Examining the effects of group‐based instruction on emergent second‐language skills in young children

May et al. (2019) worked with typically developing five- and six-year-olds in a classroom.

The kids learned first- and second-language labels together through choral responding.

The team then checked if the children could answer new questions they were never taught.

Half of the children started answering bilingual questions without direct teaching.

These emergent intraverbals showed up right away and stayed strong.

Tullis et al. (2022) got the same kind of untrained verbal answers, but they used one-on-one discrete trials with instructive feedback instead of group choral work.

Jennings et al. (2023) gives a heads-up: if any piece skill is weak, multiply controlled intraverbals may not pop out, even with adults.

Kisamore et al. (2016) stretched the idea to autistic youth, showing prompt delay plus error correction can build similar intraverbals when you add small tweaks.

You can run this in circle time tomorrow. Pick a set of bilingual tacts, have the whole class say them together, then probe for untrained questions. Track who answers—only about half will, so keep backup trials ready for the rest. It is a quick, low-prep way to build second-language intraverbals while you teach the first.