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This study examined how parental expectations were associated with Chinese-Norwegian dual language learners' Chinese language skills. A total of 118 Chinese parents in Norway completed a questionnaire in which they reported their expectations for their children's Chinese language development, characteristics of the home literacy environment (resources and practices), and children's Chinese language skills. The children were ages 1;6-14;0 (M = 6;2, SD = 2;6) and spoke Chinese at home while learning Norwegian in preschool and school. We found that parental expectations positively linked to parent-reported Chinese language skills. Moreover, this link was partially a factor of children's Chinese home literacy environment. The results suggest that parents who manifested their expectations by facilitating a rich home literacy environment (i.e., children's books and activities like shared reading, storytelling, listening to songs, online chatting with Chinese relatives, and playing with Chinese friends) supported their children's Chinese language skills. By documenting parents' efforts and their association with improved language outcomes, this study adds nuance to our understanding of the high expectations set by Chinese immigrant parents, and provides implications for parents, teachers, and researchers.

While it is established that parental wh -questions, as a high-quality language input, are associated with child language outcome, less is known about the role of children's wh -questions in their language development. This study examines whether children's wh -questions during a dinnertime conversation are associated with their receptive and expressive language skills. The sample consists of a unique group of bilingual children: 32 Chinese preschoolers (aged 3–5 years) in Norway. At the onset of the study, parents self-recorded a dinnertime conversation with the target child and other family members present. Over the following year, we assessed children's receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, and narrative skills in Chinese three times. Individual growth modeling revealed that concurrently, the density of children's wh -questions was associated with children's expressive vocabulary and narrative skills, but the association faded when controlling for family demographics. Significantly, even when accounting for all control variables, children's wh -questions predicted their receptive vocabulary growth across one year. These findings underline children's active role in shaping their language learning and development. This study also contributes to our understanding of bilingual children's home language development. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how parental expectations were associated with Chinese-Norwegian dual language learners' Chinese language skills. A total of 118 Chinese parents in Norway completed a questionnaire in which they reported their expectations for their children's Chinese language development, characteristics of the home literacy environment (resources and practices), and children's Chinese language skills. The children were ages 1;6–14;0 (M = 6;2, SD = 2;6) and spoke Chinese at home while learning Norwegian in preschool and school. We found that parental expectations positively linked to parent-reported Chinese language skills. Moreover, this link was partially a factor of children's Chinese home literacy environment. The results suggest that parents who manifested their expectations by facilitating a rich home literacy environment (i.e., children's books and activities like shared reading, storytelling, listening to songs, online chatting with Chinese relatives, and playing with Chinese friends) supported their children's Chinese language skills. By documenting parents' efforts and their association with improved language outcomes, this study adds nuance to our understanding of the high expectations set by Chinese immigrant parents, and provides implications for parents, teachers, and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]