First-language Development Research Articles

Exploring The Effects of English as a Foreign Language on First Language Development of Young Children: The Case of Greece

This study meticulously investigates the interplay between Early Second Language Acquisition (ESLA) and the potential emergence of first language disorders in the unique context of Greece. Embedded in the Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) paradigm, it aims to untangle existing ambiguities and explore implications for Greek society and education. Employing a Concurrent Mixed Methods Approach, the study attempts to unveil the intricate impacts of ESLA on First Language Development (FLD).Grounded in CDST's framework emphasizing linguistic system complexity, and interconnectedness, the research design employs a Descriptive Exploratory orientation through a Case Study Methodology. This facilitates comprehensive research into two cohorts of children aged four, representing monolingual Greek kindergartens (Cohort A) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL)-focused kindergartens (Cohort B).The research inquiries delve into multifaceted language development aspects amidst intricate linguistic dynamics. This involves nuanced analysis of potential performance disparities in the primary language pre- and post-interventions in early foreign language pedagogy, meticulous comparative assessment of both cohorts, and insightful exploration of EFL's implications on young children's nascent language development.Methodologically, data collection employs a language development assessment tool (Logometro®). The collection of both quantitative and qualitative data in this study is contingent upon the application of the Logometro® language assessment instrument. Thematic Analysis shapes the qualitative corpus, complemented by statistical analyses for quantitative data.Anticipated outcomes aim to enhance understanding among Greek educational authorities and the scientific community about intricate, adaptive ESLA impacts on FLD. Findings could influence enduring, impactful EFL policies shaped by Greek authorities. Overall, the research deepens comprehension of latent consequences tied to ESLA's effects on FLD, set within Greece’s intricate context. Nested within CDST's theoretical framework, the amalgamation of research methodology and insights provides a robust foundation for future inquiries and invaluable guidance for policymakers navigating English language education decisions among young learners.

Hungarian minority education based on a review of the national curricula from 1777 to 1907

ABSTRACT This study is a systemic examination of three Hungarian national curricula and their effects on minority students’ education over 130 years beginning in 1777, when a uniform, state-regulated school system was created, accompanied by carefully drafted educational policies to which educational institutes had to adhere. The documents presented in this study are available in the Hungarian National Pedagogical Library and Museum. This study primarily focuses on the legislation defining minority language use in schools. Specifically, we analysed the extent to which educational policies and corresponding curricula either respected minority rights regarding native language use or forced students to acquire Hungarian language competencies and integrate them into the mainstream. Educational policies can only be understood through contemporary social and historical contexts. Thus, we highlight how social and historical circumstances, including an ever-changing political landscape and shifting political ideologies, have significantly affected the educational experiences of minorities residing in Hungary. Although our journey will be centuries past, this analysis is relevant to today’s demographically changing societies, which have increasingly become multicultural and multilingual. Highlighting the effect of educational policies on minority children’s instruction and, consequently, their first-language development can shape our discourse on current policies.

The Stages and Development of First Language Acquisition on Children 1,6 Years Old

This study describes the stages and development of children's first language using Indonesian. The object of this research is 2 children aged 1.6 years. The purpose of this study was to describe the stages and development of the first language in children. The method used is a qualitative method with a descriptive approach and the techniques used are observation and interviews. The data collected is documentation presented in tabular form. Data analysis using transcription, identification, and classification methods. The finding of this study is that CS is faster in language acquisition development at the phonological, morphological, and syntactic levels compared to MF. This is influenced by several factors such as gender, social, parenting, and environment.

Resting state EEG network modularity predicts literacy skills in L1 Chinese but not in L2 English

EEG network modularity, as a proxy for cognitive plasticity, has been proposed to be a more reliable neural marker than power and coherence in predicting learning outcomes. The present study examined the associations between resting state EEG network modularity and both L1 Chinese and L2 English literacy skills among 90 Hong Kong first to fifth graders. The modularity indices of different frequency bands were highly correlated with one another. An exploratory factor analysis, performed to extract a general modularity index, explained 77.1% of the total variance. The modularity index was positively associated with Chinese word reading, Chinese phonological awareness, Chinese morphological awareness, and Chinese reading comprehension but was not significantly correlated with English word reading or English morphological awareness. Findings suggest that resting state EEG network modularity is likely to serve as a reasonable, reliable, and cost-effective neural marker of the development of first language but not second language literacy skills.

Impact of early second-language acquisition on the development of first language and verbal short-term and working memory

ABSTRACTThe present study aimed at investigating whether L2 learning affects phonological short-term and working memory and first language (L1) development. The performance of a group of 31 4- to-5-year-old sequential bilinguals attending an International School on tasks assessing phonological short-term and working memory and linguistic performance in L1 was compared to that of a group of 31 age-matched monolinguals. The bilingual group outperformed monolinguals on two simple and one complex span task assessing phonological short-term and working memory, respectively. They performed as monolinguals on measures assessing articulatory skills, phonological abilities, naming and grammatical processing in L1. However, bilingual participants performed worse than monolinguals on a test of lexical comprehension. These results are discussed in light of current models of cognitive development.

