RaBBiT - Language Decision and

Communicative Strategies
21.02.2024
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Dr. Yvonne TSE CREPALDI

Contributors: Prof. Ng Bee Chin, Prof. Elizabeth Lanza, Prof. Mohd. Mukhlis Abu Bakar, Prof.
Lakshmi Seetha, Prof. Suzy Styles

Supported by:
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Table of Content

Project Overview................................................................................................................................. 1
Who should read this?........................................................................................................................ 2
1. Language Decision at Home..........................................................................................................3
1.1 Additive Bilingualism..........................................................................................................3
1.2 One Parent One Language (OPOL).................................................................................. 4
1.3 Simultaneous Use of Both Languages.............................................................................. 4
1.4 Your Language Decision....................................................................................................5
2. Communicative Strategies.........................................................................................................6
2.1 Intentional Use of a particular language............................................................................ 7
EXAMPLE 1 - Minimal Grasp.......................................................................................8
EXAMPLE 2 - Expressed Guess................................................................................. 8
2.2 Explicit request or reminder to use a particular language..................................................9
EXAMPLE 3 - Explicit request................................................................................... 10
2.3 Move-on........................................................................................................................... 11
EXAMPLE 4 - Move On..............................................................................................11
2.4 Language mixing............................................................................................................. 13
EXAMPLE 5 - Code-Switching...................................................................................13
3. Multiculturalism........................................................................................................................ 16
EXAMPLE 6 - Multiculturalism................................................................................... 16
3.1 Your Communicative Strategies?.....................................................................................18
4. Summary of Recommendations.............................................................................................. 20
4.1 Make family language decisions early............................................................................. 20
4.2 Be mindful of daily language practices and adjust when necessary................................20
4.3 Be consistent and persevere.............................................................................................. 20
References.................................................................................................................................. 20
Contributors................................................................................................................................. 21
Notes:.................................................................................................................................... 24

Project Overview
RaBBiT (Raising Bilingual Babies in Talk), an initiative supported by the Lee Kuan Yew
Fund for Bilingualism (MOE), Singapore, aims to provide specific, research-informed
guidance through videos and e-Resources, on how to raise bilingual children to
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parents-to-be and parents with young children aged 0 to 6. The initiative is led by Dr.
Yvonne Tse Crepaldi and supported by a team of experts in bilingualism from Singapore
and overseas. They include Prof. Suzy Styles and Prof. Ng Bee Chin from NTU, Prof. Seetha
Lakshmi and Prof. Mukhlis Abu Bakar from NIE, and Prof. Elizabeth Lanza from the
University of Oslo.
Before using this booklet, you may watch the supplementary video first to get a quick
overview of the content: https://www.youtube.com/@bilingualrabbit
Follow us on social media to learn more about bilingualism in early childhood and share
these wonderful materials with your family, friends, and community. Take an active role in
making bilingualism and multiculturalism flourish in Singapore and beyond!
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bilingualrabbit
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bilingualrabbit

Who should read this?

Some parents or expecting parents in Singapore may think that: we live in a multilingual
society, surrounded by many languages at home and in everyday life, and the public
schools teach in English and offer mother tongue languages as subjects (Mandarin Chinese,
Malay, and Tamil), so our children will naturally become bilingual.
Well, that is partially true. There are many types of bilingualism. If you want to nurture
your child to be an ‘active bilingual’, with strong language skills in both of their two (or
more) languages, as supposed to a ‘passive bilingual’, then some work needs to be done,
preferably from their early childhood at home.
‘Active bilinguals’ refers to bilinguals who actively use both of their languages in their
everyday life. Active bilingual children can speak and write in both of their languages,
whereas passive bilinguals may have mainly receptive ability (listening and reading) in one
of their two languages. While bilingual children in Singapore receive formal education in
two languages, the formal learning of both languages may not start until kindergarten or
primary school and the exposure in both languages may be far from balanced. Thus, early
learning of both languages in the home is key. Early childhood research informs us that
oral skills facilitate literacy development. Also, being an early bilingual, or ‘simultaneous
bilingual’ who acquires both languages from birth (versus ‘consecutive bilingual’ who
acquires the second language later) does not only help your child in obtaining a high
proficiency in both languages, but it will also help foster a stronger cultural identity.
So, well done, parents! Thank you for taking an interest in this material and caring for your
child’s bilingual development. We wish you and your family a joyful bilingual journey!
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1. Language Decision at Home

