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Multilingual Acquisition and Learning: An ecosystemic view to diversity
Edited by Elena Babatsouli
[Studies in Bilingualism 67] 2024
► pp. 246–271

Chapter 9
Towards an ecosystemic view of bilingual phonological development

| University of Ottawa
| University of Ottawa
| University of Alberta
An ecosystemic framework was used to explore how external factors, including the macrosystem, exosystem and microsystem, and internal factors impact bilingual phonological development in the case of three simultaneous bilingual preschool-aged children who spoke French and either Arabic, English, or Tagalog. Regarding internal factors, the three children showed age-appropriate phonology and vocabulary. For external factors, all children lived in a sociolinguistic context where French was the majority language. English brought several sociolinguistic advantages and opportunities for exposure and use in the communities, compared to Arabic and Tagalog, which had minoritized language status. We consider that an ecosystemic framework accounts for a continuum of bilingual phonology acquisition that includes both child internal and external factors.
Keywords: bilingual, children, phonological development, ecosystemic model
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Models of L2 speech learning
    • 1.2Factors that influence bilingual phonological development
    • 1.3Bioecological system model
    • 1.4Current study
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants from case studies of simultaneous bilingual children
    • 2.2Procedures
    • 2.3Profile of single-case studies
  • 3.Tiers of the bioecological system model
    • 3.1Macrosystem
    • 3.2Exosystem
    • 3.3Microsystem
    • 3.4Child characteristics
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Clinical implications
  • 6.Future directions
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 30 May 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.67.09sab
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