The impact of L1 writing system on ESL knowledge of vowel and consonant spellings

Orthographic knowledge, the general ability to learn, store, and use information about the orthographic form of words (Stanovich & West, 1989), is a crucial skill for supporting literacy. Although the development of first language (L1) orthographic awareness is impacted by the characteristics of a learner’s L1 writing system, relatively little is known about what impact the L1 may have on second language (L2) orthographic awareness. In this study, English language learners from three L1s (French, Hebrew, Mandarin Chinese), plus L1 English speakers, were tested on their English spelling knowledge using a word-pseudohomophone discrimination task. In addition to allowing for the cross-linguistic comparisons, items were designed to examine whether learners had differing performance on pseudohomophones (misspellings) that targeted vowels versus consonants. Consistent with previous research (e.g., McBride-Chang, Bialystok, Cong, & Li, 2004), the L1 Chinese speakers had the highest (L2) accuracy, followed by the L1 Hebrew and the L1 French speakers. The participants from non-alphabetic languages (Hebrew and Chinese) had significantly lower accuracy on items with misspellings involving vowels compared to consonants, and the size of the vowel-consonant accuracy difference varied substantially across L1 groups. The results demonstrate that the characteristics of a learner’s L1 writing system, particularly the existence of vowel and consonant graphemes, impact the development of L2 orthographic knowledge and sensitivity to different types of word misspellings.

A longitudinal study on children's music training experience and academic development.

This study examined the relation between long-term music training and child development based on 250 Chinese elementary school students' academic development of first language (L1), second language (L2), and mathematics. We found that musician children outperformed non-musician children only on musical achievement and second language development. Additionally, although music training appeared to be correlated with children's final academic development of L1, L2, and mathematics, it did not independently contribute to the development of L1 or mathematical skills. Our findings suggest caution in interpreting the positive findings on the non-musical cognitive benefits of music learning.

Discriminating Children With Language Impairment Among English-Language Learners From Diverse First-Language Backgrounds

In this study, the authors sought to determine whether a combination of English-language measures and a parent questionnaire on first-language development could adequately discriminate between English-language learners (ELLs) with and without language impairment (LI) when children had diverse first-language backgrounds. Participants were 152 typically developing (TD) children and 26 children with LI; groups were matched for age (M = 5;10 [years;months]) and exposure to English (M = 21 months). Children were given English standardized tests of nonword repetition, tense morphology, narrative story grammar, and receptive vocabulary. Parents were given a questionnaire on children's first-language development. ELLs with LI had significantly lower scores than the TD ELLs on the first-language questionnaire and all the English-language measures except for vocabulary. Linear discriminant function analyses showed that good discrimination between the TD and LI groups could be achieved with all measures, except vocabulary, combined. The strongest discriminator was the questionnaire, followed by nonword repetition and tense morphology. Discrimination of children with LI among a diverse group of ELLs might be possible when using a combination of measures. Children with LI exhibit deficits in similar linguistic/cognitive domains regardless of whether English is their first or second language.

Modeling the Development of L1 and EFL Writing Proficiency of Secondary School Students

This longitudinal study investigates the development of writing proficiency in English as a foreign language (EFL), in contrast to the development of first language (L1) writing proficiency in Dutch L1, in a sample of almost 400 secondary school students in the Netherlands. Students performed several writing tasks in both languages in three consecutive years. Furthermore, data were collected about students’ metacognitive and linguistic knowledge (grammar, vocabulary, and spelling) and their fluency in lexical retrieval and sentence building (reaction times). Analyses, using structural equation modeling, show that EFL writing was more strongly correlated to linguistic knowledge and linguistic fluency than L1 writing was and that, over the course of the two years investigated, students’ EFL writing proficiency improved to a greater extent than did their L1 writing proficiency. Furthermore, through the modeling of L1 and EFL writing proficiency, a strong relation between the two constructs could be established, with metacognitive knowledge and general fluency mediating this relation. This finding is paralleled by the study of Van Gelderen, Schoonen, Stoel, De Glopper, and Hulstijn (2007) showing a strong relationship between L1 and EFL reading proficiency. Taken together, the findings of these studies call for the inclusion of the constructs of L1 proficiency, linguistic fluency (speed of processing of lexical and grammatical information), and language‐general metacognition in theories of the acquisition of L2 proficiency.

Missionary Kids in National Schools: A Viable Option?

