The Language Development of Bilingual Children Speaking Korean and English

이중언어(한국어-영어)를 하는 아동의 언어능력발달에 관한 연구

This study compared the English and the Korean receptive competency of bilingual children with that of English and Korean monolingual children, respectively. The relation between English and Korean receptive competency of bilingual children was examined by age and gender. Subjects were 27 bilingual, 30 Korean monolingual, 24 English monolingual children. They were administered the revised form of the Peabody Pictures Vocabulary Test in Korean and English versions. Results show that bilingual children's Korean receptive competency is lower than those who spoke only Korean, and bilingual children's English receptive competency was a little lower than those who spoke only English, but the difference narrowerd with age. The relation between Korean and English competency in bilingual children was negative in 4- and 5-year-olds but became positive in 6-year-olds. This study shows that the two points-of-view on bilingual language development should be applied differently depending on children's age.