Bilingual Children Research Articles

Disfluencies as a Window into Pragmatic Skills in Russian-Hebrew Bilingual Autistic and Non-Autistic Children

AbstractThere is little research on the production of speech disfluencies such as silent pauses, repetitions, self-corrections, and filled pauses (e.g., eh, em) in monolingual autistic children, and there is no data on this crucial part of speech production in bilingual autistic children. This study aims to address this gap by examining disfluency production in bilingual autistic and non-autistic children across two linguistically distinct languages, HL-Russian (the home language) and SL-Hebrew (the societal language). Fifty-one bilingual Russian-Hebrew-speaking autistic and non-autistic children aged 5–9 (autistic: n = 21; non-autistic: n = 30), matched for age and non-verbal intelligence, participated in picture-based story-generation tasks (LITMUS MAIN, Gagarina et al., ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 63:1–36, 2019). Audio recordings of narrative samples were transcribed, coded, and scored for eleven disfluency types using CLAN tools. The non-autistic group produced higher overall disfluency rate than the autistic group. The autistic group exhibited fewer filled and silent pauses than the non-autistic group in HL-Russian. Furthermore, non-autistic children manifested varied distribution of disfluency types across languages, while autistic children displayed more consistent patterns across languages. In summary, we replicated findings from previous research on monolinguals only partly, as no between-group difference in filled pauses was found in SL-Hebrew. Additionally, bilingual autistic children exhibited language-universal patterns of disfluency production, whereas their non-autistic peers displayed language-specific patterns.

Turkish spelling errors by Turkish-Dutch bilingual children

The current pilot study adds to the small body of work focusing on Turkish-Dutch children's Turkish literacy attainment by investigating their spelling errors. This study deviates from the previous studies by attempting to find patterns behind the surface representation of errors (i.e. omission, substitution and addition). Fifty-three 10 to 12 year-old Turkish-Dutch bilingual children were asked to write Turkish narratives. The participants misspelled about half of the words. The errors in order of frequency were diacritic errors (i.e. confusing the graphemes with and without diacritics), orthographic ambiguity errors (i.e. phonetically spelling a word though it is not orthographically transparent), punctuation errors, capitalization errors, morphological errors (e.g. using a wrong allomorph of a suffix), spacing errors (e.g. writing two words as one), code-switching (i.e. utilizing Dutch words in Turkish sentences) and Dutch-influenced errors (i.e. using Dutch orthographic rules in Turkish such as spelling /j/ as <j> or /u/ as <oe>). The rest of the errors, which lacked a discernible pattern, were categorized as “other”. These results differed from the findings on Turkish monolingual children's spelling errors in the literature in some notable ways (e.g. the very high rate of misspelled words and the prevalence of diacritic errors).

Do First Language, Word Frequency and Input Matter in Bilingual’s Language Acquisition?

The acquisition of morphosyntactic features, such as third-person singular (3SG) inflection, is a critical aspect of language development. While much research has focused on monolingual children’s acquisition of 3SG inflection, less is known about how bilingual children navigate this process, particularly those from non-inflectional first language (L1) backgrounds. Furthermore, two well established characteristics found in other bilingual groups: word frequency and L1 transfer are still remain unclear in the acquisition of 3SG inflection in Chinese-English bilingual groups. Addressing these gaps are crucial for understanding the unique challenges bilingual children face and the factors influencing their acquisition of English morphosyntatic feature. In this study, we employed corpus to analyze longitudinal naturalistic data from three Chinese-English bilingual children and one English monolingual child. We investigated the children’s use of 3SG inflection across obligatory contexts, examining the frequency of verb exposure in both parental input and a large corpus (COCA). Our results indicate that bilingual children, especially those from a non-inflectional L1 background, demonstrated delayed acquisition of 3SG inflection compared to monolingual counterparts. However, both groups showed better accuracy with high-frequency verbs, underscoring the importance of input frequency. Additionally, L1 transfer effects were evident in both monolingual children and bilingual children, with the bilingual children struggling more with verbs whose L1 lacked verb agreement. These findings suggest that both input frequency and L1 transfer play significant roles in shaping bilingual children’s acquisition of 3SG inflection. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of bilingual language development, with implications for language acquisition theory and educational practices, particularly in addressing the needs of children from diverse linguistic backgrounds.

