Monolingual English-speaking Children Research Articles

It's All in the Interaction: Early Acquired Words Are Both Frequent and Highly Imageable.

Prior studies have found that children are more likely to learn words that are frequent in the input and highly imageable. Many theories of word learning, however, predict that these variables should interact, particularly early in development: frequency of a form is of little use if you cannot infer its meaning, and a concrete word cannot be acquired if you never hear it. The present study explores this interaction, how it changes over time and its relationship to syntactic category effects in children acquiring American English. We analyzed 1461 monolingual English-speaking children aged 1;4-2;6 from the MB-CDI norming study (Fenson et al., 1994). Word frequency was estimated from the CHILDES database, and imageability was measured using adult ratings. There was a strong over-additive interaction between frequency and imageability, such that children were more likely to learn a word if it was both highly imageable and very frequent. This interaction was larger in younger children than in older children. There were reliable differences between syntactic categories independent of frequency and imageability, which did not interact with age. These findings are consistent with theories in which children's early words are acquired by mapping frequent word forms onto concrete, perceptually available referents, such that highly frequent items are only acquired if they are also imageable, and vice versa.

Manifestation of speech disfluencies in preschool Cantonese-English speaking bilingual children

ABSTRACT Stuttering is characterised by disruptions in speech fluency that normally emerges between the ages of 2 to 5 when children start to formulate sentences. Current stuttering identification in children is largely based on speech disfluency criteria (>3% stuttering-like disfluencies, SLDs) developed for monolingual English-speaking children. Research in a Western language context shows that application of the criteria for monolingual to bilingual children may result in false positive diagnosis of stuttering. The applicability of these criteria to children speaking languages typologically distinct from English remains unclear. This preliminary study focused on bilingual Cantonese-English-speaking children, aiming to explore the manifestations of the speech disfluencies in Cantonese (a syllable-timed language) and English (a stress-timed language) while accounting for language dominance/proficiency and speaking task. Nineteen typically fluent Cantonese-English bilingual preschoolers were recruited for this study and their speech samples were collected across different speaking tasks (i.e. conversation and narration), and languages (i.e. Cantonese and English). The types and frequency of speech disfluencies were compared across both languages and the speaking tasks. The results showed that between 21–68% of children showed higher than 3% SLDs across different languages and speaking tasks. Linear mixed-effect analysis revealed that the prevalence of SLDs is higher in English (less dominant language) than Cantonese (more dominant language), and the prevalence is also higher in narration than conversation. These findings suggest the need for tailored stuttering identification criteria for bilingual children speaking diverse languages and emphasise the importance of considering language dominance/proficiency and speaking task when assessing stuttering in bilingual populations.

The effects of speaker and exemplar variability in children's cross-situational word learning.

Cross-situational word learning (XSWL) - children's ability to learn words by tracking co-occurrence statistics of words and their referents over time - has been identified as a fundamental mechanism underlying lexical learning. However, it is unknown whether children can acquire new words when faced with variable input in XSWL paradigms, such as varying object exemplars and variable speakers. In the present study, we examine the separate and combined effects of exemplar and speaker variability on XSWL in typically developing English-speaking monolingual children. Results revealed that variability in speakers and exemplars did not facilitate or hinder XSWL performance. However, input that varied in both speakers and exemplars simultaneously did hinder children's word learning. Results from this work suggest that XSWL mechanisms may support categorization and generalization beyond word-object associations, but that accommodating multiple forms of variable input may incur costs. Overall, this research provides new theoretical insights into how fundamental mechanisms of word learning scale to more complex and naturalistic forms of input.

Minimal gains for minimal pairs: Difficulty in learning similar-sounding words continues into preschool

A critical indicator of spoken language knowledge is the ability to discern the finest possible distinctions that exist between words in a language—minimal pairs, for example, the distinction between the novel words beesh and peesh. Infants differentiate similar-sounding novel labels like “bih” and “dih” by 17 months of age or earlier in the context of word learning. Adult word learners readily distinguish similar-sounding words. What is unclear is the shape of learning between infancy and adulthood: Is there a nonlinear increase early in development, or is there protracted improvement as experience with spoken language amasses? Three experiments tested monolingual English-speaking children aged 3 to 6 years and young adults. Children underperformed when learning minimal-pair words compared with adults (Experiment 1), compared with learning dissimilar words even when speech materials were optimized for young children (Experiment 2), and when the number of word instances during learning was quadrupled (Experiment 3). Nonetheless, the youngest group readily recognized familiar minimal pairs (Experiment 3). Results are consistent with a lengthy trajectory for detailed sound pattern learning in one’s native language(s), although other interpretations are possible. Suggestions for research on developmental trajectories across various age ranges are made.

