Relationships of expressive vocabulary to frequency of reading and television experience among bilingual toddlers

Abstract

This study investigated the relationships of expressive vocabulary size with frequency of being read to and frequency of watching television among 64 bilingual 21- to 27-month-old children from homes in which Spanish and English were spoken. The frequency of being read to in each language was related positively with expressive vocabulary size in the same language, and the relationships were significant even when taking the children's age and overall exposure to each language into account. The frequency of watching television was not related significantly to vocabulary size in either language.