The Bilingual Home Language Boost Through the Lens of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Usage-based accounts of language acquisition suggest that bilingual language proficiency is dynamic and susceptible to changes in language use. The COVID-19 pandemic led to unprecedented modifications in the language learning environment of developing bilinguals. Drawing on this unique opportunity, we analyzed existing data of two matched groups of Mandarin-English bilingual children (ages 4 to 8 years, = 38), one tested before (pre-COVID group) and the other during (COVID group) the pandemic.