The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Filipina domestic workers (FilDWs) on bilingual Hong Kong children’s language development. More specifically, it looked at FilDWs’ influence on the L1 Cantonese-receptive vocabulary and word reading, and the L2-English receptive vocabulary of bilingual Hong Kong primary school children attending an English Medium of Instruction (EMI) school.
Methodology:
A total of 64 children aged 8–9 participated in the main study. Thirty-four children from homes with FilDWs and 30 from homes with no FilDW took receptive vocabulary tests in Cantonese and English, a Cantonese word reading test, and a working memory capacity (WMC) test.
Data and analyses:
Test scores of both participating groups were compared and analyzed with independent t-tests. The content validity index was employed to validate the receptive vocabulary tests.
Findings:
Participants from households with FilDWs scored significantly higher on the English receptive vocabulary test, while no significant differences between the two groups were found on either the Cantonese tests or the WMC test. The results suggest that FilDWs exert a positive impact on the L2-English receptive vocabulary, without a negative impact on L1 Cantonese-receptive vocabulary or word reading, of bilingual Hong Kong primary school children from EMI schools.
Originality:
This study’s Socioeconomic-status (SES)-matched groups (as measured via level of maternal education) and comparable levels of school-based language exposure clearly highlight the role of home language, especially L2 English, exposure. It is also the first study investigating the impact of FilDWs on children’s language acquisition that employed a WMC test.
Implications:
The study makes a practical contribution by informing Hong Kong parents of bilingual children attending EMI schools that they can expect their children’s English vocabulary to benefit via the employment of a FilDW, without a trade-off effect on L1-Cantonese.
AmbeleE. A.BoonsukY. (2020). Voices of learners in Thai ELT classrooms: A wake up call towards teaching English as a lingua franca. Asian Englishes, 23, 201–217.
2.
AsatoW. (2004). Negotiating spaces in the labor market: Foreign and local domestic workers in Hong Kong. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 13(2), 255–274.
3.
BergströmK.KlatteM.SteinbrinkC.LachmannT. (2016). First and second language acquisition in German children attending a kindergarten immersion program: A combined longitudinal and cross-sectional study. Language Learning, 66(2), 386–418.
4.
BernardoA. B. (2004) . McKinley’s questionable bequest: Over 100years of English in Philippine education. World Englishes, 23(1), 17–31.
5.
BridgesK.HoffE. (2014). Older sibling influences on the language environment and language development of toddlers in bilingual homes. Applied Psycholinguistics, 35(2), 225–241.
6.
BuacM.GrossM.KaushanskayaM. (2014). The role of primary caregiver vocabulary knowledge in the development of bilingual children’s vocabulary skills. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 57(5), 1804–1816.
7.
ChanT. Y.McBride-ChangC. (2005). Environment and bilingualism for Hong Kong kindergartners: The impact of foreign domestic workers on early language learning. Journal of Psychology in Chinese Societies, 6(2), 179–193.
8.
CheukD.WongV. (2005). Specific language impairment and child care by a domestic helper. Archives of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 159(8), 714–720.
9.
CheungJ. T. K.TsoiV. W. Y.WongK. H. K.ChungR. Y. (2019). Abuse and depression among Filipino foreign domestic helpers: A cross-sectional survey in Hong Kong. Public Health, 166, 121–127.
10.
DallerM.OngunZ. (2018). The threshold hypothesis revisited: Bilingual lexical knowledge and non-verbal IQ development. International Journal of Bilingualism, 22(6), 675–694.
11.
D’angiulliA.SiegelL. S.MaggiS. (2004). Literacy instruction, SES, and word-reading achievement in English-language learners and children with English as a first language: A longitudinal study. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 19(4), 202–213.
12.
De HouwerA. (2011). Language input environments and language development in bilingual acquisition. Applied Linguistics Review, 2, 221–240.
13.
DörnyeiZ. (2019). Towards a better understanding of the L2 learning experience, the Cinderella of the L2 motivational self System. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 9(1), 19–30.
14.
DulayK. M.TongX.McBrideC. (2017). The role of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong Chinese children’s English and Chinese skills: A longitudinal study. Language Learning, 67(2), 321–347.
15.
DunnL. M.DunnL. M. (1997). Peabody picture vocabulary test (3rd ed.). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
16.
The Education Bureau of Hong Kong. (2008). 中英對照香港學校中文學習基礎字詞 (Lexical items with English explanations for fundamental Chinese learning in Hong Kong schools). Chinese Language Education Section, Curriculum Development Institute, Hong Kong Government.
17.
FillmoreL. W. (1991). When learning a second language means losing the first. Early childhood research quarterly, 6(3), 323–346.
18.
GeneseeF. (2004). What do we know about bilingual education for majority language students. In BhatiaT. K.RitchieW. (Eds.), Handbook of bilingualism and multiculturalism (pp. 547–576). Blackwell.
19.
GrosjeanF. (2008). Studying bilinguals. Oxford University Press.
20.
GrosjeanF. (2016). The complementarity principle and its impact on processing, acquisition, and dominance. In Silva-CorvalanC.Treffers-DallerJ. (Eds.), Language dominance in bilinguals: Issues of measurement and operationalization (pp. 66–84). Cambridge University Press.
21.
HoffE. (2020). Lessons from the study of input effects on bilingual development. International Journal of Bilingualism, 24(1), 82–88.
22.
HogeA. J. (2014). Effortless English: Learn to speak English like a native. Effortless English.
23.
JuffsA.HarringtonM. (2011). Aspects of working memory in L2 learning. Language Teaching, 44(2), 137–166.
