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How detailed do measures of bilingual language experience need to be? A cost-benefit analysis using the Q-BEx questionnaire

De Cat, C., Gusnanto, A., Kašcelan, D., Prévost, P., Serratrice, L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5141-6186, Tuller, L. and Unsworth, S. (2025) How detailed do measures of bilingual language experience need to be? A cost-benefit analysis using the Q-BEx questionnaire. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. ISSN 1469-1841 (In Press)

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Abstract/Summary

What is the optimal level of questionnaire detail required to measure bilingual language experience? This empirical evaluation compares alternative measures of language exposure of varying cost (i.e., questionnaire detail) in terms of their performance as predictors of oral language outcomes. The alternative measures were derived from Q-BEx questionnaire data collected from a diverse sample of 121 heritage bilinguals (5- to 9- years of age) growing up in France, the Netherlands and the UK. Outcome data consisted of morphosyntax and vocabulary measures (in the societal language) and parental estimates of oral proficiency (in the heritage language). Statistical modelling exploited information theoretic and cross-validation approaches to identify the optimal language exposure measure. Optimal cost-benefit was achieved with cumulative exposure (for the societal language) and current exposure in the home (for the heritage language). The greatest level of questionnaire detail did not yield more reliable predictors of language outcomes.

Item Type:Article
Refereed:Yes
Divisions:Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CeLM)
Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Clinical Language Sciences
ID Code:123996
Publisher:Cambridge University Press

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