MAPLE: A Multilingual Approach to Parent Language Estimates

Bilingual infants vary in when, how, and how often they hear each of their languages. Variables such as the particular languages of exposure, the community context, the onset of exposure, the amount of exposure, and socioeconomic status are crucial for describing any bilingual infant sample. Parent report is an effective approach for gathering data about infants’ language experience, however, its quality is highly dependent on how information is elicited. This paper introduces a Multilingual Approach to Parent Language Estimates (MAPLE). MAPLE promotes best practices for using structured interviews to reliably elicit information from parents on bilingual infants’ language background, with an emphasis on the challenging task of quantifying infants’ relative exposure to each language. We discuss sensitive issues that must be navigated in this process, including diversity in family characteristics and cultural values. Finally, we identify six systematic effects that can impact parent report, and strategies for minimizing their influence.

双语婴儿在何时、如何以及频繁程度方面，对各自语言的接触存在差异。暴露于特定语言、社区背景、接触的开始、接触量以及社会经济地位等变量，对于描述任何双语婴儿样本至关重要。家长报告是收集婴儿语言经验数据的有效方法，然而，其质量高度依赖于信息的获取方式。本文介绍了一种多语言方法——家长语言估计多语言方法（MAPLE）。MAPLE推崇最佳实践，以结构化访谈的方式，可靠地从家长那里获取关于双语婴儿语言背景的信息，并侧重于量化婴儿对每种语言的相对接触量这一挑战性任务。我们讨论了在这一过程中必须谨慎处理的问题，包括家庭特征和文化价值观的多样性。最后，我们确定了可能影响家长报告的六个系统性效应，并提出了最小化其影响的策略。