In the first video on “Family Language Policy”, we talked about how important it is to spend
some time thinking and discussing among family members their various beliefs, aspirations
for the child and the resources they currently have, as well as those they may need in order
to nurture the child’s bilingual skills. After such a discussion, the first important decision is
“who should speak which language to their child and in what context”, as Prof. Suzy
Styles nicely summed up.
In this booklet, we will elaborate on the two relevant topics - language decision at home
and everyday communicative strategies. In the following, we will first share the various
popular language choices that bilingual and multilingual families around the world adopt.
We will then invite you to reflect on what suits your family.

1.1 Additive Bilingualism

With additive bilingualism, children may develop their heritage language (i.e. ‘mother
tongue’) first at home. Later, they add the learning of another language, usually the
community language or school language, while they continue to maintain or improve
proficiency in their heritage language. Additive bilingualism is said to provide a supportive
environment for acquiring one’s mother tongue and, subsequently, their second language.

Some families might think that focusing only on the mother tongue, when they wish their
children to acquire two languages may deprive the child's leanring of the other language.
However, some research shows that establishing a strong foundation in one’s mother
tongue facilitates the learning of a second language, because children have already
developed the necessary cognitive skills and language awareness for language learning. For
example, they are capable of recognising patterns, differences, and they can use their
mother tongue as a reference point to understand how the other langauge(s) works.
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Moreover, having a solid foundation in one’s heritage language can enable the child to
express themselves effectively in their early years, aid in the acquisition of other knowledge
through reading and listening, and enhance interactions with family members and their
ethnic community. Consequently, children can develop a strong bond with their family, a
sense of cultural belonging and an ethnic identity. All of these can foster the child's
self-esteem and socio-emotional well-being as well.

The additive bilingualism approach, however, necessitates both parents being proficient
enough to use one heritage language at home. For families that have more than one
heritage language, it may require more work, and other approaches may be considered too
such as the One-Parent-One-Language approach.

1.2 One Parent One Language (OPOL)

One-Parent-One-Language (OPOL) is a popular approach in which each parent speaks one

language to the child, either their respective heritage language or their most proficient
language. This approach is considered effective because it provides children with the
opportunity to use each language in a monolingual context when interacting with each
parent. Ideally, under this approach, children will use each language without relying too
much on the other. Many people believe that this method enables the child to maximize
proficiency in both languages at home.

It is important to note that couples adopting this approach should either be bilingual
themselves, or at least one partner should have knowledge of the language that their
partner uses. This ensures that the whole family can interact smoothly without
communication breakdowns. Alternatively, the couple may use a third language, a 'lingua
franca' (common language), to facilitate a smooth conversation in the presence of their
child.

1.3 Simultaneous Use of Both Languages

In a multilingual society like Singapore, many parents are bilingual or multilingual
themselves. Therefore, it is not uncommon for each parent to use two languages (or even
more) at home. For example, Singaporean Chinese families may frequently alternate
between Mandarin and English, sometimes even within the same utterance.
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Assoc. Prof. Mohd Mukhlis bin Abu Bakar from the National Institute of Education,
Singapore, explained, "This would also be good because then the children would see a
model of who a bilingual is." This approach provides bilingual parents with a more natural
and relaxed environment to be themselves and maintain the same speaking pattern as
they do with their spouse, parents or friends.
If parents desire, they may also consider when (i.e., in what context) they want to use one
language over another or if they want to adjust the percentage of input in each language to
offer more balanced exposure to their children. However, changing everyday
communicative patterns can be quite a challenge.

