Language context shapes bilingual children’s memory for newly encountered words

Little is known about language-dependent memory in bilingual children. The current study addresses this research gap by investigating the effect of changing language contexts on bilingual children’s word learning from storybooks using both immediate and delayed tests. Fifty-four Mandarin-English speaking children ( M age = 66.70 months; 22 females, 32 males; 88 % Asian, 12 % more than one race) in the United States read a storybook containing six novel words either in Mandarin or English. Memory was assessed either in the same ( N match = 28) or different language ( N mismatch = 26) both immediately and after ten minutes. When retrieval occurred in English, children who encountered a mismatch in language contexts between initial encoding and subsequent retrieval had poorer memory performance compared to those who learned and were tested in the same language. Our findings suggest that matching linguistic context might serve as a contextual cue that helps bilingual children retrieve newly acquired information. This study highlights the importance of considering the impact of instructional language on academic performance for learners of diverse linguistic backgrounds. • This study tested the role of language context in young bilinguals’ word learning. • Matching linguistic context helps bilingual children retrieve information. • Context effects may evolve as bilinguals gain more experiences with both languages.