Cross-linguistic impacts on morphological awareness and vocabulary: Comparing Chinese-English bilingual and English monolingual preschoolers

Abstract

Bilingualism changes language and literacy development, with morphological awareness and vocabulary as fundamental skills. This study tested whether experience with Chinese, which primarily uses compounds and lacks affixes, creates distinct pathways for acquiring English compound and affix awareness, thereby shaping their associations with English vocabulary. We tested Chinese-English-bilingual and English-monolingual preschoolers ( N  = 202, 3-to-5-year-olds) and built two path models. Model 1 included bilinguals and revealed that English affix awareness was primarily explained by cumulative English exposure (% English-input) and associated with vocabulary, while English compound awareness was predicted by Chinese compound proficiency and unrelated to vocabulary. Model 2 compared between groups, revealing significant associations between English vocabulary and both types of morphological awareness for monolinguals, whereas bilinguals only showed significance for affix awareness. Findings suggest that Chinese-English-bilingual and English-monolingual children show distinct morphological development patterns. Importantly, awareness of affixes, a rare feature in Chinese, is crucial for Chinese-English-bilinguals’ English vocabulary.