Event related potentials to native speech contrasts predicts word reading abilities in early school-aged children

Speech perception skills have been implicated in the development of phoneme-graphene correspondence, yet the exact nature of speech perception and word reading ability remains unknown. We investigate phonological sensitivity to native (English) and nonnative (Spanish) speech syllables within an auditory oddball paradigm using event related potentials (ERPs) collected from lateral temporal electrode sites in 33 monolingual English-speaking children aged 6–8 years (N = 33). We further explore the relationship between ERPs to English word reading abilities for this group. Results revealed that language stimuli (English, Spanish), ERP condition (standard, deviant), and hemisphere (left, right) all influenced the lateral N1 component. ERPs recorded from deviant English stimuli were significantly more negative within the left hemisphere compared to all other recorded ERPs. Mean amplitude differences within the N1 in left lateral electrode sites recorded in response to English phoneme contrasts significantly predicted English word reading abilities within this sample. Results indicate that speech perception of native contrasts recorded in left temporal electrode sites for the N1 component are linked to English word reading abilities in early school-aged children.

Pronoun comprehension and cross-linguistic influence in monolingual and bilingual children

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: Pronoun comprehension can present challenges for young bilingual and monolingual children. The current study aimed to assess cross-linguistic influence (CLI) and pronoun comprehension in early childhood. Several studies have demonstrated the role of overlap across languages and its impact on language development. The present study investigates the influence of the acquisition of another language containing third-person pronouns on pronoun comprehension in English. Additional possible social influences are also discussed. Design/methodology/approach: In addition to the completion of language surveys and vocabulary tests, toddlers and preschoolers were presented with a forced-choice test to identify the pronouns ‘he/she/it’ between a man doll, a woman doll, a ball, and a monkey. Data and analysis: Accuracy in pronoun comprehension was analysed based on age and preschooler’s accuracy was compared across language groups (monolingual in English, bilingual with and without third-person pronouns). Findings/conclusions: Overall, the results demonstrated that, although young toddlers were able to comprehend ‘it’, children struggled with ‘he’ and ‘she’ until 3 years of age. In addition, bilingual preschool children that were learning a language that distinguished between the third-person pronouns, ‘he’ and ‘she’, performed similarly to monolingual English-speaking children and both groups performed better than bilingual children learning a language that did not distinguish between ‘he’ and ‘she’. The findings are discussed in the context of within- and between-language factors that can impact comprehension. Originality: Most recent research on early pronoun development involves production. This study presents evidence of early pronoun comprehension and investigates the role of CLI in this difficult, yet common component of language. Significance/implications: The results suggest that learning a language with different features can negatively impact pronoun comprehension in another language. The findings are discussed in the context of an integrated system for bilinguals.

Predicting literacy development and risk in Spanish-English bilingual first graders

Purpose: There are well-established links between oral language and reading development in monolingual English-speaking children that are associated with literacy outcomes. Oral language, defined relative to lexical quality, provides key support for developing early reading skills. For bilingual children, the connection between oral language and reading development and risk for identification of having language or reading difficulties is assumed but has been less systematically studied. Our goal was to document the relationship between knowledge of semantics and morphosyntax and children's performance on letter and word identification in first grade in each of their languages so as to evaluate the risk for poor reading outcomes in the Spanish and English of bilingual first graders. Method: We examined data from 111 Spanish-English bilingual first graders on measures of Spanish and English semantics and morphosyntax in relation to letter-word identification, which indexes early reading development. We evaluated the within- and across-language relationships between skills and also whether the same children who performed in the at-risk range on the oral language tasks showed risk for future reading difficulties based on their letter-word performance. Results: Oral language skills and early reading skills were strongly related within languages, and cross-language relationships were also evident, though not for all domains. There were significant associations between risk for developmental language disorder (DLD) based on semantics performance and reading risk. Conclusions: We observe cross-linguistic relationships between letter-word identification and morphosyntactic and semantic skills in young Spanish-English bilinguals with and without risk for language and reading development. These findings indicate that connections between oral language and reading hold across differing levels of language and reading risk.

