Bilingual Children Adapt to the Needs of Their Communication Partners, Monolinguals Do Not

Abstract

We explored the ability of children to adapt their communication to the needs of their communication partner. Monolingual and bilingual 3-year-old children (N = 110) observed two puppets looking for puzzle pieces. One puppet showed its appreciation of the children's help, the other puppet wanted to solve the puzzle on its own. The children's communicative acts were coded in terms of level of ostension (how obviously they indicated the hiding place of the puzzle piece) and level of information (how clearly they indicated the location). Monolinguals and bilinguals were equally helpful and informative. In contrast, only bilingual children adapted their level of ostension selectively between the two puppets. These findings point to the greater skills of bilinguals to adapt their communication accordingly.

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