Typical and Atypical Language Development of Multilingual Children
Seven Types of Multilingual Acquisition in Multilingual Children from High-SES Families Educated in International Schools (Greenall, 2020)
I created the Seven Types of Multilingual Acquisition in Multilingual Children from High-SES Families Educated in International Schools. It is based on Romaine's ‘six types’ of bilingual acquisition in childhood that can be found in Romaine, S. (1995). The bilingual child. Bilingualism, 181-240.
Type 1: The home connected multilingual child
Parents: The parents have different native languages with each having some degree of competence in the other’s language.
School Community: Neither native language of the parents is the dominant language of the school community. The child is mostly exposed to this language when outside of the home and in school.
Local Community: Neither native language of the parents is the dominant language(s) of the local community. The child is mostly exposed to this language when outside of the home and school.
Strategy: The parents each speak their own language to the child from birth. The parents employ child carers in their languages or a different language. The parents may mix their languages.
Type 2: The Locally-Connected Multilingual Child
Parents: The parents have different native languages with each having some degree of competence in the other’s language.
School Community: Neither language of the parents is the dominant language of the school community.
Local Community: The language of one of the parents is the dominant language(s) of the community.
Strategy: The parents each speak their own language to the child from birth. The parents employ child carers in their languages or a different language. The parents may mix their languages.
Type 3: The School-Connected Multilingual Child
Parents: The parents have different native languages with each having some degree of competence in the other’s language.
School Community: The language of one of the parents is the dominant language of the school community.
Local Community: Neither language of the parents is the dominant language(s) of the local community.
Strategy: The parents each speak their own language to the child from birth. The parents employ child carers in their languages or a different language. The parents may mix their languages.
Type 4: The School-Connected and Locally-Connected Multilingual Child
Parents: The parents have different native languages with each having some degree of competence in the other’s language.
School Community: The language of one of the parents is the dominant language of the school community.
Local Community: The language of one of the parents is the dominant language(s) of the local community.
Strategy: The parents each speak their own language to the child from birth. The parents employ child carers in their languages or a different language. The parents may mix their languages.
Type 5: The Single-Home Language Multilingual Child
Parents: The parents share the same native language.
School Community: Neither language of the parents is the dominant language of the school community.
Local Community: Neither language of the parents is the dominant language(s) of the local community. The child is mostly exposed to this language when outside of the home and school.
Strategy: The parents speak the same language to the child from birth. The parents employ child carers in their languages or a different language. The parents may introduce the school and/or community language into a home language.
Type 6: The Single-Home Language Locally-Connected Multilingual Child
Parents: The parents share the same native language.
School Community: Neither language of the parents is the dominant language of the school community.
Local Community: The language of the parents is the dominant language(s) of the local community.
Strategy: The parents speak the same language to the child from birth. The parents employ child carers in their languages or a different language. The parents may introduce the school and/or community language into a home language.
Type 7: The Monolingual-Home Multilingual Child
Parents: The parents share the same native language.
School Community: The language of both of the parents is the dominant language of the school community.
Local Community: Neither language of the parents is the dominant language(s) of the school community.
Strategy: The parents speak the same language to the child from birth. The child has been educated in other languages that are different from his or her home languages.