In reality, families rarely adhere to one approach strictly. Some families may initiallyl adopt
the One-Parent-One-Language (OPOL) method. However, as their child’s bilingual skills
improve, they develop their own preference or dominant language. Parents might
gradually transition into using both languages at times. Alternatively, some families may
choose to use only their heritage language initially. As their child gains proficiency in the
community language, they may ease into using both languages more frequently at home.
There is no right or wrong approach here. Parents may adjust as they see fit.

1.4 Your Language Decision

Now, consider your own family. Which of the family language approaches mentioned above
seems most suitable for your family? Take into account your own language proficiency and
that of your spouse, as well as that of any other primary caregiver(s) for your child(ren).
Additionally, consider your aspiration for your child(ren)’s linguistic skills - referring to the
worksheets provided in the first video on Family Language Policy (§1.3 & 2.2). Write down
your reflections below.

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2. Communicative Strategies

The preceding section discussed an overarching family

language decision. When it comes to applying that decision or
policy in everyday interactions, in every single exchange,
parents may subconsciously employ a variety of ways to
communicate with and nurture their children’s bilingual
competence. The options are more varied for parents who are
bilingual or multilingual themselves. Some bilingual parents
may be more rigorous in sticking to one language as the main
language they want their child to develop. Other parents may
exhibit varied patterns, speaking in one language at times and
occasionally injecting words from another language. Some
may alternate more freely based on the conversational topic,
context, or how they feel.
It is common for children as young as two years old to develop their dominant or preferred
language, and as such, they may not respond in the language that parents desire. In such
cases, some parents may accommodate their children, while others may adopt specific
strategies to intervene in the communication pattern. For instance, parents may feign little
or no understanding of what is said to encourage the young child to speak more in the
expected language or mother tongue. Parents may also employ communicative strategies
to facilitate a more natural or flexible dual-language conversation.
It is crucial to establish the use of your preferred language in the child’s early life, as early
as possible, so that this communicative pattern or expectation may 'sink in,' and endure.
The child’s preferred choice of language may change as they begin schooling, where a
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different language may be introduced, or they may develop a different dominant language.
Nevertheless, developing an awareness of our communicative strategies will have a lasting
impact not only on the child’s language development but also on the parent-child
relationship and everyone’s well-being. Studies show that some parents may experience
emotional complexity when their child refuses to speak in the heritage language or the
parents’ preferred language.
Prof. Elizabeth Lanza, Professor Emerita and former Director of the research Center for
Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (MultiLing) at the University of Oslo, Norway,
proposed the following model of communicative strategies for bilingual families in the early
1990s:

Prof. Lanza suggested that, on the one end, parents may use strategies such as
demonstrating a 'minimal grasp' or making an 'expressed guess' of what the child is saying
in Language B to encourage a more monolingual context of Language A—the target
language parents want to promote. On the other end, some parents may nurture a
bilingual context, allowing both languages to be used more freely through 'code-switching'
(also known as 'language alternation').
In the video, we have presented some examples, which we will now elaborate on briefly.
Following that, we will provide a couple of exercises to enhance your understanding.
Finally, we invite you to reflect on your own daily communication. For readers interested in
learning more about Lanza’s model, we include a link to an easy-read blog article in the
references by Limacher, as well as Lanza’s book and a shorter article.

2.1 Intentional Use of a particular language

Parents who are bilingual themselves may choose to establish the use of a particular
language with their child, commonly their mother tongue or heritage language. It is
advisable to do this as early as possible in the child’s life, preferably since birth. Yes, even
before they can speak! This way, both parents and the child can become accustomed to
using that language. Numerous studies demonstrate that children in their first year are
already absorbing linguistic information such as sound and grammatical patterns of their
native language(s).
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In some cases, parents may notice that their toddlers develop a dominant language
different from the home language they wish to establish. This is particularly observed in
places like Singapore, where children are influenced by an English-dominated environment
at a very young age. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, it can become a
concern if parents specifically want their children to communicate with them in their
mother tongue or if they wish their child to have a more balanced proficiency in both
languages.
For this purpose, parents may adopt various strategies to encourage their young child’s
active use of a particular language or mother tongue. One approach is to pretend not to
understand what the child is saying in another language (known as ‘minimal grasp’), as
demonstrated in the example below. The mother expresses her inability to comprehend
what the child is saying, leading him to translate the message into Malay for her.

