Newswise — How many books children have access to at home predicts how well they learn language and even how long they stay in school.
Children’s picture books might seem simple, but they are crucial to learning language. Picture books contain words and sentence structures beyond what babies and toddlers might encounter in speech or song. For children being raised bilingual, who are learning two languages at the same time, reading with parents and caregivers is crucial because these children must learn twice as many words. There are more than 12 million American children growing up bilingual, and over 8 million of these children speak Spanish at home.
A study from Arizona State University and the University of Texas at El Paso has analyzed how bilingual picture books geared towards young children balance the English and Spanish languages. The study shows that the picture books are predominantly written in English and offer opportunities for children to learn Spanish vocabulary words.
“Children being raised bilingual are learning words in two languages while facing different amounts of exposure in each language, and we want to understand how bilingual picture books contribute to their language experiences. This study is a first step and evaluates the quality and quantity of both English and Spanish together in bilingual picture books,” said Viridiana Benitez, assistant professor of psychology at ASU and first author on the study. “The quality of the Spanish words in the books is important given Spanish is the second-most spoken language in the United States, but it is also important to look at English, as these books provide unique opportunities to learn about both languages together.”
Benitez, who grew up bilingual, has wanted to understand more about the bilingual reading environment because children might encounter the two languages in different ways during reading. They might hear more of one language than the other, or they may encounter the two languages in combination.
Another motivation for the study happened outside the lab, when Benitez was reading to her son, who is being raised bilingual.
“One of the first books in his little library was Besos for Baby,” she said. “I remember reading it to him and thinking the language exposure he’s getting from this book is interesting. From there I started wondering how the two languages are presented together in other bilingual picture books.”
Spanish and English
The 45 bilingual picture books included in the study are all for sale in the US and are marketed to babies and children up to age 9. These books contain both English and Spanish, switching between the two languages.
For both English and Spanish, the research team counted the total number of words and how many times each word was used. They also counted the number of phrases and how long, or complex, each phrase was in both languages. The English phrases and sentences were more complex than for Spanish, but the books included more unique Spanish words.
“The proportion of language in the books was overwhelmingly English, and often the Spanish included in the text was just one word in an English sentence,” said Marissa Castellana, a psychology graduate student and second author on the paper. “This finding suggests that these books might be beneficial to English-speaking families who are trying to incorporate some Spanish language into their child’s environment and to Spanish-learning children as well.”
Mamá, or mom, was one of the most common Spanish words in the books. Other Spanish words that showed up frequently in the books were related to family, while English was much less commonly used to talk about family members and more often used to talk about daily routines.
“These books are predominantly in English with a sprinkling of Spanish, which could support Spanish vocabulary learning. But the books also present complex English phrases, which could also benefit English language development,” Benitez said. “In many communities in the U.S., Spanish is very significant. To better serve children who come from a large variety of language experiences, it is important to consider what kinds of books are available for them to read.”
Bilingual ad libbing
An important way children learn language from reading books is by listening when parents, caregivers, and teachers ad-lib or expand on what is in the book. The child might be asked what they think will happen next or if they notice a detail of the picture. This type of conversation is called extra-textual talk.
This study provides a foundation for the research team to assess how the content of bilingual picture books influences whether parents and caregivers speak one or more languages when engaging in extra-textual talk with their children. The study findings will also allow the researchers to examine how extra-textual talk in different languages impacts how children learn new words, which will ultimately help parents make informed decisions about the books that they read with their children.
Christine Potter, of the University of Texas El Paso, also contributed to the study.
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