Theoretical Perspectives and Analytical Framework

This chapter drew upon two theoretical perspectives to formulate the hypothesis framework of this study, namely, the bilingualism perspective of language input and output, and the approach of bilingual continuum. The framework is defined as the Continua of Mandarin Competence in relation to home language exposure. Based on the Dynamic System Theory (DST), this framework aims to encapsulate the complex Mandarin competence of Singapore Chinese-English bilingual children in relation to their Mandarin exposure. Specifically, this framework consists of three continua, i.e., the Home language Exposure continuum, the Mandarin Linguistic Competence continuum, and the Alternative Communicative Competence continuum (seen only from the code-switching perspective). In these continua, it is hypothesized that children’s Mandarin exposures positively predicts their linguistic competence (in terms of lexical diversity and syntactic complexity while it negatively predicts their alternative communicative competence (in terms of code-switching to English).