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One Person One Language (OPOL): does the research support it?

When reading into raising bilingual kids, you’ll notice a lot of it discusses a language strategy called OPOL: One Person One Language (sometimes called One Parent One Language). In this strategy, each of the caregivers speaks another language to the child. In most cases, one parent speaks the school/majority language, and the other speaks the home/minority language, but it can also mean each parent speaks a different minority language.

OPOL is often praised for its simplicity: Each parent speaks one language and the child responds in that language, learning to understand and speak both languages. For families with mixed-language couples, it’s also a comfortable strategy, as each person can speak their own, native language with the child.

So let’s look at this from a language learning view. Research has found that while OPOL can definitely work, it isn’t always the best method to raise active bilinguals. Here are the most important findings:

1. The more majority/school language at home, the less minority language is learned

This one is key, but often overlooked. If you’re with two caregivers and only one of you speaks the minority language, this means your child gets less input in it: only about half of the time at home. Research has shown that this negatively impacts the child’s learning of the language:

  • De Houwer found that the more the majority language was used at home, the less children would learn the other language(s), concluding that OPOL isn’t always necessary nor sufficient for children to become active bilinguals [1].
  • Gathercole & Thomas looked at kids in Wales who used English at school, and English and Welsh at home (OPOL). All kids developed English to the same level, but their command of Welsh depended on how much Welsh was spoken at home [2]. So while the school language didn’t suffer if it wasn’t spoken much at home (with school giving plenty of input), the home language did suffer if it was spoken less.
  • Likewise, research with Spanish-English bilingual kids in the US has shown that the amount of Spanish spoken at home is a strong predictor of whether kids maintain or lose the language [3].

These studies demonstrate that OPOL may not be optimal for couples that speak both the majority and minority language. Children’s proficiency in the minority language decreases if it’s not the only language spoken at home. For families seeking active bilingualism, dedicating all home time to the minority language while keeping school as the primary venue for the majority language appears more effective.

2. Parents sometimes find OPOL difficult to maintain

In many families, OPOL works well. But studies have shown that some families struggle to maintain it. Especially parents who are bilingual or multilingual themselves report that they often find it unnatural to speak only one language to their child [4]. This might become more pronounced when the child gets older and develops a preference for one of the two languages. Many studies have reported that, as school starts, OPOL becomes a bigger challenge (see point 3 below).

3. Children don’t always follow parent strategies, especially if there are siblings

The start of school often acts as the start of a ‘language shift’: as the child is absorbed in that language the entire day through school, friends, and sports, this often becomes their preferred language at home, too. And if they have younger siblings, they’ll often establish this as their shared language, making it harder for any younger sibling(s) to learn the language to the same level. This school language dominance, especially with siblings, is often reported as one of the main OPOL challenges [5] [6].

OPOL: advice based on the research

So is OPOL a good approach? As always, it’s most important that you choose a strategy that you feel good about, and feel you’re likely to maintain. But looking at the research shared above, here are a few options with their plusses and minuses:

  • If both of you speak the same minority language fluently and feel comfortable making this your shared family language, this is best for learning. This is also called Minority Language at Home (ML@H). This strategy ensures enough daily input while not compromising the school language, and reduces the risk that the school language will eventually take over at home (as it’s simply not spoken there).
  • If each of you speak a different minority language fluently and your child will learn the majority/society language in school, then OPOL can work perfectly, assuming each of you spends enough time interacting with your child. This will create an OPOL-based bilingual household, and your child will learn a third language through school. Some researchers argue that this is the best approach if you would like your child to become trilingual [7, 8].
  • If one of you speaks the school/majority language at home and the other the majority language, your child will learn the minority language from one person. This can still work very well, though based on the research shared above we know it can take a bit more planning and effort to keep this language active, especially once school has started, and more so when older siblings speak the school language at home.

If you’re not sure what language strategy is best for you and your family, you can complete this short guide. It asks you a few questions about your family and language setup, and recommends a strategy (OPOL, 2P2L, ML@H, or Time & Place). It’s free and private, with no strings attached.

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References

[1] De Houwer, A. (2014). The absolute frequency of maternal input to bilingual and monolingual children: a first comparison. In T. Grüter & J. Paradis, eds., Input and Experience in Bilingual Development. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 37–58.

[2] Gathercole, V.C.M., & Thomas, E.M. (2009). Bilingual first-language development: Dominant language takeover, threatened minority language take-up. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12(2), 312–337.

[3] Merino, B. (1983). Language loss in bilingual Chicano children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 4(3), 277–294.

[4] Braun, A. (2006). The Effect of Sociocultural and Linguistic Factors on the Language Use of Parents in Trilingual Families in England and Germany. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Bedfordshire.

[5] Barron-Hauwaert, S. (2011). Bilingual Siblings: Language Use in Families. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

[6] Caldas, S. (2006). Raising Bilingual-Biliterate Children in Monolingual Cultures. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

[7] De Houwer, A. (2004). Trilingual Input and Children’s Language Use in Trilingual Families in Flanders. In Hoffmann, C. & Ytsma, J. (Eds.), Trilingualism in the Individual, Family and Society. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, pp. 118–138.

[8] Maneva, B. (2004). ‘Maman, je suis polyglotte!’: A case study of multilingual language acquisition from 0 to 5 years. International Journal of Multilingualism, 1(2), 109–122.