Table 2.
Bilingual participants' characteristics in the selected studies.
| Authors | Characteristic of bilingual participants | Evaluation of language abilities | Socioeconomic status (SES) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language pair | AoA | School language | Home language | Home language – Parents | Home language – child | ||||
| Abdelgafar and Moawad (2015) | B | Arabic – English | n.r. | English + Arabic | 50 % each language | n.r. | n.r. | Arabic reading test B equal to M Arabic reading abilities equal to English reading abilities |
B equal to M Mother and father education: high education Income: more than 4,000 $ |
| Antón et al. (2014) | B | Spanish–Basque | Spanish 0.58 (0.77) Basque 2.23 (1.07) |
50% Spanish, 50% Basque | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. |
Parents' subjective rating Spanish 8.65 (1.17) out of 10 Basque 5.96 (1.63) out of 10 Reading skills -teachers B equal to M |
Income, Parents' education, parents' work situation B equal to M Incomei Bilingual 1.74 (0.93) Monolingual 1.89 (0.89) Parents' years of education Bilingual 14.50 (2.31) Monolingual 14.13 (2.50) Parents' work situationii Bilingual 1.94 (0.26) Monolingual 1.95 (0.24) |
| Arizmendi et al. (2018) | B | English–Spanish | n.r. | n.r. | only Spanish or Spanish and English | only Spanish or Spanish and English | only Spanish or Spanish and English |
CELF-4 English and Spanish B lower than M EVT-2 B lower than M WRMT B lower than M EOWPVT – Bilingual version |
Maternal level of education B lower than M |
| Barac and Bialystok (2012) | BCEBFEBSE | Chinese–EnglishFrench–EnglishSpanish–English | n.r. | EnglishFrenchEnglish | n.r. | 3.9 (0.9)iii3.2 (0.9)iii3.5 (1.0)iii | 2.9 (0.9)iii3.0 (1.0)iii2.7 (0.9)iii |
PPVT-III M, BSE higher than BCE BCE equal to BFE CELF-4 M, BSE higher than BFE BCE equal to M, BSE, BFE Wugs test BSE higher than M, BCE, BFE |
Parents' years of education B equal to |
| Barac et al. (2016) | B | English–Mixed | 36 % simultaneous bilinguals | n.r. | n.r. | 3.16 (1.37)iii | 2.72 (1.21)iii | Vocabulary subtest from WPPSI-III B lower than M |
Level of maternal education B equal to M |
| Bialystok (1999) | B | Cantonese/Mandarin–English | n.r. | English | Cantonese/Mandarin | n.r. | n.r. | PPVT-R B equal to M |
No information |
| Bialystok (2010) | B1 B2 B3 |
English–Mixed English–Mixed English–Mixed |
n.r. n.r. n.r. |
English English English |
non-English language non-English language non-English language | 2.62 (1.2)iii 2.40 (0.6)iii 1.00 (0.9)iii |
3.15 (0.8)iii 3.20 (0.4)iii 2.00 (0.7)iii |
PPVT-III B equal to M |
Middle-class neighborhood. Parents worked primarily in professional and management occupations. |
| Bialystok (2011) | B | English–Mixed | n.r. | n.r. | 2.4 (0.6)iii | n.r. | n.r. | PPVT-III B equal to M |
B equal to M Middle class |
| Bialystok and Feng (2009) | B | English–Mixed | n.r. | English | non-English language | 3.5 (1.1)iii | 2.3 (0.8)iii |
PPVT-III B lower than M |
No information |
| Bialystok and Viswanathan (2009) | BC BI |
English–Mixed English–Tamil/Telugu |
n.r. | EnglishEnglish | 54% English 47% English | n.r. | n.r. | PPVT-III B lower than M BI equal to BC |
Middle-class |
| Blom et al. (2017) | BFD BLD BPD |
Frisian–Dutch Limburgish–Dutch Polish–Dutch |
30% Dutch* 70% non-Dutch* 40% Dutch* 59% non-Dutch* 43% Dutch* 54% non-Dutch* *before the age of four |
n.r. | n.r. | 31% Dutch 68% non-Dutch 42% Dutch 56% non-Dutch 37% Dutch 61% non-Dutch |
n.r. | PPVT – Dutch version BPD lower than M, BFD, BLD |
Average education level of both parents B equal to M BFD, BLD all born in the Netherlands. BPD 70 % were born in the Netherlands. All children had lived in the Netherlands at least for 2 years |
| Blom et al. (2014) | B | Turkish–Dutch | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | 48% Turkish; 45% Turkish and Dutch; 6% n.r. | n.r. | Toets Tweetaligheid (Test for Bilingualism) –Dutch and Turkish 15 items from Taaltoets Alle Kinderen (Language Test for All Children)–Dutch B lower than M |
Average education level of both parents B lower than M |