Decomposing Variation in Vocabulary and Listening Comprehension Task Performance in Spanish and English Into Person, Ecological, and Assessment Differences for Spanish-English Bilingual Children in the United States.

We investigated the contributions of person, ecological, and assessment characteristics to one's performance on vocabulary and listening comprehension tasks in English and Spanish. Person characteristics included English learner status, ecological characteristics included instructional program enrollment (bilingual vs. English immersion) and poverty status, and assessment characteristics included the language of assessment (Spanish vs. English) and linguistic grain size (vocabulary vs. listening comprehension). Data were from 208 Spanish-English emergent bilingual children in Grade 1 in the United States and were analyzed using explanatory item response models. Substantial variance in the tasks across both languages was attributable to the random effects of assessment/item (74%) and person (26%). English learner status was a significant student predictor of language performance, and the instructional program was a significant ecological predictor of language performance. Regarding assessment characteristics, both the language of assessment and linguistic grain size explained the variance in performance. There were no differences in performance on English assessments between children in the Spanish-English bilingual program and children in the English immersion program. However, on the Spanish tasks, children in the bilingual program outperformed their peers in the English immersion program. These findings highlight the importance of considering not only person/child characteristics but also ecological and assessment characteristics for Spanish-English bilingual children's performance on oral language tasks. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.26972749.

English Vowel Perception in Spanish-English Bilingual Preschoolers: Multiple-Talker Input Is Only Beneficial for Children With High Language Exposure Levels.

This study examines English vowel perception in Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers, comparing bilinguals' perception patterns to those of monolinguals and examining how child internal (age) and external variables (input quantity and input diversity) predict perceptual performance. Sixty children between 3;6 and 5;6 (years;months) of age participated in the study, 28 of whom were Spanish-English bilinguals and 32 English monolinguals. Perception was assessed through a forced-choice minimal-pair identification task in which children heard synthesized audio stimuli (i.e., "sheep" and "ship") that varied systematically along the /i-ɪ/ continuum and were asked to match them with one of two pictures. The data were analyzed with Bayesian mixed-effects logistic regression analyses, modeling responses as a function of continuum step, language background (monolingual or bilingual), age, English exposure (i.e., input quantity), and number of English input providers (i.e., input diversity). The results indicate that, despite displaying nonnative English stop voicing perception in a previous study, the same bilingual children showed English /i-ɪ/ perception patterns that did not differ from those of monolinguals. While age did not predict vowel perception, input quantity and diversity jointly interacted to moderate how well children perceived the /i-ɪ/ contrast. Specifically, diverse input promoted perceptual performance in children who received high levels of English exposure-and who presumably had more advanced English language skills, whereas it limited perceptual performance in children with more limited English exposure and skills. This study shows that bilingual children can show monolingual-like perception patterns for some sounds while displaying nontarget perception for others. This is the first study to demonstrate that language exposure mediates the role of input diversity on speech sound development, suggesting that varied input can be more or less beneficial for speech sound development based on the learner's language learning stage.

Almanya’da Yetişen İki Dilli Türk Kökenli Çocukların Türkçe Öğreniminde Karşılaştıkları Motivasyon Süreçleri

The Turks, who migrated to Europe as "guest workers" in the 1960s, have settled in Europe. The majority of Turks who migrated to Europe currently live in Germany. In order to strengthen the ties of Turkish students living in Germany with the Turkish language and Turkish culture, the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Turkey initiated "Turkish Language and Turkish Culture" courses in schools located in Germany. Teachers from Turkey have been appointed to provide this education. The inability of children from Turkish immigrant families to fully learn both German and their mother tongue negatively affects their social lives as well as their academic success. Consequently, this leads to educational problems. The aim of this study is to evaluate the motivation processes faced by bilingual and Turkish-origin children living and receiving education in Germany during their Turkish language learning process. Keywords: language acquisition, listening, bilingualism, mother tongue, immigrant

Examining the cognitive and perceptual perspectives of music-to-language transfer: A study of Cantonese–English bilingual children

