Research on the bilingual development of refugee children is limited, despite this group having distinct characteristics and migration experiences that could impact language development. This study examined the role of language environment factors, alongside age and cognitive factors, in shaping the Arabic as a first/heritage language and English as a second language of recently arrived Syrian refugee children in Canada (N = 133; mean age = 9 years old; mean family residency = 23 months). We found that Arabic was the primary home language with some English use among siblings. Children did not engage frequently in language-rich activities in either language, especially not literacy activities in Arabic. Parent education levels were low: most had primary school only. Hierarchical regression models revealed that stronger nonverbal reasoning skills, more exposure to English at school, more sibling interaction in English, more frequent engagement in language-rich activities in English, and higher maternal and paternal education were associated with larger English vocabularies and greater accuracy with verb morphology. Arabic vocabulary and morphological abilities were predicted by older age (i.e., more first/heritage language exposure), stronger nonverbal reasoning skills and maternal education. We conclude that proximal environment factors, like language use at home and richness, accounted for more variance in the second language than the first/heritage language, but parent factors accounted for variance in both languages.

中文翻译：

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语言环境、年龄和认知能力如何支持最近抵达加拿大的叙利亚难民儿童的双语发展

尽管这一群体具有可能影响语言发展的独特特征和移民经历，但对难民儿童双语发展的研究是有限的。本研究考察了语言环境因素以及年龄和认知因素在将阿拉伯语作为第一/传统语言和英语作为第二语言的过程中的作用，这些因素是最近抵达加拿大的叙利亚难民儿童的。ñ= 133; 平均年龄 = 9 岁；平均家庭居住时间 = 23 个月）。我们发现阿拉伯语是主要的家庭语言，有些兄弟姐妹使用英语。儿童不经常参加任何一种语言的丰富语言活动，尤其是阿拉伯语的识字活动。家长教育水平低：大多数只有小学。分层回归模型显示，更强的非语言推理能力、在学校更多地接触英语、更多的兄弟姐妹互动、更频繁地参与丰富的英语活动以及更高的母性和父亲教育与更大的英语词汇量和更高的准确性相关动词形态。阿拉伯语词汇和形态能力由年龄较大（即更多的第一/继承语言暴露）预测，更强的非语言推理能力和母性教育。我们得出结论，近端环境因素，如家庭语言使用和丰富程度，比第一语言/传统语言解释了第二语言的更多差异，但父母因素解释了两种语言的差异。