Browsing by Subject "Bilingual children"
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Item A comparison of frequencies and patterns of codeswitching in Spanish-English bilingual children at high and low risk for specific language impairment(2011-05) Silva, Bertha Alicia; Bedore, Lisa M.; Elizabeth, Peña D.Theories of bilingual language production suggest that codeswitching is either a characteristic of limited language or a productive characteristic suggesting enhanced executive control and language proficiency. Since codeswitching patterns of typically developing and language impaired bilingual children are not thoroughly understood, utterances with codeswitches may be disregarded during language evaluations. Codeswitching frequency and types of codeswitches were analyzed in language samples of 12 bilingual children at high and 12 at low risk for specific language impairment (SLI). Results indicated that the frequency of codeswitching was similar for both risk groups in Spanish, but not in English. In English, the high risk group codeswitched significantly more than the typically developing group (18.76% vs 7.20%, p<.05). The types of codeswitches most often produced also differed by language and risk group. In Spanish, single-word lexical codeswitches were preferred significantly more than syntactical or lexical-syntactical, but no differences were found between risk groups. In English, syntactical codeswitches were preferred significantly more than lexical or lexical- syntactical. That the children at high risk for SLI codeswitched more in their second language and that their patterns were similar to the typically developing group might suggest that codeswitching in bilingual children with SLI might be used as a productive strategy to fill in linguistic ‘gaps’ and that codeswitching should be recognized and given credit for in language evaluations.Item Conceptual scoring of expressive vocabulary measures in bilingual children with and without specific language impairment(2013-12) Anaya, Jissel Belinda; Peña, Elizabeth D.Purpose: This study examined the effects of conceptual scoring on vocabulary performance of bilingual children with and without language impairment and the classification accuracy of an expressive vocabulary test across four scoring methods, single language and conceptual scoring, for bilingual (English-Spanish) children with and without language impairment. Method: Participants included English speaking monolingual children (n=14) and Spanish-English bilingual children (n=116) ages 5-11. Children completed the English and bilingual versions of the Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test. Four different scores were derived representing monolingual scores in English and Spanish, and three conceptual scores. Within-test conceptual scores credited children’s other language responses during the test; and across-test conceptual scores compiled a conceptual score across Spanish and English administrations of the test. Results: Across-test conceptual scoring resulted in better overall classification, sensitivity, and specificity than within-test conceptual scoring, which resulted in better overall classification, sensitivity, and specificity than monolingual scoring; however, neither method achieved minimum standards of 80% accuracy in sensitivity and specificity. Conclusions: Results suggest that bilingual children are not always able to readily access their second language in confrontation naming tasks. Priming or inhibition may play a role in test performance. Cross-test conceptual scoring yielded the highest classification accuracy and is the recommended method for clinical practice.Item Consonant-vowel co-occurrence patterns produced by Spanish-English bilingual children(2011-05) Soriano, Stephanie Rose; Davis, Barbara L.(Barbara Lockett); Bedore, Lisa M.Simultaneous bilingual and early sequential bilingual children are exposed to two languages while acquiring the sound system for the first time. In bilingual children who are identified with speech sound delay or disorder, the question arises of how to approach intervention in the most effective way. In monolingual English learning children, some strong within syllable patterns of coronal consonant and front vowel, labial consonant and central vowel, and dorsal consonant and back vowel that are based on rhythmic mandibular oscillations without independent movement of the tongue have been identified as occurring more frequently. No information is available on children learning Spanish or on children who are early bilinguals relative to the presence of these patterns in output. Consideration of the presence of these patterns, typical of early development in English learning children, would help to plan remediation more precisely for bilingual speech delayed children. If the patterns are present, they should be accounted for as basic aspects of the production system output available to young children that might need to be assessed and incorporated into early intervention protocols for bilingual children. The present study tests the hypothesis that significant similarities between performance-based, consonant-vowel (CV) co-occurrence patterns produced in Spanish and English can provide greater efficacy for assessment and intervention practices for bilingual Spanish-English children. Within syllable CV co-occurrence patterns were observed from 66 months to 81 months of age in six bilingual Spanish-English speaking children. Consonants were categorized into labial, coronal, and dorsal place of articulation while vowels were categorized by front, central, and back dimensions to evaluate co-occurrences. Predictions based on the Frame then Content (FC) theory (MacNeilage & Davis, 1990) were evaluated relative to intrasyllabic combinations of consonants and vowels. Results confirmed the prediction that CV co-occurrence patterns produced by bilingual Spanish-English speaking children share significant similarities with those produced by children in previously researched languages. These results show that the production based hypothesis of the FC theory of speech production, tested previously on English learning children is also characteristic of bilingual children learning Spanish and English. These findings suggest that consonant-vowel co-occurrence patterns are impacted by the capacity of the production system to produce different sounds in combination in diverse language learning circumstances, even when children are simultaneous bilingual learners. Mandibular oscillation without independent tongue movement within syllables is responsible for early intrasyllabic patterns produced by children. The FC theory supports the role of performance-based assessment and intervention for future practices in the field.Item Convergence of two language assessment measures with ability in school-age Spanish-English bilingual children(2011-05) Johnston, Lia Marie; Bedore, Lisa M.; Bedore, Lisa M.; Pena, Elizabeth D.There is a documented need for appropriate language assessment measures for Spanish-English bilingual school-age children in the United States. The Bilingual