Motivated by theories of music-to-language transfer, we investigated whether and how musicianship benefits phonological and lexical prosodic awareness in first language (L1) Cantonese and second language (L2) English. We assessed 86 Cantonese–English bilingual children on rhythmic sensitivity, pitch sensitivity, nonverbal intelligence, inhibitory control, working memory, Cantonese phonological awareness, Cantonese tone awareness, English phonological awareness, and English stress awareness. Based on their prior music learning experience, we classified the children as musicians and non-musicians. The musicians performed better than the non-musicians on Cantonese phonological awareness, Cantonese tone awareness, and English phonological awareness. In addition, the musicians had superior pitch sensitivity, nonverbal intelligence, inhibitory control, and working memory than the non-musicians. For Cantonese and English phonological awareness, neither cognitive abilities nor pitch and rhythmic sensitivities turned out to be a unique predictor. However, working memory uniquely predicted Cantonese tone awareness, with age, rhythmic sensitivity, and pitch sensitivity controlled. From a theoretical perspective, our findings on Cantonese tone awareness favors the cognitive perspective of music-to-language transfer, in which working memory enhancement could explain the musicians’ superior performance in Cantonese tone awareness. However, our findings on phonological awareness do not favor the cognitive perspective, nor do they favor the perceptual perspective, in which enhanced rhythmic and pitch sensitivities could explain musicians’ advantage.

‘All children have a skateboards’. Differences between the grammaticality of reading mistakes of monolingual and bilingual elementary school children

ABSTRACT Linguistic abilities are vital for reading. Due to the complementary principle, arbitrary and partly rule-governed linguistic knowledge and structures are more challenging for bilingual than monolingual children. It is conceivable that this difference also influences the reading process of bilingual children and leads to different types of mistakes made while reading compared to monolingual children. The present study explores potential differences between bilingual Turkish-German and monolingual German students from grades three and four in elementary school (n = 87) in regard to the grammaticality of reading mistakes while reading aloud. Using secondary data, bilingual students were matched pairwise to the monolingual students on the basis of oral reading fluency to ensure equal reading abilities before surface features and grammaticality of reading mistakes were analysed with an adaptation of Reading Miscue Analysis. MANOVAs comparing Turkish-German bilingual and German monolingual students indicate significant differences concerning the grammaticality of mistakes made: Monolinguals produced more reading mistakes preserving grammaticality, while bilinguals produced more mistakes violating grammaticality. Moreover, post-hoc tests showed that both groups differ significantly in omissions leading to mistakes preserving or violating grammaticality. Potential causes for these differences as well as the adequacy of the adaptation of Reading Miscue Analysis will be discussed.

Limited input and the acquisition of Finnish: The evolution of a child speaker in a multilingual environment

Aims and Objectives/Research Question: This is a case study of a toddler acquiring Finnish in a trilingual (Finnish–Spanish–English) setting. Despite the apparent ease of the child’s acquisition of Finnish, the pressure of the majority language (English) suppresses the use of the acquired minority language. Is it feasible to expect an early-childhood minority language to be maintained at the level of production? Design/Methodology: Video-recordings were collected in domestic settings, mostly with the Finnish-speaking mother in interactions with the child, who was between the ages of 3;6 and 4;6. The approach follows loosely the principles of interactional sociolinguistics. Data and Analysis: The data were collected in 2008, when the child was 3 years old, and the follow-up data 8 months later, when the child was four. Samples of this corpus are analyzed in detail for the emerging target-like Finnish case endings and verbal inflections, as well as for deviations from adult Finland Finnish. The mother’s strategies of maximizing the effects of the limited input are also discussed. Findings/Conclusions: Even though the input the child receives is limited, his acquisition of Finnish morphosyntax follows monolingual patterns and shows overgeneralizations typical of monolingual Finnish children’s language. Some transfer from the contact with English and Spanish languages is present. The question of ultimate attainment in a heritage-language situation is addressed. Originality: The study is rare, as it documents the rapid transition from the child’s well acquired minority language to English, the majority language, in the matter of months. Significance: This article confirms the vulnerability of childhood bilingualism: even a few months between the two longitudinal datasets show a sharp decline in the child’s output in the heritage Finnish, but the dichotomy between “maintenance” versus “loss” is challenged because the decline in output does not necessarily extend to the loss of comprehension.

