Bilingual parent–child dyads' language use and code-switching during shared reading: exploring variations across labeling and word explanations

Abstract

Shared reading offers an important context for supporting young children's language development. However, limited research has investigated shared reading interactions in bilingual parent-child dyads, particularly using naturalistic observations. The present study explored language use and code-switching (i.e., the alternating use of languages) of bilingual preschool-aged children and their parents during shared reading of a wordless picture book at home. Using naturalistic observational data from 151 parent-child dyads in Norway, we focused on variations across two types of talk with potential to support children's word understanding: labeling and word explanation. We found that dyads who primarily read in their first language, compared to those who primarily read in their second language, engaged more frequently in labeling but not in word explanations. Additionally, we found that parents code-switched more often during word explanations than during labeling, irrespective of which language they primarily used for reading. Overall, these findings offer new insights into bilingual parent-child shared reading at home by illustrating systematic differences in dyads' use of labeling and in parents' use of code-switching between labeling and word explanations.