EXAMPLE 1 - Minimal Grasp

Child: I want juice.

Mother: nak apa?

"What do you want?”

Child: Saya mahu minum jus.

“I want to drink juice.”

Another way is for parents to pretend that they are guessing what the child attempts to say
(‘Expressed guess’), as illustrated in the dialogue below in Mandarin Chinese between a
mother and her two-year-old son who is speaking mostly English. The mother provided the
Chinese word 'crisps'.

EXAMPLE 2 - Expressed Guess

Child: I want this.

Mother: 还有这个巧克力饼干。
“and there’s this chocolate biscuit.”

Child: I waaant. (the child is trying to grab a bag of crisps)

Mother: 你要薯片啊？
"Do you want crisps?”
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Child: 好
“yes”

How is this parent's communication different from the other's in Example 1?

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In Example 2, the mother is implementing the One-Parent-One-Language approach by

consistently using Mandarin Chinese. Even when the child continues speaking in English,
repeating “I want,” the mother responds in Chinese by making an educated guess about
which snack the child desires, rather than feigning complete misunderstanding as seen in
Example 1. The mother's effort to comprehend the child's needs ensures smooth
progression in the conversation, and she also introduces the necessary vocabulary ('crisps')
to the two-year-old language learner. Her exclusive use of Chinese effectively aligns the
two-year-old with responding in Mandarin. Arguably, the child could have affirmed with ‘是
的 (shìde)’ (‘yes’) instead of ‘好的 (hǎode)’ (literally, ‘good’). However, the mother appears to
prioritize successful communication in the desired language over correcting the little
speaker's word choice.

2.2 Explicit request or reminder to use a particular language

In addition to the two subtle ways of prompting or guiding the child to use the preferred
language mentioned above, parents may also explicitly request their child to translate a
term or remind them which language to use, as shown in the following Tamil example
presented in the video.
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EXAMPLE 3 - Explicit request

Dad: அங்க பாருங்க அக்கா உங்களுக்காக காத்திருக்காங்க

“Look there. Sister is waiting for you”

Child: Because I don't want her to take

Dad: சரி அதை தமிழ்ல எப்படி சொல்லுவ

“ok, how would you say that in Tamil?”

Child: அங்க பாருங்க அக்கா உங்களுக்காக காத்திருக்காங்க

“Can i slide with inmozhi on my lap?”

What do you think of the father’s approach here? What kind of effects may it have?

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This practice is more likely to be applied with older toddlers who can already distinguish
between their two languages, and understand what is required of them to do. It serves the
purpose of guiding the child into the preferred home language, similar to the previous two
practices, explicitly making the child aware of when that particular language is preferred. It
socializes the child into understanding the preferred language in the home setting.
However, by requesting the child to speak in a particular language, the parent stops the
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ongoing flow of conversation, highlighting the issue. If such requests are made too
frequently, or in a scolding tone, it could be perceived as policing or problematizing the
child’s language choice or linguistic behavior. This could potentially create a bit of tension
for both the parent and the child.

2.3 Move-on

Some parents of bilingual children may not be particular about their children’s language
choices, or they may not want to be stressed about it and enforce expectations all the time.
They may allow their children to use the language of their preference and let the
dual-language conversation progress naturally. In the example below, the child responds
continuously in English, and the father consistently uses Malay, occasionally mixing in a
couple of English words, following a convention in Singapore:

EXAMPLE 4 - Move On

Dad: You suka animal yang mana?

“Which animal do you like?”

Child: I love this one.

Dad: Kenapa you tak suka ni Nemo?

“Why don't you like this Nemo?”

Child: It's so like this sss.

Dad: Dory lagi, Nemo?

“Dory again, Nemo?”

Child: This one, this one, this one!

Dad: Okay, you nak bacakan untuk ayah tak?

“Okay, you want to read for me or not?”

Child: (You) baca.

“You read”
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What do you think of this approach? What kind of effects this may have on the child’s
bilingual development and on the parent-child interaction in the long run?

