Fast mapping by bilingual children: Storybooks and cartoons

The purpose of this study was to examine the fast mapping skills in Spanish-English bilingual preschool children in two learning contexts: storybook reading and cartoon viewing. Eighteen typically developing Spanish-English bilingual preschool children completed a fast mapping task in Spanish (L1) and in English (L2). In 4 different sessions, each child was briefly exposed to 8 unfamiliar words in each language in two learning contexts: storybook and cartoon. Children's receptive knowledge of the 8 target words in each language was assessed before and after the two learning contexts. Results showed that children learned unfamiliar words through a cartoon stimulus equally well as through storybook reading. The findings suggest that both storybook and cartoon learning contexts offer a medium to encourage bilingual children learning new words in L1 and in L2.