English Spanish Assessment- Middle Extension (BESA-ME), the Test of Narrative Language (TNL), and the Test of Narrative Language- Spanish experimental version (Spanish TNL) were administered to 129 children ranging in age from 7;0 to 8;11. Convergence between the measures was examined. The results indicated a strong correlation between measures, as well as significant correlation between each measure and children’s ability level (i.e. classification as typically developing or with language impairment). These results present the BESA-ME and the TNL in Spanish and English as promising tools to assess language impairment in a population that traditionally has been a challenge to evaluate.Item Morphosyntactic priming in bilingual children(2011-05) Fitzpatrick, Kerry Elisabeth; Bedore, Lisa M.; Peña, Elizabeth D.Limited information exists regarding the acquisition of syntax and morphology in young Spanish-English bilingual language learners. A method to measure short-term language learning is through structural priming; an auditory model of the target structure is presented, which influences a subject’s subsequent production. The purpose of this thesis was to develop and pilot priming tasks in both English and Spanish to analyze the language production of typically developing bilingual elementary school students. The morphosyntactic structures targeted in the structural priming task included the third person singular and past tense in English, as well as direct object clitics and imperfect tense in Spanish. The study included three participants, aged 4;7, 6;7, and 10;11. Results revealed that bilingual elementary students with varied language exposure are influenced and learn from morphosyntactic priming.Item Nonwords and narratives : English and Spanish recall tasks in bilingual children(2010-08) Summers, Connie Lorene; Peña, Elizabeth D.; Bedore, Lisa M.; Sheng, Li; Echols, Catharine; Bohman, ThomasBoth long-term language knowledge and language ability affect the efficiency of the working memory system (Kohnert, Windsor, & Yim, 2006; Summers, Bohman, Peña, Bedore, & Gillam, 2009). Models of working memory (Baddeley, 2003; Cowan, 1999; Potter & Lombardi, 1990) account for variations in how memory is used in nonword repetition (NWR) and narrative retell tasks. Use of working memory varies by language ability and language experience. The current study explored the role of working memory, language ability, and language experience on narrative retell in bilingual children. Eighty bilingual first grade children participated in the study and represented a wide range of language abilities as determined by the Bilingual English Spanish Assessment (Peña, Gutiérrez-Clellen, Iglesias, Goldstein & Bedore, in preparation) and a wide range of language experiences. The participants repeated nonwords (Calderón, 2003; Dollaghan & Campbell, 1998) and retold stories in both English and Spanish. Stories were scored based on the percent of key components (KC) that were recalled based on the model story. Results revealed that Ability predicted narrative retells in both English and Spanish. Current language experience also predicted English and Spanish retells. English NWR predicted narrative retell in English only. NWR did not mediate the effect of language ability or language experience on recalling KCs. Yet, English NWR did predict English KCs. These results support memory models that account for memory tasks using longer units of language (Cowan, 1999; Potter & Lombardi, 1990).Item The social activity of young bilingual writers in a two-way immersion classroom : "¡Oye Victor! ¡Voy a hacer un libro de ti!"(2009-05) Rodríguez, Ana Laura; Reifel, Robert StuartThis qualitative research study built on the existing research on young children’s composing. Although many researchers have examined the social nature of young children’s composing, there is little to no research that has focused on the social work of young bilingual children who are learning to write in two languages. This study explored the social activity of bilingual kindergarten writers in a two-way bilingual immersion program. Specifically, it examined (a) the face-to-face interactions of young bilingual writers, (b) the ways in which children’s interactions related to the written/drawn products that were being created at the writing center and during journal time and (c) the oral language that was being used as children engaged in writing activities. Data were collected for five months in a two-way immersion classroom in South Texas school district. Data sources, including expanded field notes, video recordings of students’ interactions, written/drawn artifacts and informal interviews with the students and the teacher were analyzed using the constant comparative method and microethnographic discourse analysis. Analysis revealed that bilingual children’s interactions were varied and complex. As they explored written language alongside their peers, the young writers in this study navigated through multiple peer worlds that were defined in part by the language and/or languages that were being spoken. In order to participate in these worlds the children had to draw on their entire linguistic repertoire, as well as differentiated social understandings that are unique to bilingual individuals. As children attempted to initiate interactions with their peers, they assumed the role of linguist; they made purposeful decisions about how and when they used both of their languages. Factors that influenced children’s oral language use included comfort level, peer culture and the out-of-classroom context. Also noteworthy is that these children drew on both languages to support their biliteracy learning. Both Spanish dominant children and those children who were balanced in their language use drew on their Spanish orally to support their writing in English while English dominant students tapped into their Spanish speaking capabilities to support their writing in English.Item Speech rate and perceived language ability in bilingual school-age children(2011-05) Webb, Sarah Lyn; Bedore, Lisa M.; Byrd, CourtneyClinicians and teachers may associate slow speech rate with low language ability during assessment in bilingual children. The goals of this thesis are a) to understand the relationship between speech rate and perceived language ability, and b) to understand the causes of within-utterance pauses and between-utterance pauses. English narratives for 116 Spanish–English bilingual 4–6-year-olds were analyzed for speech rate and pause time. Modifiability scores for each child were obtained. There was a low but significant correlation between speech rate and child responsivity. The distribution of between-utterance pauses was significantly different for children with high speech rates and children with low speech rates. An average of 56.5 wpm was found, confirming speech rates averages found in similar studies. These findings suggest that speech rate is one feature that SLPs attend to when considering the responsiveness of a child. Also, long between-utterance pauses can be used as an indicator of low speech rate.