Phonological development in Chinese–English bilingual children: A systematic literature review
Abstract
This systematic literature review examined 29 empirical studies published from 1997 to 2023 on the phonological development in Chinese–English bilingual children. It explored the research trends and investigated the reported features of Chinese–English bilingual children’s phonological development. Most studies involved young English learners whose first language is Mandarin or Cantonese. The reviewed studies employed predominantly quantitative and cross-sectional design with large sample sizes. Our evaluation highlights the scientific strengths in research context, theoretical framework, literature review, and data presentation. However, some studies lacked details of data analysis, ethical consideration, and reliability and validity data of used assessment tools. Utilizing thematic analysis, it highlights both similarities between Chinese–English bilinguals and bilinguals of other language pairs and language-specific features concerning Chinese. It also demonstrates similarities and differences between bilinguals and monolinguals regarding speech perception, production, and phonological awareness. It concludes with suggestions for future researchers, language educators, and parents.