The development of the Questionnaire of (Central) Auditory Processing: a screening tool of auditory processing

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to develop a screening questionnaire for auditory processing disorder (APD) targeted for the Maltese pediatric population.MethodThe questionnaire consisted of 25 close-ended questions in which parents rated their child's listening skills. The data was collected from 101 typically developing Maltese bilingual children and 30 children forming a clinical group, aged between 7;00 and 9;11 years.ResultsThe tool was found to be highly reliable with an internal consistency of 0.92 and test-retest reliability of 0.94. Significant differences emerged between normal and clinical groups (p = &amp;lt; 0.001). Correlational analysis demonstrated a significant correlation between the Questionnaire of (Central) Auditory Processing (QCAP) and the speech-in-noise test, Duration Patterns Test and tests of dichotic listening.ConclusionThe QCAP is potentially an effective screening tool for highlighting listening difficulties in Maltese children at risk of having APD.

Relations among degree of bilingualism and bilateral information processing in children and adults

Aims and objectives: The primary goal of this study was to examine whether degree of bilingualism related to dichotic listening accuracy, a measure of bilateral processing, after controlling for age and income. Methodology: Participants included 59 children ages 6–11 years ( M = 7.86, SD = 1.81) and 61 adults (18–83 years) ( M = 34.02, SD = 15.70). Participants completed demographic surveys, vocabulary assessments in English and Spanish, and a dichotic listening test. Data and analysis: Multiple linear regressions examined whether the degree of bilingualism predicted bilateral processing. Findings: Degree of bilingualism predicted bilateral processing in the whole sample of children and adults. Originality: This study is one of the first to examine bilingualism and bilateral processing while including both children and adults. It also importantly controlled for a possible cognate facilitatory effect and participant income differences and measured bilingualism on a continuum. Significance: Results highlight the importance of including bilingual groups of different ages when researching bilingualism and laterality.

Names y nombres: Names as gateways to biliteracy in multilingual early childhood classrooms

This paper describes name-related literacy practices in a multilingual preschool classroom and their implications for emergent biliteracy. We draw on a translingual framework to understand children’s name-writing activities and how bilingual children’s early literacy interacts with, and at times disrupts, the written conventions of named languages. Drawing on fieldnotes, observations, and artifacts from a preschool classroom serving Spanish-English bilingual children, we examined how children and teachers used names as resources for early literacy learning. We found that names are (potential) gateways to letter-sound relationships across languages, that names teach that some features of writing are shared across languages and some are different, and finally that names differ from other kinds of words children encounter across languages. We discuss what those instances prompt us to (re)consider about name-related teaching and emergent biliteracy.

Коммуникативно-речевое развитие старших дошкольников с неродным русским языком в условиях русскоязычной среды детского сада

The purpose of the study is to develop and implement the content of correctional and developmental activities for the communicative and speech development of senior preschool children with a non-native Russian language in the Russian-speaking environment of a preschool educational organization. The article examines the problems of child bilingualism from the point of view of pedagogy, sociolinguistics, and speech therapy. The paper presents theoretical (analysis, generalization and systematization of approaches to determining the communicative and speech skills of senior preschoolers with a non-native Russian language) and empirical (non-included observation, diagnostic situations, conversation, quantitative and qualitative processing of research results) research methods. The results of the diagnosis of the communicative and speech skills of senior preschoolers with a non-native Russian language allowed the author to identify the dominance of a low level. The scientific novelty of this study is that it adds to our understanding of how children learn languages. It explains how to assess the communication and language skills of older preschoolers who speak a language other than Russian as their first language. It also suggests methods for helping these children improve their communication skills by immersing them in a Russian-speaking environment, practicing conversations in Russian in typical situations, and playing language games. The effectiveness of these methods is shown by the positive results of the control experiment.