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This type of dual-language interaction is fairly common in Singapore, where many children
develop English as their preferred or dominant language at a very young age due to
exposure in kindergarten, media, community, neighborhood, and/or English spoken by
family members at home. It's important to note that having a preferred language does not
necessarily translate into low proficiency in the other language (or mother tongue). With
dedicated education and frequent use of the other language, whether it's the mother
tongue or a second language, children can develop high proficiency in that language as
well.

This move-on approach, however, may bring about a language shift from one generation to
the next. If parents do feel uneasy about a potential loss of heritage, or if they do desire
strongly to promote the productive skills of their children’s mother tongue, then they may
intervene and promote the usage of the preferred home language by trying out some of
the above-mentioned strategies. A word of caution, however: the intervention should be
done as early as possible. Some of the strategies, such as minimal grasp, may not work
with older children because they know that their parents can speak both languages that
they are acquiring. Also, the intervention cannot be done too forcibly, for instance, by
repeatedly correcting the child for not using the preferred home language, as this will only
create stress and an unpleasant experience for everyone in the household.
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2.4 Language mixing

While the move-on approach usually refers to parents letting go of the child’s use of a
different language, language mixing (also commonly known as ‘code-switching’) implies that
speakers (parents and children) use elements from two different languages in the same
sentence or same conversation. Language mixing is very common for bilingual speakers. If
you are bilingual, think about how you interact with other bilinguals - do you also mix two
languages to a certain degree. You may speak in a highly mixed way (which Singaporeans
may call it a 'rojak' style), or just inserting a few loanwords from the other language. Even
parents who adopt a one-parent-one-language approach may also mix languages
occasionally.

In the following extract of a Singaporean-Malay household, extracted from Mirvahedi and

Cavallaro’s research, two sisters Amirah and Alifah (7 and 4 respectively) are acting out
teacher and student roles, using their school’s language - English. The mother comes along
and asks in English first, if the young sister Alifah has drunk water. Amirah replies in Malay
on behalf of the younger sister: ‘dah’, which means ‘(she has) already’. Following that Malay
response, the mother shifts to Malay, questioning Amirah why the water level has not
changed then. Amirah changes to English, speaking in a tone akin to a teacher (the role that
she has been playing), and asks the mother to wait and be patient. Then the mother
continues in Malay telling Alifah not to run around, as she wants her to get better, since her
fever has just subsided not long ago.

EXAMPLE 5 - Code-Switching

Amirah: (Singing) Ring around the roses. We all fall down. Alifah! So Alifah has to... .
Then you turn around like this

Mother: you drink water already or not

Amirah: DAH
“already”

Mother: kakak, ni water ni kenapa tak bergerak ni

“Kakak (older sister), this drink, why kak hasn’t the water level changed?”

Amirah: drink already a bit

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Amirah: wait a moment, wait a moment, be patient

Mother: takmo lari lari, I nak kasi you baik, temperature ni baru nak turun.
“Don’t, don’t run around. I want you to get well. Your temperature has just
subsided.”

What do you think are the pros and cons of this language mixing way of communication?

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Households like this, in which both parents as well as children can use freely both
languages (English and their mother-tongue) in their everyday life, exist in many
communities, for instance, Spanish-English bilinguals in the US, French-English bilinguals in
Quebec, to name a few. Bilingualism becomes a part of the identity of the family and helps
bonding among the ethnic community. They may find themselves at ease when they all can
express themselves at their best, using whichever linguistic tool that is at their disposal at
the time.

Parents who are keen about ‘linguistic purism’ and ‘balanced bilingualism’ may be
concerned. They may wonder if their bilingual children are exposed frequently to a mixture
of languages, and not a ‘pure’ language, whether they will become less capable in
communicating in a monolingual context or handling conversations in that language solely,
or whether there is any negative impact on their linguistic development. Research in this
area is still limited today because there are challenges due to the diversity presented
among bilingual children. For now, we can only suggest, that as long as children are also
exposed to monolingual contexts where two languages are used independently, through
audiovisual media, storybooks, activities, interactions with other speakers and educators
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who speak to them in only one language, then it should be sufficient for the child to discern
the different linguistic patterns, and there is no problem to alternating languages at home.

