Multilingual Language Acquisition in Vietnamese Children Born in the Czech Republic

This bachelor's thesis examines the vocabulary knowledge of Vietnamese children growing up in a multilingual environment, with emphasis on the impact of language exposure. The point of contention that drives this study forward is whether conventional form of input and non- conventional exposure to the English language can be associated with higher vocabulary test scores. This study also considers other factors that may or may not play a role in vocabulary development, such as how children communicate at home and potential gender differences. Vocabulary knowledge was assessed using an image-recognition vocabulary test targeting common, high-frequency lexical items selected from Oxford 3000. Participants were asked to recognize what is shown in the images and subsequently answer in Czech, English, and Vietnamese. Individual results were calculated as percentages of correct responses. Due to a small sample size of 19 participants, subgroup differences were calculated using the Mann- Whitney U test. The results showed that children who consume English content, such as cartoons or music, outperformed those without such exposure. Similarly, children who receive English tutoring achieved higher vocabulary test scores than those who do not participate in tutoring. Unexpectedly, what language(s) children...