisters are on average, more effective teachers than brothers, especially if they are older (Azmita and Hesser, 1993)

Conclusion Overall, older siblings shape the language learning environment in bilingual families by ● being ‘excellent brokers’ of the second language ● acting as mediators of language and culture for the younger siblings ● helping to preserve or inhibit native language ● providing a language model for younger siblings (esp. when they start school)

Broader Implications ● Older siblings are beneficial to bilingual families ● The bigger the family, the better the language learning environment ● Could potentially affect how many children parents want to have when it comes to the language learning environment of their offsprings

Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths ● Observations were done in natural settings ● Variety in participants (college students, toddlers, elementary students, etc.) ● In Bridges’ study, spanish-english bilinguals were tested against other bilinguals (english+any other language) Weaknesses ● Some of the trends contradict ● Use of third party participants ● Ethical issues ● Lack of research in this area ● Unreliable data collection o too much self report

Future Directions Many family dynamics still need to be explore in order for us to understand the actual relationship between siblings and bilingualism. ● Twin Studies - same environment, similar language input o Preferred language choice may be impacted ● Extend to other family members (grandparents, step-parents, step- siblings, etc.) ● One parent families, or two working parent families ● More ethnographic studies