In these studies, our researchers connect with you on a video chat so that you and your child can easily participate from the comfort of your home! During the Zoom video call, our researchers will walk your child through a short story or game and ask them a few simple questions that can be answered through pointing, yes/no responses, or short explanations.
In one of our online studies, we are asking whether English-Mandarin bilingual kids have preferences for more grammatical speakers and whether these preferences are the same in both of their languages. Children hear pairs of speakers, one of whom makes some grammatical errors when they talk. So far, it looks like bilingual children are very good at detecting grammar mistakes, but they care more about these errors in Mandarin than in English. This is possibly because in the KW area, children hear more non-native English speakers than non-native Mandarin speakers. We are still running this study, but so far the results suggest that bilingual children's choices about who to learn from are influenced by a mix of things like the languages they hear, the people they interact with, and how old they are!