METALINGUSTIC ABILITIES AND VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT IN PRE-ADOLESCENTS : A COMPARISON OF CHINESE/ENGLISH AND MALAY/ENGLISH BILINGUALS

Abstract

This study attempts explores how age and first language input (Chinese or Malay) are related to the pattern and level of English vocabulary and metalinguistic awareness (phonological and morphological) in pre-adolescent Chinese/English and Malay/English bilinguals. Ninety-nine Chinese/English and eighty-seven Malay/English bilinguals between the age or 11 to 14 were assessed on vocabulary size, phonological awareness and morphological skills or English. Subject groups differed in terms of age and the nature or their L1 writing script (Logographic or alphabetic). The results reveal strong relationships between vocabulary size, phonological and morphological awareness for both group of subjects. The Malay/English bilingual8 demonstrated higher levels or phonological awareness than the Chinese/English bilinguals at each vocabulary size level. In addition, the "leap" in vocabulary size (observed by Aitchison, 1994) correlated with the development of phonological and morphological metalinguistic awareness in the 12 to 13 year old lexicon for both types of bilinguals. The results are interpreted, and the limitations of the study are discussed with suggestions for future research.