| Bonifacci et al. (2011) | B | Italian–Mixed | n.r. | Italian | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. |
No test |
No information |
| Bosman and Janssen (2017) | B | Turkish–Dutch 65% Turkish as L1 |
80% exposed to Dutch before the age of three | Dutch | Turkish | n.r. | n.r. |
Reynell test for language comprehension B lower than M Dutch and Turkish sentence imitation task B lower than M Dutch higher than Turkish |
B equal to M low-SES All Turkish-Dutch children were born in the Netherlands |
| Buac et al. (2016) | B | Spanish–English Spanish as L1 |
Simultaneous and sequential bilinguals | 48% attended a Spanish-English dual immersion program | n.r. | 59% Spanish, 24% English, 17% Both | n.r. |
PPVT-III–English Picture vocabulary subtest – English expressive vocabulary B lower than M TVIP – Spanish |
Caregiver's total number years of education B lower than M |
| Calvo and Bialystok (2014) | B | English–Mixed | n.r. | n.r. | 2.6 (0.6)iii | n.r. | n.r. |
PPVT-III B lower than M WC lower than MC |
MC: mother had completed at least some post-secondary education WC: high school or less education |
| Carlson and Meltzoff (2008) | B | Spanish–Mixed | Exposure to English and Spanish from birth | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | One-word picture vocabulary test- Spanish/English bilingual edition B lower than M |
Maternal education, family income, amount of time parents read to children B lower than M |
| Cockcroft (2016) | B | African–English African as L1 |
Exposed to English before the age of three | English | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | BPVS-II – receptive vocabulary BNT – expressive vocabulary B lower than M |
Living Standard Measure, occupational status, educational level B equal to M |
| Cottini et al. (2015) | B | Italian–German | n.r. | German | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | LSBQ-parents and teachers Fluency G: 3.78, I: 3.67 Reading G: 4.00, I: 3.60 Writing G: 3.46, I: 3.51 Comprehension G: 3.71, I: 3.49 Grammar G: 3.59, I: 3.43 |
No information |
| Danahy et al. (2007) | B | Spanish–English Spanish as L1 |
4-8 years of English experience | English | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. |
CELF English and Spanish |
No information |
| Dick et al. (2019) | B | English–Mixed | Second language before 10 years of age | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | NIH Toolbox Vocabulary test Children self-report (English) Excellent: 71.2 %; good: 25.7 %; fair: 2.9 %; poor: 0.1 %. |
Highest household education, household marriage status, highest household income, race/ethnicity n.r. |
| Duñabeitia et al. (2014) | B | Spanish–Basque | Spanish 0.75 (0.89) Basque 2.27 (1.11) |
50% Spanish, 50% Basque | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | Linguistic competence questionnaire Spanish: 8.68 (1.23) Basque: 6.10 (1.75) |
All participants lived in (and were originally from) the same country |
| Engel de Abreu (2011) | B | Luxembourgish–Mixed | Exposure from birth to languages | Luxembourgish | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | EOWPVT TROG-2 B lower than M |
Parental education B equal to M |
| Engel de Abreu et al. (2014) | B | Portuguese–Luxembourgish Portuguese as L1 |
n.r. | Luxembourgish | Portuguese | n.r. | n.r. | EOWPVT PPVT-4–Portuguese and Luxembourgish TROG-2 – Portuguese, Luxembourgish B lower than M |
International Socio-Economic Index of Occupational Status. Highest occupational level of either caregivers B equal to M 70% born in Luxembour 30% emigrated to Luxembourg before the age of 3 |
| Engel de Abreu et al. (2012) | B | Portuguese–Luxembourgish Portuguese as L1 |
n.r. | Luxembourgish | Portuguese | n.r. | n.r. | EOWPVT B lower than M |
Low-SES families International Socio-Economic Index of Occupational Status B equal to M Caregiver Education B lower than M 25% first-generation immigrants (immigrated before the age of 3) 75% second-generation immigrant |
| Escobar et al. (2018) | B | English–Mixed | L1 and L2 from birth | English | At least one parent use of non-English language | n.r. | n.r. | PPVT-4 B equal to M L2 Parental rating |
Parental education B equal to M |
| Filippi et al. (2015) | B | English–Mixed | Exposed to English from birth/ before the age of three | English | non-English language | n.r. | n.r. | BPVS-II B equal to M |
Parent's level of education: university degree or higher B equal to M |
| Friesen et al. (2015) | 7-year-old 10-year-old |
English–Mixed English–Mixed |
L2: 3.2 (1.5) L2: 3.8 (2.3) |
n.r. n.r. |
non-English non-English |
n.r. n.r. |
n.r. n.r. |
PPVT-III 7-year-old B equal to M 10-years-old B lower than M |
No information |
| Gangopadhyay et al. (2016) | B | English–Spanish | English: 8.02 (12.66) months Spanish: 1.57 (6.59) months |
English: 55%; Spanish: 12%; both: 33% | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | CELF-4 B lower than M Expressive vocabulary English higher than Spanish Receptive vocabulary English equal to Spanish |
Maternal years of education B lower than M |
| Garraffa et al. (2015) | B | Italian–Sardinian | n.r. | Italian | Sardinian | n.r. | n.r. | PPVT-4 B equal to M COMPRENDO test B equal to M |
No information |
| Gathercole et al. (2010) | OEH OWH WEH |
English–Welsh English–Welsh English–Welsh |
n.r. | Welsh | 80% use of English 80% use of Welsh use of both languages |
n.r. | n.r. | BPVS Prawf Geirfa Cymraeg |
Parents' education and professions |
| Gathercole et al. (2014) | OEH OWH WEH |
English–Welsh English–Welsh English–Welsh |
n.r. | Welsh | 80% use of English 80% use of Welsh use of both languages |
n.r. | n.r. | Vocabulary and receptive grammatical tests | No information |
| Hartanto et al. (2019) | B | English–Mixed | n.r. | English | non-English | n.r. | n.r. | Preschool Language Assessment Scales B lower than M |
Household income, parental education, parental occupation prestige, SES composite scores B lower than M |
| Jaekel et al. (2019) | B | German–Turkish | n.r. | German | n.r. | Turkish Family Environment Index Score n.r. |
Turkish Family Environment Index Score n.r. | Turkish vocabulary modified version of PPVT-4 German vocabulary modified version of EOWPVT |
All immigrant children of second or third generation. Maternal and paternal education |
| Jalali-Moghadam and Kormi-Nouri (2015) | B | Iranian–Swedish | n.r. | Swedish – 1-hour Farsi | Farsi | n.r. | n.r. | No test | Parent's occupation and education B equal to M |
| Janus and Bialystok, 2018 | B | English–Mixed | n.r. | English | non-English | n.r. | n.r. | PPVT B equal to M |
Parental education B equal to M |
| Kapa and Colombo (2013) | EB LB |
Spanish–EnglishSpanish–English | EA: Acquisition of both language between 1-3 years of age; LB: acquisition of Spanish before the age of three and English after 3 years. | English | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | PPVT-III B lower than M EB equal to LB TVIP – Spanish EB equal to LB |
Parents' education B lower than M EB equal to LB |
| Krizman et al. (2016) | B | Spanish–English 55% Spanish as L1 |
Spanish 2.1 (1.7) English 3 (1.8) |
n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | Self-rated English proficiency B equal to M |
Education level of mother low-SES: high school or less high-SES: college or higher |
| Ladas et al. (2015) | B | Albanian–Greek Albanian as L1 |
Exposure to both languages from two years of age or earlier | Greek | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | Vocabulary subtest WISC – Albanian and Greek Greek B equal to M |
All low-SES B equal to M Second-generation Albanian immigrants |
| Leikin and Tovli (2014) | B | Russian–Hebrew | n.r. | n.r. | Russian | n.r. | n.r. | Russian/Hebrew-speaking raters: level of Hebrew almost equivalent to the level of Russian | Parents' education level B equal to M Russian immigrants from the former USSR |
| Mohades et al. (2014) | B | L1: Dutch or French; L2: Romance or Germanic languages |
L1 and L2 from birth | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | Verbal auditory discrimination, verbal fluency tests, listening-comprehension, sentence-construction tests in both languages | B equal to M |
