Receptive

Children who are receptive bilinguals are able to understand a great deal more in a language than they are able to express in words. One factor which impacts receptive bilingualism is limited opportunity for the child to speak in one of the two languages. This is a fairly common experience for many children. For example, many English Learners experience English as the language of the larger social environment, but they have limited opportunity to use English before they enter preschool. It is difficult to say at what point a child is receptively bilingual. Certainly in U.S. society many preschoolers who come from homes where English is not spoken are, in fact, exposed to English through television and through older siblings who may be learning English in school and may speak English amongst themselves. From this experience, these children may acquire some English passively, but they are not considered fully or balanced bilingual.