Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Hoff, Erika

Abstract

The current studies tested the hypothesis, that early exposure is sufficient for nativelike proficiency. Study 1 compared the English skill of 116 5 year olds who had been exposed to English and Spanish from birth with English monolingual and found that the bilingual children had significantly lower levels of vocabulary skill. Study 2 assessed 65 adult bilinguals, comparing them to 25 English and 25 Spanish monolinguals on a battery of language measures. The bilinguals had lower scores in Spanish in 7 of the 8 domains of language skill measured. The bilinguals were not different from the English monolingual speakers in most, but not all, aspects of language proficiency. These findings provide evidence that the monolingual-bilingual gap observed in childhood is no longer evident among adult bilinguals, but that despite early exposure and continued use into adulthood, second generation immigrants are not native-like in their heritage language skills.

Extent

70 p.

Comments

Includes bibliography.|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.

Identifier

FA00004971

Format

pdf

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