What does this research mean for the field?

Family language practices established at home significantly shape multilingual children's broader linguistic behavior across external contexts such as school and the community. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To examine how multilingual children distribute their languages across home, school, community, and holiday settings, and to assess how family language practices influence broader linguistic exposure and use.

August 27, 2026International Journal of BilingualismOpen Access

Language Use and Exposure in Bilingual Families: An Exploratory Analysis of Family Language Practices and External Contexts

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Authors

NZNadya Zammit EBElma Blom ETElena Tribushinina

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Overview

Cross-sectional analysis finds that home language profiles shape multilingual language use and exposure across external settings in children, indicating spillover effects from family practices.

Key Points

To examine how multilingual children distribute their languages across home, school, community, and holiday settings, and to assess how family language practices influence broader linguistic exposure and use.
Administered the Q-BEx questionnaire to parents of 54 multilingual children (mean age = 10.00 years, SD = 1.60; including 11 trilinguals) in Malta.
Conducted repeated-measures analyses of variance to evaluate parent-reported language use and exposure across four domains (home, school, community, holidays) and across family language profile groups.
English was dominant in school settings, Maltese was most frequently used at home, and community language use was relatively balanced.
Heritage languages were predominantly confined to home and holiday contexts.
Family language profile groups demonstrated consistent spillover effects into external environments, directly shaping children's language behaviors outside the home.

Cite This Study

Zammit et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8fe9b910c91c1e926218ce https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069261471798

View Full Paper

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August 27, 2026International Journal of BilingualismOpen Access

Language Use and Exposure in Bilingual Families: An Exploratory Analysis of Family Language Practices and External Contexts

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

NZNadya Zammit EBElma Blom ETElena Tribushinina

Discussion

Member takes

Overview

Cross-sectional analysis finds that home language profiles shape multilingual language use and exposure across external settings in children, indicating spillover effects from family practices.

Key Points

To examine how multilingual children distribute their languages across home, school, community, and holiday settings, and to assess how family language practices influence broader linguistic exposure and use.
Administered the Q-BEx questionnaire to parents of 54 multilingual children (mean age = 10.00 years, SD = 1.60; including 11 trilinguals) in Malta.
Conducted repeated-measures analyses of variance to evaluate parent-reported language use and exposure across four domains (home, school, community, holidays) and across family language profile groups.
English was dominant in school settings, Maltese was most frequently used at home, and community language use was relatively balanced.
Heritage languages were predominantly confined to home and holiday contexts.
Family language profile groups demonstrated consistent spillover effects into external environments, directly shaping children's language behaviors outside the home.

Cite This Study

Zammit et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8fe9b910c91c1e926218ce https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069261471798

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark