Tue
Nov
10
1:45 pm - 3:15 pm
ET
902
665 Broadway 9th Floor
Tuesday, November 10,2026
1:45-3:15 PM [In-Person]
Juliana Ronderos (Columbia University)
Title: Understanding Bilingual Language Development: From Language Trajectories to Shared Reading Practices
Abstract: Spanish-English bilingual children in the U.S. represent a rapidly growing, heterogeneous population, yet questions remain about how their two languages develop and how the home environment supports that growth. In this talk, I will present findings from our longitudinal research examining bilingual language development over time in children with typical development and children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Across standardized assessments and spontaneous language samples, English shows steady, broad-based growth, whereas growth in Spanish is more selective. Together, these patterns reflect a gradual shift in language dominance that unfolds similarly in children with and without DLD.
I will also examine the underlying structure of bilingual language ability, showing that Spanish and English function as distinct but related systems rather than as a single unified language construct. I will then turn to the home language environment and present a multi-method program of research on shared reading that examines how caregiver beliefs, self-efficacy perceptions, skills and behaviors influence children’s language-learning experiences.
Together, these studies trace bilingual language development across multiple levels, from the structure and longitudinal trajectories of children’s language abilities to the caregiver practices that shape language-learning opportunities at home.
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