Assessing language background and experiences among heritage bilinguals

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Bilingual language experience is often assessed via self-report and lab tasks.
• These methods have limitations and may not fully capture real-world language use.
• The Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) offers a novel approach to studying authentic language use.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationships among self-report, laboratory-based, and Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) measures of bilingual language experience.
• To understand the shared variance and unique contributions of different assessment tools in evaluating heritage language (HL) use.
• To provide guidance for researchers on selecting appropriate assessment methods for studying bilingualism.

Main Methods:

• Sixty Southern California heritage bilingual college students participated.
• Participants completed self-report questionnaires and laboratory-based language proficiency tasks.
• The Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) was used to capture real-world heritage language use over four days.

Main Results:

• Self-reported HL use and English age of acquisition predicted real-world HL use measured by the EAR.
• Self-reported and laboratory-based HL proficiency were mutually predictive.
• No single assessment method strongly correlated with others, indicating each captures unique information.

Conclusions:

• Different methods for assessing bilingual language experience capture distinct aspects of language use and proficiency.
• The dissociation between single-time assessments and accumulated life history is highlighted.
• Researchers should carefully consider which assessment tool(s) best align with their specific research questions in bilingualism studies.