Interaction in bilingual early speech acquisition: Acceleration in the bilingual acquisition of English liquids for English-Spanish bilinguals

This study contributes to the understanding of bilingual speech sound acquisition, as it explores substitution patterns by preschoolers undergoing a language shift. Specifically, it investigates the distribution of glides [j w] as substituted sounds for rhotics and laterals sounds in English and Spanish. Spanish glides [j] and [w] share acoustic and phonological features with the high vowels [i] and [u], whereas English includes both glides in the consonant inventory. In English, the substitution pattern of gliding ([w]abbit) is frequently found in preschoolers, but it does not occur in monolingual Spanish-speaking children. Gliding was studied in Spanish-English bilingual and monolingual English-speaking children born and raised in a southwest border region of the U.S. Single word outputs of 61 typically-developing children were analyzed. Twenty-two (36%) exhibited gliding (11 bilingual children and 11 monolingual children). Through quantitative and qualitative analysis, this study shows evidence of distributed phonological systems and between-language interactions (Paradis, 2001). Gliding was found to occur significantly more often in English monolingual than Spanish-English bilingual children. Additionally, cross-linguistic effects were found in the Spanish data. These results indicate that maintenance of the minority language at home bootstraps the acquisition of English rhotics for these bilingual Spanish-English preschoolers in the borderlands.

Article Production Accuracy of an Arabic–English Bilingual Child: A Case Study

Purpose: This single-subject case study examined the article production accuracy of an Arabic–English bilingual child. The aim of the study was to determine whether the child's Arabic language background interacted with his accuracy of article production in English based on the Arabic article system, which, unlike English, does not contain the indefinite article. Method: The child was audio-recorded interacting with his paternal aunt and grandmother at two time points, when the child was aged 3;2 (years;months) and 3;6. A word-level coding system was developed to track the child's accurate and inaccurate production of article types in English including errors of substitution, addition, and omission. Results: Findings from this single-subject case study demonstrated that the child produced definite, indefinite, and null articles in English. The child's most frequent error was substitution of definite article the . In addition, the child spoke primarily in English with his caregivers. The findings supported prior work of bilingual children speaking a range of native languages, who also frequently misused the definite article the . Discussion: The child's article production accuracy and the more frequent definite article errors are discussed in the context of existing literature on article production by monolingual and bilingual children. The absence of the indefinite article in Arabic, the child's other language, could have driven the inaccurate/overuse use of the definite article in English. Nevertheless, the findings from this single-subject case study provide support for a child raised in an Arabic–English bilingual household who displayed development in his English article production accuracy in English comparable with that of bilingual children and monolingual English-speaking children.

Convergence and divergence in prediction from vocabulary and speed of word processing.

Toddler vocabulary knowledge and speed of word processing are associated with downstream language and cognition. Here, we investigate whether these associations differ across measures. At age two, 101 participants (55 monolingual French-speaking and 46 monolingual English-speaking children) completed a two-alternative forced choice task, yielding measures of decontextualized vocabulary (number of correct responses) and haptic speed of word processing (latency of correct responses). At ages three, four, and five children completed a battery of language assessments and an executive function task. Growth curve models revealed that age-two vocabulary significantly predicted age-three performance (but not growth from age three to four or four to five) across all language assessments but speed of processing did not predict language outcomes in final models. Finally, speed of processing was correlated with executive function at age three whereas vocabulary was not. Results suggest that vocabulary is associated with a range of downstream language abilities whereas haptic speed of processing may be associated with executive control.

It's Mine, . . . It's Mine: Unsolicited Repetitions Are Reduced in Toddlers.

A phenomenon called "repetition reduction" can increase articulation rate in adults by facilitating phonetic and motor processes, which indicates flexibility in the control of articulation rate. Young children, who speak much slower, may not have the same speech motor flexibility resulting in the absence of the repetition reduction effect. In this study, we tested whether spontaneous repetitions of young children are produced with a faster articulation rate than their original utterances. Twelve monolingual English-speaking children were observed at four time points between 2;0 and 3;0 years of age. A significant increase in articulation rate and syllable count was found using multilevel models for all utterances over the 1-year period. At each time point, however, the repeated utterances were produced significantly faster than the original utterances even though the content and syllable count differed minimally. Our findings conform to the pattern of adult studies suggesting that a "naturistic" form of repetition reduction is already present in the speech of children at 2;0 years. Although certain aspects of speech motor control are undergoing rapid development, existing motor capability at 2;0 already supports flexible changes in articulation rate including repetition reduction.

Visual attention for linguistic and non-linguistic body actions in non-signing and native signing children.

