Abstract
ObjectivesMany studies examining early bilingualism in migrant populations focus on the development of the first language. As language acquisition is closely related to the hearing development, there is a critical need to investigate language development in hearing-impaired children being raised bilingually who were fitted with cochlear implants and/or hearing aids. Therefore, this research project aimed to study the linguistic development of hearing-impaired children being raised with German as a second language who were provided with hearing aids or cochlear implants. Further, the language development of these children is compared with that of hearing-impaired children being raised in a monolingual environment and with normal-hearing children being raised bilingually. MethodsIn this prospective study, we analyzed data from 95 typically developing children with hearing loss (43 bilingual and 52 monolingual) aged 3;0 to 10;11 (years; months) on four language measures in German: receptive vocabulary, productive vocabulary, receptive grammar, productive grammar (sentence repetition). Additionally, 30 bilingual children with normal hearing were included in this study. Results44 children were provided with hearing aids in both ears; 34 used cochlear implants bilaterally and 17 were fitted bimodally. Statistical analysis showed that bilingual hearing-impaired children scored significantly poorer than monolingual hearing-impaired children. ConclusionHearing-impaired children being raised bilingually should have speech and language examinations on a regular basis. An examination of both languages would be desirable in order to be able to fully assess speech and language acquisition.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
More From: International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.