24.
KrashenS.MasonB.SmithK. (2018). Some new terminology: Comprehension-aiding supplementation and form-focusing supplementation. Language Learning and Teaching, 60(6), 12–13.
25.
KrashenS. D. (1976). Formal and informal linguistic environments in language acquisition and language learning. Tesol Quarterly, 10, 157–168.
KrashenS. D. (2003b). Explorations in language acquisition and use. Heineman.
28.
LadegaardH. J. (2017). The discourse of powerlessness and repression: Life stories of domestic migrant workers in Hong Kong. Taylor & Francis.
29.
LadegaardH. J. (2020). Language competence, identity construction and discursive boundary-making: Distancing and alignment in domestic migrant worker narratives. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2020(262), 97–122.
30.
LesemanP. P. (2000). Bilingual vocabulary development of Turkish preschoolers in the Netherlands. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 21(2), 93–112.
31.
LeungA. H.-C. (2010). An apparent dissociation between input and outcome in child L2 acquisition: L2 English-accent acquisition in Hong Kong. In ClacksonK. Z.AbsiM.OgawaM.OnoC.PattersonV. (Eds.), Language at the University of Essex (LangUE) 2009 Proceedings (pp. 58–69). Department of Language and Linguistics, University of Essex.
32.
LeungH.-C. (2011). I know [pɪlɪpɪno] but I say [fɪlɪpɪno]: An investigation into Filipino foreign domestic workers’ influence on Hong Kong Chinese’s L2 English phonology acquisition. Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics, 47(1), 81–95.
33.
LeungH.-C. (2012). Bad influence? An investigation into the purported negative influence of foreign domestic workers on children’s second language English acquisition. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 33(2), 133–148.
34.
LightbownP. M.SpadaN. (2013). How languages are learned: Oxford handbooks for language teachers (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.
35.
LoY. Y.LoE. S. C. (2014). A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of English-medium education in Hong Kong. Review of Educational Research, 84(1), 47–73.
36.
MariniA.EliseevaN.FabbroF. (2019). Impact of early second-language acquisition on the development of first language and verbal short-term and working memory. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22(2), 165–176.
37.
MenyukP.BriskM. (2005). Language development and education: Children with varying language experiences. Springer.
38.
NortonB. (1997). Language, identity, and the ownership of English. TESOL Quarterly, 31(3), 409–429.
39.
OzerI.FitzgeraldS. M.SulbaranE.GarveyD. (2014). Reliability and content validity of an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) grade-level test for Turkish primary grade students. Procedia-social and Behavioral Sciences, 112, 924–929.
40.
PolitD. F.BeckC. T. (2006). The content validity index: Are you sure you know what’s being reported? Critique and recommendations. Research in Nursing & Health, 29(5), 489–497.
41.
PoonA. Y. (2010). Language use, and language policy and planning in Hong Kong. Current Issues in Language Planning, 11(1), 1–66.
42.
PunJ.MacaroE. (2019). The effect of first and second language use on question types in English medium instruction science classrooms in Hong Kong. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22(1), 64–77.
43.
SemelE.WiigE. H.SecordW. A. (2003). Clinical evaluation of language fundamentals, (CELF-4). The Psychological Corporation.
44.
SkehanP. (1998). A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford University Press.
45.
SökmenA. J. (1997). Current trends in teaching second language vocabulary. In SchmittN.McCarthyN. (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy (pp. 237–257). Cambridge University Press.
46.
SongS.SuM.KangC.LiuH.ZhangY.McBride-ChangC.. . .ShuH. (2015). Tracing children’s vocabulary development from preschool through the school-age years: An 8-year longitudinal study. Developmental Science, 18(1), 119–131.
47.
SwainM.LapkinS. (1995). Problems in output and the cognitive processes they generate: A step towards second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 16(3), 371–391.
48.
TangS. H. K.YungL. C. W. (2016). Maids or mentors? The effects of live-in foreign domestic workers on children’s educational achievement in Hong Kong. Education Economics, 24(1), 96–120.
49.
TardifT.ShatzM.NaiglesL. (1997). Caregiver speech and children’s use of nouns versus verbs: A comparison of English, Italian, and Mandarin. Journal of Child Language, 24(3), 535–565.
50.
TongY.JiangN. (2020). Much Ado about nothing? Do foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong benefit from capital accumulation?American Behavioral Scientist, 64(6), 823–840.
51.
TseS. K.LamR. Y. H.LohE. K. Y.IpO. K. M.LamJ. W. I.ChanY. M. (2009). English-speaking foreign domestic workers and students’ English reading attainment in Hong Kong. Chinese Education and Society, 42(3), 49–65.
52.
TupasR.MartinI. P. (2017). Bilingual and mother tongue-based multilingual education in the Philippines. In GarcíaO.LinA. M. Y.MayS. (Eds.), Bilingual and multilingual education (pp. 247–258). Springer.
53.
WaltzC.StricklandO. L.LenzE. (2010). Measurement in nursing and health research. Springer.
54.
WangL.KirkpatrickA. (2018). Students’ and parents’ perceptions of trilingual education in Hong Kong primary schools. International Journal of Multilingualism, 17, 430–447.
55.
WenZ.SkehanP. (2011). A new perspective on foreign language aptitude research: building and supporting a case for” working memory as language aptitude. Ilha do Desterro: A Journal of English Language, Literatures in English and Cultural Studies, 60, 15–44.
56.
WolfaardtJ. F. (2015). Hong Kong primary school children’s second language acquisition: The impact of Filipina domestic workers [Master’s dissertation]. Hong Kong Baptist University.
