Links between local language competence and peer relations among Swiss and immigrant children: The mediating role of social behavior

Age effects in second language acquisition: Expanding the emergentist account

In 2005, Science magazine designated the problem of accounting for difficulties in L2 (second language) learning as one of the 125 outstanding challenges facing scientific research. A maturationally-based sensitive period has long been the favorite explanation for why ultimate foreign language attainment declines with age-of-acquisition. However, no genetic or neurobiological mechanisms for limiting language learning have yet been identified. At the same time, we know that cognitive, social, and motivational factors change in complex ways across the human lifespan. Emergentist theory provides a framework for relating these changes to variation in the success of L2 learning. The great variability in patterns of learning, attainment, and loss across ages, social groups, and linguistic levels provides the core motivation for the emergentist approach. Our synthesis incorporates three groups of factors which change systematically with age: environmental supports, cognitive abilities, and motivation for language learning. This extended emergentist account explains why and when second language succeeds for some children and adults and fails for others.

Native-born German and immigrant children's development of emotion knowledge: A latent growth curve analysis

Young children in immigrant families tend to face more challenges and can often call upon fewer resources than their native-born peers. This situation adversely affects their social-emotional development. In this study, the development of emotion knowledge of 576 immigrant and native-born German children, aged 3-6 years, was compared at three time points over a 12-month period by means of a latent growth curve analysis. Language abilities and behavioural self-regulation were examined as mediators of the relation between immigration background and emotion knowledge. The immigrant children showed less emotion knowledge than did their native-born peers at each point of measurement. These effects were partially mediated by their behavioural self-regulation and their language abilities. How behavioural self-regulation and language abilities affect the development of emotion knowledge and what this effect means for interventions are discussed. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Emotion knowledge develops rapidly between the ages of three and six. Emotion knowledge develops similarly in different cultures. What does this study adds? This study compares the development of emotion knowledge between immigrant children and native-born children. It includes language skills as mediator on the development of emotion knowledge. It also includes behavioural self-regulation as mediator on the development of emotion knowledge.

Effects of anxiety, language skills, and cultural adaptation on the development of selective mutism

Although bilingual children are thought to be at higher risk for selective mutism (SM), little is known about the development of SM in this population. This study investigates the effects of children's anxiety and language skills and parents' cultural adaptation on the development of SM. 15 bilingual (11 mute, 4 speaking at the beginning of the study) and 15 monolingual children (7 mute, 8 speaking at the beginning of the study) between the ages of 3 years and 5 years 8 months were assessed longitudinally over a 9-month period. Children's anxiety and parents' cultural adaptation were examined via parent questionnaires. Receptive language skills were assessed with a standardized test. Every 3 months, parents and preschool teachers reported on the children's speaking behavior via questionnaires. Anxiety best predicted the development of mute behavior. There was no effect of bilingual status on its own. The effect of language skills did not reach significance but was considerably higher in preschool settings in comparison with family and public situations. Results also indicated an association between parents' orientation to the mainstream culture and children's speaking behavior in preschool. Level of anxiety might function as an early indicator of SM, especially in bilingual children, when information on language proficiency is scarce. There is still a need for intensive research in order to further the understanding of the development of SM in bilingual children.

Language Competence and Social Preference in Childhood

Abstract. Language competence facilitates making contact with others, interpreting others’ behavior, and communicating one’s own needs. However, evidence on the relation between language competence and social preference, that is, the degree to which someone is accepted or rejected by the peer group, is mixed. The scope of the current study was to examine this relation by conducting a meta-analysis. We included studies published in English, without any restrictions on the form or year of publication. Results of 42 studies and 49 independent samples of 7,077 children (mean age = 6.0 years, SD = 1.9; range: 3.0–11.0 years) revealed a significant relation between oral language competence and social preference, with an effect size of r = .25. Gender, language modality, and methodological characteristics were tested as possible moderators but did not explain variation between studies. Age was a significant moderator, with language competence more important for younger than for older children in gaining social acceptance.

Adjustment Outcomes of Immigrant Children and Youth in Europe

Abstract. Compared to natives, immigrants have been reported to display either more (migration morbidity) or fewer (immigrant paradox) adjustment problems. We examined these two perspectives using a meta-analysis from 51 studies (N = 224,197), reporting internalizing, externalizing, and academic outcomes among immigrant children and youth in Europe. Overall, migration morbidity was better supported than the immigrant paradox. Migration morbidity was supported for (a) externalizing outcomes in Northern Europe and adolescent samples; (b) academic outcomes for low SES and fewer girls across samples; (c) internalizing outcomes in Western Europe and preadolescent samples. Cultural diversity and long-term residence of immigrants are favorable factors for the paradox in externalizing outcomes, whereas immigrant family reunion was predictive for the paradox in internalizing and academic outcomes. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.