Evidence from adult studies of deaf signers supports the dissociation between neural systems involved in processing visual linguistic and non-linguistic body actions. The question of how and when this specialization arises is poorly understood. Visual attention to these forms is likely to change with age and be affected by prior language experience. The present study used eye-tracking methodology with infants and children as they freely viewed alternating video sequences of lexical American sign language (ASL) signs and non-linguistic body actions (self-directed grooming action and object-directed pantomime). In Experiment 1, we quantified fixation patterns using an area of interest (AOI) approach and calculated face preference index (FPI) values to assess the developmental differences between 6 and 11-month-old hearing infants. Both groups were from monolingual English-speaking homes with no prior exposure to sign language. Six-month-olds attended the signer’s face for grooming; but for mimes and signs, they were drawn to attend to the “articulatory space” where the hands and arms primarily fall. Eleven-month-olds, on the other hand, showed a similar attention to the face for all body action types. We interpret this to reflect an early visual language sensitivity that diminishes with age, just before the child’s first birthday. In Experiment 2, we contrasted 18 hearing monolingual English-speaking children (mean age of 4.8 years) vs. 13 hearing children of deaf adults (CODAs; mean age of 5.7 years) whose primary language at home was ASL. Native signing children had a significantly greater face attentional bias than non-signing children for ASL signs, but not for grooming and mimes. The differences in the visual attention patterns that are contingent on age (in infants) and language experience (in children) may be related to both linguistic specialization over time and the emerging awareness of communicative gestural acts.

Children's likelihood to perform adult-like in word association test: Effects of bilingualism and distributional properties of word relationships

AbstractLittle is known about the effects of bilingualism and distributional properties of word relationships on children's development of semantic convergence, operationalized as children's ability to produce word associates that mirror adults’ responses in a word association task. Forty-five Mandarin–English bilingual, 32 Spanish–English bilingual, and 28 English-speaking monolingual children, aged 4 to 7, produced three associates to each of 15 single-word cues in English. Children's productions were compared against adult responses to the same cues in the “Small World of Words” Norm. Three scoring methods comparing similarities of children's responses to adults’ showed consistent bilingual disadvantages in producing adult-like responses. Follow-up analyses targeted the three most predominant responses adults produced for each cue and addressed factors predicting children's likelihood to produce these responses. Results showed additional effects of cue-associate relationships measured by co-occurrence and semantic relatedness. The findings highlight the multi-faceted nature of knowledge development of word relationship and semantic convergence.

Do Spanish-English bilingual children outperform monolingual English-speaking children on executive function tasks in early childhood? A propensity score analysis.

Do Spanish-English bilingual children outperform monolingual English-speaking children on executive function tasks in early childhood? A propensity score analysis.

Bilingual and Monolingual Autistic Toddlers: Language and Social Communication Skills.

Parents of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) express concern about raising their children bilingually, and often hear advice from professionals against the use of bilingualism. The current study examined the relation between bilingualism and the language and social communication skills of toddlers diagnosed with ASD (N = 353) in the US, while controlling for socioeconomic risk factors. Structural equation modeling showed no differences in language skills between bilingual Spanish-English speaking children and monolingual English-speaking (p = .596) or monolingual Spanish-speaking (p = .963) children and showed a bilingual advantage on socialization skills when comparing bilingual and monolingual English-speaking children (p = .001). Parents of autistic children exposed to Spanish and English should be encouraged to raise their child bilingually if it best suits familial needs.

Vocabulary limitations undermine bilingual children’s reading comprehension despite bilingual cognitive strengths

Previous research reported bilingual cognitive strengths in working memory, executive function and novel-word learning skills (Bialystok in Psychol Bull 143:233–262, 2017; Kaushanskaya and Marian in Psychon Bull Rev 16:705–710, 2009). These skills should also support bilingual children’s vocabulary and reading development, yet bilingual children show weaknesses in their second language vocabulary and reading comprehension skills. Our primary aim was to clarify these seemingly paradoxical reports by investigating the cognitive strengths and weaknesses associated with both bilingual experience and reading comprehension in a single study. The participants were 102 English-speaking monolingual children and 104 Hindi/Urdu-English speaking bilingual children (mean age = 118.26 months, SD = 11.23 months) in the UK. We tested children’s vocabulary, working memory, executive function (cognitive inhibition, updating memory), novel-word learning, and reading skills. All testing was conducted in English. The findings supported the previous reports of bilingual cognitive strengths in working memory, novel-word learning and cognitive inhibition skills. However, despite their cognitive strengths and adequate word reading skills, the bilingual group displayed weaker reading comprehension than their monolingual peers. As anticipated, there was a direct association between bilingual children’s smaller English vocabulary size and underperformance on reading comprehension. Along with word reading, vocabulary was the most powerful unique predictor of reading comprehension. The effects of cognitive control skills on reading comprehension were mixed and mostly indirect through word reading skills. These relations were comparable across the monolingual and bilingual groups. Together, our findings highlighted the importance of clear educational policies on oral language assessment and support in our increasingly multilingual classrooms.

