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Bilingual children: development, assessment and diglossia
Bilingualism is not a risk factor for language disorder; a bilingual child is measured by conceptual vocabulary across both languages together, language mixing and home-language influence are normal, and a diagnosis of disorder rests on difficulty in both languages and on dynamic assessment.
Why it matters in the exam
Questions present a child growing up with Hebrew and another language — Russian, Amharic or Arabic — and ask whether what is seen is normal: a two-year-old who knows fewer words in each language, but when both languages are counted together without counting translation equivalents twice is in the normal range; a child who combines words from both languages in a sentence (code-switching); a girl who speaks little in kindergarten in the first months (silent period); and a child who omits the Hebrew definite article and object marker because Russian has no articles (transfer from the home language).
Arabic diglossia is asked too: a girl who speaks the local spoken Arabic well but struggles with words and structures in her reading book is facing the gap between the spoken language and the literary language, and this is not necessarily a sign of disorder. In assessing a bilingual child, monolingual norms alone are not used; dynamic assessment, information about both languages and the question of whether the difficulty also exists in the stronger language are preferred.
Key points
- Bilingualism is not a risk factor.
- Conceptual vocabulary: both languages together, without duplicates.
- Code-switching, silent period and home-language transfer — normal.
- Arabic diglossia: a gap between spoken and literary language.
- A true disorder appears in both languages; dynamic assessment.
Summary table
| Phenomenon | What is seen | Interpretation | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conceptual vocabulary | Fewer words in each language alone | Normal when both languages are counted together without duplicates | Do not diagnose by one language |
| Code-switching | Words from both languages in one sentence | A normal part of bilingual development | Do not treat it as a sign of disorder |
| Silent period | A child new to the second language hardly speaks it at first | An expected stage of second-language learning | Follow up; encourage without pressure |
| Transfer from the home language | Omitting the Hebrew article and object marker in a child whose home language is Russian | Influence of the home language's structure | Expected in the first year or two of exposure |
| Arabic diglossia | Fluent in spoken Arabic and struggling with written text | Gap between the spoken and literary language | Expose to the literary language early; do not diagnose automatically |
| Assessment | Monolingual norms do not fit | A true disorder appears in both languages | Dynamic assessment and information on both languages |
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Sources
- ASHA Practice Portal, 2024 — Multilingual Service Delivery in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology
- Paradis, Genesee & Crago, Dual Language Development and Disorders, 2nd edition (2011) — Simultaneous and second language acquisition
- Saiegh-Haddad, Applied Psycholinguistics, 2003 — Linguistic distance and initial reading acquisition: the case of Arabic diglossia
Sources are given for further reading; the text is written afresh and not copied from them.
Reviewed by the Examqo AI Professor · 2026-11-02. The text may contain errors; when in doubt, check the source.