Study in host country national school offers missionary kids significant linguistic and cultural benefits. However, there may be opportunity costs in first-language development and adjustment to the home culture. This research investigates how study in a second-language, K-12, host country national school relates to university-level academic success in the first language using SAT scores, college GPA, honors in college, and plans for graduate study as proxy indicators. These data do not evidence an academic disadvantage for the national school-experienced subjects in comparison to other internationally experienced missionary kids or in comparison to the general population of college students.

Bilingual first-language development: Dominant language takeover, threatened minority language take-up

This study explores the extent to which bilingual speakers in stable bilingual communities become fully bilingual in their two community languages. Growing evidence shows that in bilingual communities in which one language is very dominant, acquisition of the dominant language may be quite unproblematic across sub-groups, while acquisition of the minority language can be hampered under conditions of reduced input. In Wales, children are exposed to both English and Welsh from an early age, either in the home or at school, or both. The data reported here indicate that regardless of home language background, speakers develop equivalent, mature command of English, but that command of Welsh is directly correlated with the level of input in Welsh in the home and at school. Furthermore, maintenance of Welsh in adulthood may be contingent on continued exposure to the language. The data have implications for theories of bilingual acquisition in stable versus immigrant bilingual communities, for optimal conditions for bringing up bilingual children, and for theories of critical periods of acquisition.

GEOFFREY SAMPSON, The “language instinct” debate. Revised edition

Geoffrey Sampson, The “language instinct” debate. Revised edition. London and New York: Continuum, 2005. Pp. xiii, 224. Pb $30.00.First published in 1997 under the title Educating Eve but now revised and expanded and with a useful foreword from Paul Postal, this book presents and critiques all the main arguments that have been offered in support of the thesis that a body of language-specific knowledge is innate in the human child. Sampson finds the thesis unproven on detailed grounds of logic or evidence, and proceeds to sketch an alternative basis for first-language development, rooted in Popperian science and nurture. As the new title indicates, the book purports specifically to respond to Steven Pinker's The language instinct, but somewhat surprisingly Pinker's book isn't extensively debated here: It seems that the publishing demigod is mostly objected to for having renewed the intellectual standing of the nativist stance in the 1990s, and matters are certainly further confused by Sampson's frank admiration for Pinker's more recent The blank slate.

THE ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH RESTRICTIVE RELATIVE CLAUSES BY HUNGARIAN LEARNERS OF ENGLISH, Judit Kiss-Gulyás

THE ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH RESTRICTIVE RELATIVE CLAUSES BY HUNGARIAN LEARNERS OF ENGLISH.Judit Kiss-Gulyás. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2004. Pp. 169. $26.00 paper.This volume presents a study on the acquisition of English restrictive relative clauses (RRCs) by Hungarian speakers through an investigation of two universal principles—subjacency and the empty category principle (ECP)—and consideration of how the different instantiation of these two principles and the different parametric settings of the languages play a role in the interlanguage development of first language (L1) Hungarian learners of English as a second language (L2). Assuming the generative theory of Universal Grammar (UG), the objective of the study is to investigate whether Hungarian learners of English provide particular evidence for the partial availability of UG in their interlanguage grammar—also known as the partial access view of UG—or provide evidence for other views, such as the no access or the full access view, considering both the weak and strong versions.

Advances in Applied Psycholinguistics, Vol. 1. Disorders of First-Language Development. Edited by S. Rosenberg. (Pp. 303; illustrated; £15.00.) Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. 1987. - Advances in Applied Psycholinguistics, Vol. 2. Reading, Writing and Language Learning. Edited by S. Rosenberg. (Pp. 326; illustrated; £15.00.) Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. 1987.

Advances in Applied Psycholinguistics, Vol. 1. Disorders of First-Language Development. Edited by S. Rosenberg. (Pp. 303; illustrated; £15.00.) Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. 1987. - Advances in Applied Psycholinguistics, Vol. 2. Reading, Writing and Language Learning. Edited by S. Rosenberg. (Pp. 326; illustrated; £15.00.) Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. 1987.

Advances in applied psycholinguistics: v.1: Disorders of first-language development; v.2: Reading, writing, and language learning

Advances in applied psycholinguistics: v.1: Disorders of first-language development; v.2: Reading, writing, and language learning

The effects of early bilingual schooling on first language skills

ABSTRACTIn this study, the development of first language (L1) skills among native English-speaking students enrolled in early French immersion programs in Canadian schools is explored. It is hypothesized that the early bilingual schooling received by those majority children will serve to enhance their performance on various kinds of L1 tasks. Some preliminary evidence consistent with this hypothesis is found in a longitudinal comparison of English language test scores obtained over a six-year period by 22 immersion students and 22 regular English program students. Analysis of specific test items where the immersion students clearly outperform their regular program counterparts leads to the development of more specific hypotheses, which are tested via new measures on a larger sample of students in grade 6.