Parents need to know that bilinguals usually do not acquire two languages in exactly the
same contexts, maybe one at home, one from school, or one from the community, and so
forth. As such, they may develop one language (e.g. English) for academic purposes, and
another for social purposes. They may not be skillful to use the home language for
academic purposes and vice-versa. That said, it is not impossible to have a good command
in both languages for all contexts, if the child is given the opportunity to develop and use
both languages in all contexts. After all, there are many bilingual households and also
schools that offer good bilingual education. For these parents, a little more thinking,
planning and effort may be required. So, instead of consciously avoiding one language, or
what could be a more natural dual language interaction, parents can spend more effort in
thinking which language requires more support, and how they can support it.
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3. Multiculturalism
“To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world” -
Chinese proverb
You have probably heard of this proverb describing how knowing one more language
allows us to have another perspective and access to another culture. Bilingualism has not
only linguistic knowledge in stock, but also knowledge about the culture associated with the
language, the way how speakers of that language behave and perceive the world. Bilingual
families may have encountered interesting cross-cultural moments like this:

EXAMPLE 6 - Multiculturalism

Mother: Ms Ruby 知道什么叫 Wanton Mee 吗?

“Does Ms Ruby know what Wanton Mee is?

Mother: Wanton Mee

Child: Grass Jelly.

Mother: Wanton Mee

Child: Grass Jelly.

Child: Noodles.

Father: Spaghetti.

Mother: Spaghetti? 那个不是Spaghetti 那个是云吞面

“Spaghetti? That is not spaghetti. That is wanton noodles.”

First, can you identify which communicative strategy is used by the parents here? And why do you
think so?

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What do you think about this conversation?

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The conversation in Example 6 can be characterised as more towards the bilingual context
in Prof. Lanza’s model, as both Mandarin Chinese and English are used. In fact, we may also
claim that a third variety, a Singaporean English, is used, since the food term ‘Wanton Mee’
is native in the Southeast Asian region. The exact strategy can be a little hard to pin down -
we can say the mother uses the “Move On” strategy, since the Chinese-speaking mother
allows the children to reply in English. However, since she has requested the children to
think about an explanation or translation of ‘Wanton Mee’, presumably in English, to a
non-Chinese teacher, this may not count as children’s initiation to speak English. Then the
father’s insertion of a Western food term in English also makes the conversation more
‘bilingually fused’. Hence, it will not be entirely wrong to describe this episode as displaying
a language mixing or code-switching strategy.

Note, however, even if the family mixes languages in this little episode, it does not mean
that the simultaneous use of both languages is necessarily this family’s language policy. In
fact, this family who participated in our project is a Chinese dominant family. Both parents
used mostly Mandarin Chinese at the time of filming. What we want to convey here is that
families may have a main approach on how they want to communicate with their children
and shape the language usage at home in general. However, during daily interactions with
their children, parents may go with the flow and use whichever language, whichever
strategy that makes sense in the specific context, without overthinking too much.

This example also illustrates just how beautiful it can be for children with a bilingual mind
to conceptualise the semantics (or meanings) of words derived from different languages,
and Eastern and Western cultures. This kind of cultural talk can heighten children’s
cross-linguistic and cross-cultural awareness, allowing them to appreciate their bilingual
assets, and create some fun in the household.
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3.1 Your Communicative Strategies?

Are you curious now to find out what communicative strategies you and your spouse are
using?

EXERCISE 1 Observation & Diary

You can start simply by being more attentive to your daily conversations with your child.
Pay attention to the exact words you use, the language you use, the way you talk to your
child, the language and the way your child responds, and your subsequent response to
them. Writing the episodes down immediately in a dairy may help you keep a record for
analysis. You can do this exercise regularly in different contexts, for example, during family
mealtime, early morning rush time, in the presence of a third party (relative or guest), and
also outside on the playground or at the supermarket. If you want to do the same
observation of your spouse’s communicative strategies, check with them too. Keep the
diary for about a week and you may repeat this exercise in different intervals, every 3-6
months to see if anything changes. Write down your observations below or use the Notes
pages at the end, or your own notebook.

