Language Use and Exposure in Bilingual Families: An Exploratory Analysis of Family Language Practices and External Contexts

Abstract

This exploratory study examines how multilingual children in Malta distribute their languages: Maltese, English, and heritage languages, across home, school, community, and holiday contexts. Going beyond most existing work focused solely on the home, it explores how family language practices may shape children’s broader linguistic repertoires and examines whether trilingual children distribute their languages in unique ways. The study draws on family language policy and language practice models. The Q-BEx questionnaire was used to collect parent-reported estimates of language use and exposure across four domains. The sample comprised 54 multilingual children (mean age = 10.00 years, SD  = 1.60), including 11 trilinguals. Repeated-measures analyses of variance tested differences by language, context, and family language profile group, with separate models for use and exposure. English was dominant in school, Maltese was most used at home, and community use was more balanced. Heritage languages were largely confined to home and holidays. Family language profiles shaped consistent patterns across external settings, with spillover effects from the home. This is one of the first studies in an officially bilingual context to systematically compare both language use and exposure across multiple domains outside the home. It extends the family language policy framework by showing how household patterns may be related to behaviour beyond the home. The findings demonstrate that language practices are context-dependent and that home-based input may shape children’s linguistic behaviour across wider environments. Capturing both use and exposure across varied domains is essential for understanding real-world bilingualism.