Assessing the Role of Input Factors in Harmonious Bilingual Development in Children

This study delves into the concept of Harmonious Bilingual Development (HBD), characterizing families where linguistic situations do not adversely affect their well-being. Following a recently proposed holistic framework on Harmonious Bilingual Experience (HBE), this research aims to discern the relationship between input factors and the bilingual children’s social–emotional and behavioral skills (SEBS). While input undoubtedly plays a major role in bilingual development, more insight is needed on the quantity and quality of input necessary to foster HBD. A total of 36 five-year-old children with Russian and French as their first languages participated in our study. Children’s language exposure and input quality, as well as parental attitudes, beliefs and strategies regarding language transmission, were assessed with parent questionnaires and activity journals. Additionally, parents assessed their children’s SEBS using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Hierarchical cluster analysis identified family profiles which support HBD. We found that the quantity of Russian input, as measured by current exposure, does not directly correlate with SEBS. However, less than 30% of weekly input in Russian appears insufficient for achieving HBD. Furthermore, our study suggests that engaging in at least one extra-curricular activity in Russian, e.g., Saturday school, coupled with parental impact belief, aligns with a family profile experiencing more HBD. These results are coherent with previous studies on harmonious bilingualism, and emphasize the interplay of quantitative and qualitative input factors, as well as SEBS, for achieving HBD.

The contribution of the amount of linguistic exposure to bilingual language development: Longitudinal evidence from preschool years.

This study examined the influence of linguistic input on the development of productive and receptive skills across three fundamental language domains: lexico-semantics, syntax, and phonology. Seventy-one (35 female) Basque-Spanish bilingual children were assessed at three time points (Fall 2018, Summer 2019, Winter 2021), between 4 and 6 years of age, by specifically examining language knowledge and spontaneous language use in each language. A direct impact of the amount of linguistic exposure on the longitudinal growth of lexico-semantic and syntactic abilities was observed in both languages. While phonological skills were not directly influenced by exposure, they were more proficient in the more exposed language. The use of lexically diverse and syntactically rich utterances developed relatively later than language knowledge, both supported by the amount of linguistic exposure.

Bilingualism and second-order theory of mind development in autistic children over time: Longitudinal relations with language, executive functions, and intelligence.

Theory of Mind has long been studied as a core weakness in autism spectrum disorder due to its relationship with social reciprocity, while bilingualism has been shown to compensate for autistic individuals' mentalizing weaknesses. However, our knowledge of the Theory of Mind developmental trajectories of bilingual and monolingual autistic children, as well as of the factors related to Theory of Mind development in autism spectrum disorder is still limited. The current study has examined first- and second-order Theory of Mind skills in 21 monolingual and 21 bilingual autistic children longitudinally across three time points, specifically at ages 6, 9, and 12, and also investigated associations between Theory of Mind trajectories and trajectories of the children's language, intelligence and executive function skills. The results reveal that bilingual autistic children outperformed their monolingual peers in second-order Theory of Mind at ages 9 and 12, and that intelligence and, especially, expressive vocabulary skills played a pivotal role in advancing bilingual autistic children's second-order Theory of Mind development. On the other hand, monolingual autistic children only managed to capitalize on their language and intelligence resources at age 12. The findings highlight the importance of investigating bilingualism effects on autistic children's advanced cognitive abilities longitudinally.

How Turkish supplementary schools in the UK boost vocabulary in bilingual children (ages 4–8)

ABSTRACT This study investigates the heritage language development of Turkish-English bilingual children in the UK, focusing on the effects of Turkish supplementary schools and home language environments. A mixed-methods approach was used to compare 4–8-year-old children attending Turkish supplementary schools with those who do not, using vocabulary and narrative tasks and questionnaires. Participants included children from Turkish supplementary schools (attendees, n = 19) and Turkish communities (non-attendees, n = 22) in Doncaster, London, Manchester, Nottingham and York, along with their parents (n = 39). Data were collected in two phases. Initial results indicated that attendees underperformed in Turkish vocabulary production and comprehension, as well as narrative skills, compared to non-attendees, although their English proficiency was comparable. Cross-sectional analysis showed significant lexical growth for both groups from time 1 (t1) to time 2 (t2). Despite these gains, attendees continued to lag in Turkish language knowledge. Attendance at supplementary schools did not significantly affect English vocabulary knowledge. The underperformance of attendees in Turkish language tasks is attributed to greater Turkish exposure and use at home among non-attendees. These findings highlight the critical role of home language practice in bilingual development, suggesting that future studies should consider home language use in their assessments.

