Receptive bilingualism in children

Some children understand two languages but primarily speak only one – a phenomenon called receptive bilingualism.

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Nursery children sat around a table with teacher

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Receptive bilingualism in children

08 Dec 2025, 17:00 – 18:30

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In this talk, Janice Nakamura will discuss this common yet under-researched phenomenon of receptive bilingualism by:

Highlighting some characteristics of receptive bilingualism in children,
Examining how parent–child interactions shape language choice, and
Presenting evidence-based strategies to encourage more active language use.

This seminar aims to deepen an understanding of the dynamics underlying receptive bilingualism in children and to explore practical ways to support their bilingual development.

Multilingualism and Diversity: Impact on Education, Health and Society seminar series

This seminar series aims to bridge science with practice in education. Leading experts in linguistics, psychological sciences and neurosciences will engage with education practitioners, parents, students and members of the public who have an interest in multicultural diversity and inclusion.

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RODNAE Productions.

A photo of Janice. She is a Japanese woman with a brunette bob wearing a red and blue patterned sleeveless blouse.

Professor Janice Nakamura

Professor in the Department of English

Kanagawa University, Yokohama, Japan

Growing up multilingually in Malaysia, she speaks and writes in several languages.

Her research centres on parent-child interaction, family language policy, and biliteracy in the Japanese context, with a focus on children’s receptive bilingualism, heritage language loss, and heritage language literacy. More recently, she has been exploring the relationship between bilingualism and wellbeing.