Mothers’ language choices have double the impact in bilingual families, new research shows
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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 25-Apr-2025 08:08 ET (25-Apr-2025 12:08 GMT/UTC)
New research shows that mothers have twice the impact on language exposure, challenging traditional parenting advice. In a new study, Concordia University researchers found that there wasn’t a single strategy that could be singled out as “best” to raise a child bilingually. But when they looked at parents’ language use individually rather than the family’s overall strategy, they had an unexpected and striking finding: mothers had up to twice the impact on language exposure compared to fathers. They believe these findings will have real-world impact for policymakers, health-care workers and professionals who closely work with and give advice to bilingual families.
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