Purpose:

The purpose of the present study was to document the out-of-home exposure to English and Spanish experienced by children from Spanish-speaking homes in the United States during the preschool years.

Methodology:

Primary caregivers of 149 children from Spanish-speaking homes in South Florida reported on their children’s language exposure.

Data and analysis:

Descriptive statistics and paired-samples t-tests described and compared children’s exposure to English and Spanish outside the home. Multi-level modeling described trajectories of change and the influence of family characteristics on English and Spanish out-of-home exposure.

Findings:

Children heard more English than Spanish outside of their homes. Grandparents were the primary out-of-home source of exposure to Spanish. Language exposure in preschool and extracurricular activities was primarily English. From 30 to 60 months, English exposure increased, while Spanish exposure decreased. Within this general pattern, there was variability in children’s out-of-home language exposure as a function of parents’ language backgrounds and maternal education.

Originality:

Studies of bilingual children’s language exposure have focused on home language use. The present study shows that out-of-home experiences are a significant source of exposure to societal language (SL) for children from language minority homes.

Implications:

For children in immigrant families, the home and family members outside the home are the primary sources of heritage language exposure. Out-of-home language experience is SL-dominant and increasingly so as children get older, although the degree to which this is the case differs depending on parental characteristics.

中文翻译：

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对于来自美国西班牙语家庭的儿童，30 至 60 个月期间，在户外的语言接触变得更加以英语为主

目的：

本研究的目的是记录来自美国西班牙语家庭的儿童在学龄前期间在户外接触英语和西班牙语的情况。

方法：

来自南佛罗里达州讲西班牙语家庭的 149 名儿童的主要照顾者报告了他们孩子的语言接触情况。

数据与分析：

描述性统计和配对样本t检验描述并比较了儿童在户外接触英语和西班牙语的情况。多层次建模描述了变化轨迹以及家庭特征对英语和西班牙语户外接触的影响。

发现：

孩子们在家里以外听到的英语多于西班牙语。祖父母是在户外接触西班牙语的主要来源。学前班和课外活动中接触的语言主要是英语。从 30 个月到 60 个月，英语接触量增加，而西班牙语接触量减少。在这种总体模式下，儿童的户外语言接触情况随父母的语言背景和母亲教育程度的不同而存在差异。

独创性：

双语儿童语言接触的研究主要集中在家庭语言的使用上。本研究表明，户外经历是来自少数语言家庭的儿童接触社会语言（SL）的重要来源。

影响：

对于移民家庭的孩子来说，家庭和家庭外的家庭成员是接触传统语言的主要来源。户外语言体验以母语为主，并且随着孩子年龄的增长，这种情况会越来越明显，尽管这种情况的程度因父母的特征而异。