Publications

Publication details [#63675]

Miller, Lauren. 2017. The relationship between language proficiency and language attitudes. Evidence from young Spanish-English bilinguals. Spanish in Context 14 (1) : 99–123.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Place, Publisher
John Benjamins
Journal DOI
10.1075/sic

Annotation

To determine how attitudes toward the minority language change with age, sixty-five Spanish/English bilingual children completed an attitude questionnaire. Results show that first graders have roughly equal attitudes to Spanish and English, while second, third, and fourth graders increasingly state a preference for English. However, among fifth graders, a decrease in this preference for English is found. Results from a matched guise task show that the Spanish and English versions are not rated significantly differently, suggesting that, while children prefer speaking English, they may not project negative attitudes onto Spanish-speakers themselves. Finally, a shift in language preference is found before a shift in language dominance, which may suggest that negative attitudes toward the heritage language lead to a dominance shift.