ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses Research Questions 4 and 5 by focusing on the focal 3rd-grade students’ longitudinal language use over time. This chapter provides a comparison of the two focal 3rd-graders’ language use (Spring 2016) with their previous language use when they were 1st-graders (Spring 2014) by examining their oral and written languages. The comparison of findings reveals that there was an increase in Korean and a decrease in English in the students’ oral and written language use over the 2 years. Instead, they had developed a certain degree of oral proficiency including vocabulary knowledge and writing skills in their HL. The findings indicate that the focal 3rd-graders’ Korean did not appear to diminish despite their minimum exposure to Korean and its reduced status in the U.S. as well as their rapid increase in English usage. The students’ longitudinal language use data implies that they did not experience HL shift or loss as they grew older. The chapter also discusses the focal mothers’ interview results and journal reports to examine the role of socio-cultural influences on the focal 3rd-grade students’ bilingual language use and development over the years.