Doppelganger as method: A framework for examining datafication

This paper explores an emerging methodological approach called doppelganger as method. This method uses the idea of a doppelganger or double to explore the social world. It is specifically used to examine datafication, or the increase in the production and use of data and its impact on education. Doppelganger as method begins by locating doubles, finding that doubles of the child and teacher are created through the focus on data production in early childhood education. It then asks how this doubling operates as an instrument of power, using understandings of the literary genre of the doppelganger along with its psychoanalytic interpretations to formulate novel interpretations. Doppelganger as method has been used as a tool to reconceptualize datafication, the increase in the volume and use of data in educational contexts. Using interpretations of Freud's work on the uncanny, a psychoanalytic understanding of the doppelganger is established. This is then applied in an educational context to interpret the function of various doppelgangers. Findings from this method include an ambivalent relationship with data, the marginalization of bilingual children and changes to both teacher and child subjectivity.

Developmental changes in the word co-occurrences of Spanish–English bilingual children with and without developmental language disorder

Purpose The study aimed to understand how bilingual children with typical language development (TLD) and those with developmental language disorder (DLD) use frequent word co-occurrences in their narratives. Method We studied the change over time in the word co-occurrences used by 30 Spanish-English bilingual children with and without DLD (experimental group). An additional normative group consisted of 98 TLD Spanish-English bilingual first graders. Children narrated two Spanish and two English stories in kindergarten and first grade. Employing a Python program on the transcribed narratives, we extracted all adjacent two-word and three-word co-occurrences. From the normative group, the 90 most frequently occurring two-word and 90 most frequently occurring three-word co-occurrences were extracted. The type and tokens of word co-occurrences each child in the experimental group produced out of the 180 identified word co-occurrences were analysed. Result Overall, children at first grade produced more word co-occurrences types than in kindergarten. Children with DLD used fewer types of word co-occurrences but produced them as often as than their TLD peers. Children with DLD increased their word co-occurrences from kindergarten to first grade at the same rate although at a lower frequency. Children in both groups produced similar types and tokens of word co-occurrences in both Spanish and English, except tokens of two word co-occurrences. Children produced two word co-occurrences more often in English than in their Spanish narratives. Conclusion The results shed light on children with DLD’s deficits in production of word co-occurrences, indirectly reflecting possible deficits in statistical pattern detection.

Disfluencies as a window to macrostructure performance in the narrative of bilingual children

Disfluencies mirror processes of speech production and when examined in both languages of bilingual children, can provide valuable information regarding their linguistic skills. The aim of this study is to characterize the rates and the types of disfluencies across episodes of a narrative as well as across different story grammar (SG) elements in participants’ home language (Russian) and societal language (Hebrew) as a reflection of narrative macrostructure skills. Twenty bilingual Russian-Hebrew children aged 60–78 months produced narratives in Russian and Hebrew using the wordless picture book Frog, Where Are You? (Mayer, 1969). Narratives were transcribed, divided into five episodes, and coded for main SG elements (Character + Setting, Initiating event, Internal response, Plan, Attempt and Consequence). Four types of disfluencies (silent pauses, filled pauses, repetitions, and self-corrections) were analyzed in relation to each SG element per episode in both languages. Overall children produced more SG elements in Russian with a finer analysis showing that Initiating Event, Character and Setting differed across languages while Attempt, Plan and Internal response were similar. Disfluencies significantly impacted macrostructure differently across languages such that in Russian, a high percentage of disfluencies was associated with higher production of Character + Setting and Plan, whereas in Hebrew it was associated with lower production of Attempt and Consequence. The present research suggests that disfluency has impact on macrostructure, and consequently on overall narrative quality differently across the languages. The theoretical contribution may shed light on the understanding of planning and formulation processes among bilingual children. The application of the results may relate to these processes impacting diagnosis and/or intervention protocols in bilingual children.