Primary or “specific” language impairment and children learning a second language

In this article we compare five groups of learners acquiring Dutch gender as marked on determiners and adjectival inflection. Groups of L1 (first language) children and L1-SLI (first-language specific-language-impairment) children are compared to three Turkish-Dutch L2 (second language) groups: adult L2, child L2 and child L2-SLI. Overall, our findings show that gender is vulnerable in both SLI and L2 groups. More particularly, they suggest that all child groups basically make the same type of errors and that they all differ from the adult group. It is suggested that any differences between the child learners can best be understood in terms of factors that influence intake (in both SLI and L2) rather than in terms of access to grammatical principles: SLI children have a (major) processing deficit and L2 children have received less input to Dutch, both factors causing poorer intake. That problems with the intake are crucial is further supported by the clear cumulative effect of bilingualism and SLI: the L2-SLI group not only differs from the child L2 controls but also from the Dutch L1-SLI group.

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The relevance of specific language impairment in understanding the role of transfer in second language acquisition

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716404001043 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 25 (01) ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

JOHANNE PARADIS

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Language Acquisition ◽

Language Impairment ◽

Specific Language Impairment ◽

Specific Language

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Knowing versus producing

Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism ◽

10.1075/lab.2.4.02kei ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

pp. 379-403 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Brigitta Keij ◽

Leonie Cornips ◽

Roeland van Hout ◽

Aafke Hulk ◽

Joanne van Emmerik

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learners ◽

Language Impairment ◽

Specific Language Impairment ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

Grammatical Gender ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Specific Language ◽

Gender Paradigm ◽

Dutch Children

Dutch nouns are divided into two groups according to grammatical gender which is, among others, marked on the definite determiner: common nouns take the definite determiner de and neuter nouns take the definite determiner het. This study is unique in systematically investigating the acquisition of grammatical gender and the definite determiner in the production and knowledge data of the same Dutch children. Three groups of children were examined: (i) typically developing monolinguals (L1-TD: 6;7—9;11), (ii) monolinguals with Specific Language Impairment (L1-SLI: 8;4-12;0), and (iii) typically developing bilinguals, who are early second language learners (eL2: 6;7-10;0). The three groups of children reveal different stages in discovering that de and het cover the gender paradigm. At comparable ages, the L1-TD children have completed this paradigm discovery; however, the eL2 children have not yet completed it, and the L1- SLI children are only at the first stage of the discovery of the gender paradigm.

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The acquisition of tense morphology over time by English second language children with specific language impairment: Testing the cumulative effects hypothesis

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716416000485 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 38 (4) ◽

pp. 881-908 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

JOHANNE PARADIS ◽

RUITING JIA ◽

ANTTI ARPPE

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Impairment ◽

Specific Language Impairment ◽

Early Years ◽

Cumulative Effects ◽

Long Term Outcomes ◽

Specific Language ◽

Grammaticality Judgments ◽

English Second Language

ABSTRACTThe cumulative effects hypothesis (CEH) claims that bilingual development would be a challenge for children with specific language impairment (SLI). To date, research on second language (L2) children with SLI has been limited mainly to their early years of L2 exposure; however, examining the long-term outcomes of L2 children with SLI is essential for testing the CEH. Accordingly, the present study examined production and grammaticality judgments of English tense morphology from matched groups of L2 children with SLI and L2 children with typical development (TD) for 3 years, from ages 8 to 10 with 4–6 years of exposure to English. This study found that the longitudinal acquisition profile of the L2 children with SLI and TD was similar to the acquisition profile reported for monolinguals with SLI and TD. Furthermore, L2-SLI children's accuracy with tense morphology was similar to that of their monolingual age peers with SLI at the end of the study, and exceeded that of younger monolingual peers with SLI whose age matched the L2 children's length of exposure to English. These findings are not consistent with the CEH, but instead show that morphological acquisition parallel to monolinguals with SLI is possible for L2 children with SLI.

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Article use in Spanish-speaking children with Specific Language Impairment

Journal of Child Language ◽

10.1017/s0305000901004706 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 433-452 ◽

Cited By ~ 56

Author(s):

MARÍA ADELAIDA RESTREPO ◽

VERA F. GUTIERREZ-CLELLEN

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Impairment ◽

Specific Language Impairment ◽

Analysis Of Covariance ◽

Nonparametric Analysis ◽

Gender Agreement ◽

Specific Language ◽

Spanish Speaking ◽

Normal Language ◽

And Gender

The current study analysed article use in Spanish-speaking children with specific language impairment who are learning English as a second language. The SURFACE HYPOTHESIS account of specific language impairment was evaluated in relation to the use of articles in these children. Language samples were obtained from 15 Spanish-speaking children with language impairment and 15 with normal language, ages 5;0 to 7;1, matched by age, gender, and school. The percentage of article errors was tested between groups with a nonparametric analysis and an analysis of covariance with mean length of terminable unit as the covariate. Results revealed significant differences between groups on percent of article errors with and without MLTU as the covariate. Nonparametric statistics on percent of article error types indicated that most errors consisted of omissions and gender agreement substitutions. As predicted by the Surface Hypothesis, article errors were likely to occur in unstressed definite articles, suggesting that perceptual and prosodic processes have some impact on children's production of articles.

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