Practical pedagogies on the Mandarin-English bilingual first language acquisition of Chinese preschool children in early childhood family education

Abstract

With the adoption of the methodology of systematic literature review, this study strives to answer the research question as what pedagogies are appropriate for parents in order to cultivate Mandarin-English Bilingualism for Chinese preschool children in early childhood family education.
Upon the exploration of the fundamental early bilingualism theories, three major findings are identified. In the first place, different pedagogies may be designed for different age periods of young children. Meanwhile, the balanced frequency and quality of language input of two languages are necessary for the successful cultivation of early bilingualism. Lastly, pedagogies would be family specific due to different family patterns.
In the review of the linguistic characteristics of Mandarin and English, three helpful implications are discovered. First, there is a close correlation in phonological awareness between the two languages. Second, there are few similarities in terms of the orthography between them. Third, similarities and differences exist in these two languages from the grammatical aspect.
When reviewing the current kindergarten pedagogies, more beneficial findings are recognised to support this study. First, the One-Person-One-Language principle could be adopted upon modifications. Second, it would be practical to schedule different time periods of a day to practice different languages. Third, visual assistance could be helpful for vocabulary development. Finally, collaborative working is important for young children as it helps to develop the social aspect of learning and using different languages.
By combining the findings and the Chinese context, this study suggested four practical pedagogies: The Age Stage Specific Strategy, the One Guardian One Language Rule, the Interactive Bilingual Word Wall as well as the Paired Bilingual Learning in the Community. Through the theoretical evaluation, evidence is found from the work of Piaget and Inhelder (1969) to support the practicability of four proposed pedagogies regardless of possible limitations.