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EXERCISE 2 Recording and Analysis

If you can afford the time and are inquisitive enough to conduct your own research, you
may even consider making some recordings of your everyday interaction with your child,
and/or with other family members or caregivers (remember to ask for their permission
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first). Then you can give it a try to transcribe some short episodes and analyze them, just
like the examples we gave above.

Guiding steps:
1. Find a good time when you and your child are both seated. For example, mealtime,
playtime (blocks, handicraft, drawing), or shared book reading, etc.
2. Record a clip of about 5 minutes. Preferably, a video-recording so that you can
understand the context better, but for the purpose of this exercise, audio-recording
is fine too.
3. Converse as usual during the recording. Make no additional effort of applying a
specific strategy. If it helps you settle in, you may also make a longer recording and
discard the initial part.
4. Afterwards, watch the recordings very carefully. You may need to rewatch some
interesting parts a few times or play them slowly. Try to observe what language(s)
you speak to the child and in what language(s) the child replies, and what you do to
deal with the situation. Pay attention to both your and your child’s use of loanwords
and any language alternation.
5. Take note and write down your reflections below or in your own notebook.
6. Optional: if you are interested in being more meticulous in this exercise, you can
transcribe the dialogue. There are applications such as Otter, Notta and MS Word’s
dictation function that can help automate the transcription. They are not perfect yet
in picking up natural human speech and are not adapted to all kinds of accents.
Thus, you will need some manual adjustments. Having the dialogue transcribed
allows you to visualise the interaction and analyse better.

Have fun conducting your mini-research!

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4. Summary of Recommendations
Based on research, here are some recommendations for bilingual families:

4.1 Make family language decisions early

First. Families may want to decide early on, even before their child is born, who speaks
which language to the child, OR if they are going to use both languages at home.

4.2 Be mindful of daily language practices and adjust when necessary

Second. Pay attention in everyday life to the way you talk to the child and the way the child
responds. Adjust the practices, if necessary.

4.3 Be consistent and persevere

Third. Remember, as children grow, the school and the community may influence language
use and language development, and children develop their own preferences too. It may
become harder to get them to speak the language you want. Some parents may feel
uneasy about this. But just be consistent with your approach to promoting bilingualism at
home…… and persevere, keeping everyone’s well-being in mind.

References
Byers-Heinlein K, Lew-Williams C. (2013). Bilingualism in the Early Years: What the Science
Says. Learn Landsc. Fall 7(1): 95-112.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6168212/
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Lanza, Elizabeth. (2004). Language Mixing in Infant Bilingualism: A Sociolinguistic Perspective.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lanza, E. (2007). Multilingualism and the family. In P. Auer & L. Wei (Eds.), Handbook of
Multilingualism and Multilingual Communication (pp. 45-68). Berlin, New York: De Gruyter
Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110198553.1.45
Limacher, Ute (2018, July 10). Code-switching, what to do, when I should worry.
Aberdeenshire EAL Service.
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/as/ealaberdeenshire/tag/speech-and-language/

Mirvahedi, S.H. & Cavallaro, F. (2020). Siblings’ play and language shift to English in a
Malay-English bilingual family in Singapore. World Englishes, 39(0), 183–197.
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12417

Contributors

Project Lead and Producer:

Dr. Yvonne Tse Crepaldi is currently a researcher at the University of Alberta, Canada, and
is also affiliated with Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where she obtained her PhD
in Linguistics. She has collaborated on numerous research projects at NIE and NTU,
Singapore, related to parent-child interactions, multilingualism and healthcare
communication, and has published in international publications. Yvonne has also worked
as a cross-cultural trainer, language education entrepreneur, interpreter and language
teacher. Yvonne is avid language learner - speaking eight languages, and is raising two
trilingual children.

