Biliterate Adolescents' Writing Skills in a Two-Majority Language Context

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Psycholinguistics
• Bilingualism Studies

Background:

• Bilingualism research often focuses on minority language contexts.
• Understanding writing skills in bilinguals within two-majority language environments is crucial.
• Adolescent language development presents unique challenges and opportunities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the writing abilities of English-French bilingual (EFbil) adolescents in a two-majority language setting.
• To compare the writing skills of EFbil adolescents with French near-monolinguals (FL1).
• To explore factors predicting text quality in bilingual adolescent writing.

Main Methods:

• Participants: 26 EFbil adolescents and 12 FL1 adolescents (12-17 years).
• Task: Writing image descriptions in French (both groups) and English (EFbil group).
• Analysis: Between-group and within-group comparisons of syntax, errors, and productivity; multiple regression for predictors of text quality.

Main Results:

• EFbil adolescents and FL1 showed similar syntactic performance and productivity in French.
• EFbil adolescents produced more errors in French than in English, but overall error-to-productivity ratios were high for both groups.
• French exposure, syntactic measures, and reading time predicted French text quality, with a low error-to-productivity ratio being the strongest predictor.

Conclusions:

• Comparable French school exposure ensures similar syntactic writing performance between bilinguals and monolinguals.
• Bilinguals in a two-majority language context can maintain strong writing skills in their first language (English) due to environmental exposure.
• Writing quality is linked to both content generation and adherence to language conventions (spelling and grammar).