Narrative language development of Persian-English bilingual children attending an immersion preschool

Purpose: This study aimed to provide a better understanding of the language development of bilingual children who attend a Persian immersion preschool in the United States, with a specific focus on their microstructural language skills derived from a story retell task.Methods: Participants included two groups of preschoolers: 14 Persian-English bilingual children who attended a Persian immersion preschool (2- through 5-years of age) and 16 monolingual English-speaking children who attended an English-only preschool (3- through 5-years of age). Participants completed a story retell task, and their parents completed a questionnaire regarding their child’s language environment.Results: Analyses revealed that Persian-English bilingual children produced narratives that are comparable to their same-aged, English monolingual peers with regard to measures of microstructure. Furthermore, mean length of utterance in morphemes was significantly associated with parental language input, positively with Persian input, and negatively with English input.Conclusions: Findings demonstrate that Persian-English bilingual children who attend a Persian immersion preschool develop English to a level comparable to same-age English monolingual peers based on language produced during a story retell task.

Collocational knowledge in children: a comparison of English-speaking monolingual children, and children acquiring English as an Additional Language.

Collocations, e.g., apples and pears, hard worker, constitute an important avenue of linguistic enquiry straddling both grammar and the lexicon. They are sensitive to language experience, with adult L2 learners and children learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) exhibiting poor collocational knowledge. The current study piloted a novel collocational assessment with children (mean age 6;3, 40 monolingual, 32 EAL). It investigated (1) the feasibility of a collocational assessment at this age, (2) whether collocational knowledge is associated with other language domains (receptive grammar and vocabulary), and (3) whether collocational knowledge is more affected than other domains. The assessment demonstrated good psychometric properties and was highly correlated with performance in other domains, indicating shared psycholinguistic mechanisms. Unlike adult counterparts, the EAL children performed equally poorly across domains. Given the role played by collocations in vocabulary development and reading, a focus on this domain may be beneficial for EAL children.

Phonological Measures for Bilingual Spanish-English-Speaking Preschoolers: The Language Combination Effect.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the diagnostic accuracy of traditional measures of phonological ability developed for monolingual English-speaking children with their bilingual peers in both English and Spanish. We predicted that a composite measure, derived from a combination of English and Spanish phonological measures, would result in higher diagnostic accuracy than examining the individual phonological measures of bilingual children separately by language. Method Sixty-six children, ages 3;3-6;3 (years;months), participated in this study: 29 typically developing bilingual Spanish-English-speaking children (x = 5;3), five bilingual Spanish-English-speaking children with speech sound disorders (x = 4;6), 26 typically developing monolingual English-speaking children (x = 4;8), and six monolingual English-speaking children with speech sound disorders (x = 4;9). Children were recorded producing single words using the Assessments of English and Spanish Phonology, and productions were phonetically transcribed and analyzed using the Logical International Phonetics Program. Overall consonants correct-revised; accuracy of early-, middle-, and late-developing sounds; and percent occurrence of phonological error patterns in both English and Spanish were calculated. Receiver operating characteristic curves and support vector machine models were applied to observe diagnostic accuracy, separately and combined, for each speaker group and each language. Results Findings indicated the combination of measures improved diagnostic accuracy within both the English and Spanish of bilingual children and significantly increased accuracy when measures from both languages of bilingual children were combined. Combining measures for the productions of monolingual English-speaking children did not increase diagnostic accuracy. Conclusion To prevent misdiagnosis of speech sound disorders in bilingual preschoolers, the composite phonological abilities of bilingual children need to be assessed across both gross and discrete measures of phonological ability. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16632604.

Literacy instruction for autistic children who speak languages other than English.

Many autistic children across the globe speak languages other than English. However, much of the research about teaching children with autism to read and write is derived from studies including people who speak English and no other languages. Here, we review the research on teaching children with autism to read and write in languages other than English. We did this because the world's languages, and the ways they are represented in written form, vary greatly. A broader overview that encompasses languages other than English can help us better understand how learning to read and write can be supported for autistic children around the world. The studies included in our review highlight some potential differences in effective literacy teaching for autistic children learning to read and write using different writing systems. The studies we reviewed tended to include relatively small samples of autistic children, among other limitations. We hope that our review will increase awareness and research efforts in the area of autism and global literacy.