• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.497-506
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• 2004

This study examines the influence of early English education on children's bilingual language development to see whether the early exposure to English education affects children's competencies of both English and Korean. Based on this purpose, it attempts to examine whether it supports additive or subtractive bilingualism. The competencies of both English and Korean of the children with early English education were, therefore, compared with those of the children without it, and the relation between the two competencies was also studied. For this research, two different groups of children - one with 48 children who attend English kindergarten and the other with 60 children who attend only Korean kindergarten - took PPVT-R in Korean and in English each. The result shows that children with early English education have more English competency than those without it. No significant differences, however, are found in Korean competency between the two groups. The relation between the two competencies proves positive in children with early English education. It can thus be concluded that the effect of early English education is partially positive on children's language development, which may support the additive bilingualism that children's second language can improve without losing their native language competency. In addition, this result will be able to provide for us the direction and the guideline to the policy of foreign language education and early education.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.69-79
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• 2000

This study compared the English and the Korean receptive competency of bilingual children with that of English and Korean monolingual children, respectively. The relation between English and Korean receptive competency of bilingual children was examined by age and gender. Subjects were 27 bilingual, 30 Korean monolingual, 24 English monolingual children. They were administered the revised form of the Peabody Pictures Vocabulary Test in Korean and English versions. Results show that bilingual children's Korean receptive competency is lower than those who spoke only Korean, and bilingual children's English receptive competency was a little lower than those who spoke only English, but the difference narrowerd with age. The relation between Korean and English competency in bilingual children was negative in 4- and 5-year-olds but became positive in 6-year-olds. This study shows that the two points-of-view on bilingual language development should be applied differently depending on children's age.