| Morales et al. (2013) | B | English–Mixed | n.r. | English | non-English | 3.5 (1.0)iii | 2.5 (1.1)iii | PPVT-III B lower than M |
Middle-class community. All parents had at least college-level diploma |
| Nayak et al. (2020) | B | English–Mixed | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. |
No test |
Parent Occupational Prestige, Parent Education, Income-to-Needs Ratio, Annual Income B equal to M |
| Park et al. (2018) | B | English–Spanish | Exposure to both languages before the age of three | English | more non-English language | n.r. | n.r. | CELF-4 – English B lower than M |
Year of maternal education B lower than M |
| Poarch and Bialystok (2015) | B | English–Mixed | n.r. | English | non-English language | 3.0 (1.2) | n.r. | PPVT-III B equal to M |
|
| Poarch and van Hell (2012) | B | German–English | Exposure to both languages from birth | German-English | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | TROG – English and German English equal to German |
Parents' education levels B equal to M |
| Raudszus et al. (2018) | B | Dutch–Mixed | n.r. | Dutch | non-Dutch | n.r. | n.r. | Language Test for Minority Children Grades 4–6 Dutch PPVT-III Passive Vocabulary subtest of the Toets Tweetaligheid [Diagnostic Test of Bilingualism] |
No information |
| Ross and Melinger (2017) | B | English–Mixed | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | BPVT-II B lower than M |
Low to middle range for SES of deprivation |
| Schröter and Schroeder (2017) | B | German–Mixed non-German language as L1 |
German acquired before the age of six | n.r. | 79% both, 21 % only native language |
n.r. | n.r. | CFT 20-R – vocabulary listening comprehension B lower than M |
Children's cultural resources, communicative practices, children's reading pleasure and reading motivation B equal to M |
| Struys et al. (2018) | YBOB | Dutch–Mixed | YB: L1 from birth; L2: 0.8 (0.8) OB: L1 from birth; L2: 0.7 (0.8) |
n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | n.r. | L1 parental rating B lower than M L2 parental rating |
Composite score of parents' education levels B equal to M |
| Veenstra et al. (2018) | B | French–Dutch | n.r. | Dutch | French | n.r. | n.r. | PPVT-III–Dutch CELF-4 B lower than M |
B higher than M |
| Yang and Yang (2016) | B | Korean–English Korean as L1 |
Sequential bilingual | Korean | English | n.r. | n.r. | PPVT – III B lower than M |
Parents' education level minimum college education middle class neighbor Second-generation Korean immigrant |
| Zeng et al. (2019) | B | Australian English–Mixed | One child from birth both languages; L1 from birth, L2 2.95 (0.85) |
English | Both languages | n.r. | n.r. | L1 PPVT-IV, EVT B equal to M L2 Parental report |
No information |
B, bilingual participants; M, monolingual participants; AoA, age of acquisition; CELF, Clinical Evaluation of language fundamentals; EVT, Expressive Vocabulary Test; WRMT, Woodcock Reading Mastery Test, Paragraph Comprehension Subtest; EOWPVT, Expressive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test; BCE, Chinese-English bilingual; BFE, French-English bilingual; BSE, Spanish-English bilingual; PPVT, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test; WPPSI, Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence; BC, Canadian bilingual; BI, Indian bilingual; BLD, Limburgish-Dutch bilingual; BFD, Frisian-Dutch bilingual; BPD, Polish-Dutch bilingual; TVIP, Test de Vocabulario en Imagenes Peabody, MC, middle class; WC, working class; BPVS, British Picture Vocabulary Test; BNT, Boston Naming Test; NIH, National Institutes of Health; OEH, only English at home; WEH Welsh and English at home; OWH, only Welsh at home; EB, early-bilingual; LB, later bilingual; TROG, Test for reception of Grammar.
i
Category 1: >3000€/month; Category 2: 2001–3000 €; Category 3: 1601–2000 €; Category 4: 1201–1600 €; Category 5: 750–1200 €; Category 6: <750 €.
ii
Category 1: neither works; Category 2: only one of them works; Category 3: both works.
iii
1: exclusive use of English, 5: exclusive use of non-English language.