Influence of bilingualism in usual word designation in naming tasks: a study with Brazilian preschoolers.
OBJECTIVE
To verify if children enrolled in bilingual preschools are influenced by a second language.


METHODS
60 children were assessed, 30 enrolled in a bilingual preschool (Group I) and 30 in a regular Brazilian school (Group II), with ages ranging from 4 to 5 years and 11 months. To assess their lexical competence the ABFW Vocabulary test (Befi-Lopes, 2000) was used.


RESULTS
When comparing the results obtained in the inter-group study, no significant difference was observed in the groups' performance, in most of the semantic fields. In the intra-group study a superior performance was observed for Group I in the Portuguese language.


CONCLUSIONS
Learning a second language may influence the lexical competence of children, although these preschoolers are still proficient only in the Portuguese language.
Campo Fonoaudiológico, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista de Medicina. fopp@graded.br
Fernanda
F
Oppenheimer
Clara Regina Brandão de
CR
Avila
D001938:Brazil; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012660:Semantics; D014796:Visual Perception; D014825:Vocabulary