El bilingüismo simultáneo familiar: un estudio contrastado de las estrategias discursivas de los padres según los investigadores y los padres

Abstract

This paper focuses on family bilingualism, that is, the situation in which a child is exposed to at least two languages, one in the community and the other at home, from early childhood on. Whereas all children who are in contact with one language from birth acquire parallel levels of competence in it, provided that circumstances are normal, those who are in contact with two develop different levels of competence in the L2.1 Thus, their bilingualism can be receptive or productive, balanced or nonbalanced. To a large extent, these differences are due to the kinds of strategies used by the parents when interacting with their bilingual children. According to recent research, the use of certain discourse strategies by the parents plays an essential role in the development of the children’s ability to speak the L2. A study was conducted in order to find out whether parents in situations of family bilingualism are aware of the existence of these strategies and of the potentially beneficial effects of using some over the others.