Project Advisor and Expert Contributor:

Assistant Professor Suzy Styles investigates the relationship between language and
developing sensory systems, with a focus on how different patterns of language exposure
can create different outcomes for brains of language learning infants and children. She
leads the BLIP lab and works on multisensory perception, sensory development and
documentation of the diverse experience of language exposures in multilingual Singapore.
She is an Open Science advocate who is also active in the Science Communication
movement. She won the Nanyang Research Award for Junior Investigators in 2018 for her
work on the NRF Funded project 'How do Language Mixes contribute to Effective
bilingualism and Effective Biliteracy in Singapore’, and has held the Provost's Chair in
Psychology at Nanyang Technological University since 2019.
 22

Expert Contributor:

Prof. Ng Bee Chin works in the area of bilingualism and multilingualism with a focus on the
impact of language contact on individuals and the community they live in. Her research
approach is to explore both cognitive and social aspects of language use across the
lifespan. Currently, she is working on language and emotion in multilinguals, language
attitudes, identity and social categorisation and communicative aspects of aging. A
common thread running through her research is the connection between the self and the
social. The self (person) and the community is intricately bound and to fully understand
language use, we need to understand the communities we live in. Invariably, our social
interactions will have an impact on the way information is organized cognitively and she
continues to navigate the nexus between these two fields. She co-authored the book
“Bilingualism: An Advanced Resource Book”. Currently she is the Associate Dean of
Graduate Studies in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore.

Expert Contributor:

Prof. Mukhlis Abu Bakar is Associate Professor and Assistant Head (Malay) at the Asian
Languages and Cultures Academic Group, National Institute of Education. His research
interests include childhood bilingualism and biliteracy, sociocultural approach to literacy
learning in the home, school and faith settings, and pronunciation issues in the Malay
language. He sits on the Editorial Board of Jurnal Bahasa, a publication by Dewan Bahasa
dan Pustaka, Malaysia, and previously served as Associate Editor of the Asia Pacific Journal
of Education and Co-Editor of the Jurnal Pendidikan Awal Kanak-kanak. His latest
publication is a volume co-edited with R. Wills, M. de Souza, J. Mata-McMahon and C. Roux,
entitled The Bloomsbury Handbook of Culture and Identity from Early Childhood to Early
Adulthood (2021).

Expert Contributor:

Prof. Seetha Lakshmi is an Associate Professor and the Assistant Head of the of the Asian
Languages and Cultures (Tamil) at the National Institute of Education, Singapore. She has
led teaching and research concerned primarily with Standard Spoken Tamil, Curriculum
Review, Classroom Pedagogy, Tamil lexicography, Teaching Tamil as a second language,
Tamil pedagogy for the Tamil Diaspora and Teaching Tamil through Media.

Expert Contributor:

Prof. Elizabeth Lanza is Professor Emerita of Linguistics at the University of Oslo and
former Director of the Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (MultiLing),
funded by the Research Council of Norway. Her main field of research is
bilingualism/multilingualism with a sociolinguistic orientation. Lanza’s work concerns issues
of language, culture and identity in multilinguals, with a particular focus on family language
policy and language socialization. She was the leader of the research project MultiFam:
Family language policy in multilingual transcultural families. Some recent publications
include special issues in: the International Journal of Bilingualism co-edited with Kendall
King, entitled Ideology, Agency, and Imagination in Multilingual Families (2017), Multilingua
co-edited with Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen, entitled Multilingual Family Language
Management: Efforts, Measures and Choices (2018) and Journal of Multilingual Theories and
Practices, co-edited with Rafael Lomeu Gomes, entitled Family Multilingualism: Decolonial
and Southern Approaches (2024).
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Other contributors:
Participating Families.
Filming: Sobercreatives
Post-production: Umbrella Filmworks
Project Coordinator: Felicia Hor
Language consultants: Felicia Hor, Chanthirasekar
Kalimuthu, Khuzaimah Yuni
Social Media: Melanie Wee
Logo design: Amanda Joy Augustine
Supported by: Lee Kuan Yew Fund for Bilingualism

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RaBBiT

Supporting your children’s journey to bilingualism

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Notes: