Comparison of Spanish, English, and Bilingual Children’s Performance Across Semantic Tasks

2003 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Peña ◽  
Lisa M. Bedore ◽  
Christina Rappazzo
Keyword(s):  
Group Performance ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Assessment Battery ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose: This study investigated predominantly Spanish-speaking, predominantly English-speaking, and Spanish-English bilingual children’s performance on a battery of semantic tasks. Method: Six semantic tasks (associations, characteristic properties, categorization, functions, linguistic concepts, and similarities and differences) were developed in Spanish and English. The tasks contained comparable items but were not direct translations of each other. Each task consisted of expressive and receptive items. Predominantly Spanish-speaking children completed the tasks in Spanish, predominantly English-speaking children completed the tasks in English, and bilingual children completed the tasks in Spanish and English. Results: Children in all three groups achieved similar average levels of performance on the assessment battery. However, there were differences in the patterns of performance for English and Spanish, as well as group performance differences when compared in the same language. Clinical Implications: These findings highlight the importance of testing bilingual children in both of their languages and across a variety of semantic tasks in order to gain insight into bilingual children’s semantic knowledge.

Narrative Discourse in Bilingual Children

2004 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine E. Fiestas ◽  
Elizabeth D. Peña
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Narrative Discourse ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Story Grammar ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Static Picture ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Task Conditions

Purpose: This study investigated the effect of language on Spanish-English bilingual children’s production of narrative samples elicited in two ways. Method: Twelve bilingual (Spanish-English-speaking) children ranging in age from 4;0 (years;months) to 6;11 who were fluent speakers of English as a second language produced two narratives—one elicited by using a wordless picture book and another by using a static picture. The children produced stories for each task in each language, for a total of four stories. For the book task, the story complexities were compared across both languages. Stories were scored for complexity of story grammar and the inclusion of specific narrative elements. Both stories in each language were further analyzed for productivity (total words, number of C-units, and mean length of C-unit). The grammaticality (proportion of grammatically acceptable C-units) and the proportion of utterances influenced by the nontarget language was compared across each language and story task. Results: Children produced narratives of equal complexity for the book task regardless of language. However, children used more attempts and initiating events in Spanish, while producing more consequences in English. The picture task yielded mixed results, and these were not compared quantitatively. There were differences in the two task conditions with respect to the children’s use of Spanish influenced English and English-influenced Spanish. Although children were equally productive in both languages, they used proportionally more Spanish-influenced utterances in the book task. Clinical Implications: The results demonstrate the importance of considering the test language when eliciting narratives from bilingual children and the type of the narrative task for eliciting a productive and complex narrative.

Phonological Skills in Predominantly English-Speaking, Predominantly Spanish-Speaking, and Spanish-English Bilingual Children

2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian A. Goldstein ◽  
Leah Fabiano ◽  
Patricia Swasey Washington
Keyword(s):  
English Speakers ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Phonological Skills ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose: There is a paucity of information detailing the phonological skills of Spanish-English bilingual children and comparing that information to information concerning the phonological skills of predominantly English-speaking (PE) and predominantly Spanish-speaking (PS) children. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between amount of output (i.e., percentage of time each language was spoken) in each language and phonological skills in Spanish-English bilingual children and PE and PS children. Method: Fifteen typically developing children, ranging in age from 5;0 (years;months) to 5;5 (mean=5;2), participated in the study. The participants consisted of 5 PE speakers, 5 PS speakers, and 5 bilingual (Spanish-English) speakers. A single-word assessment was used to gather information on phonological skills (consonant accuracy, type and frequency of substitutions, frequency of occurrence of phonological patterns [e.g., cluster reduction], accuracy of syllable types [e.g., CV, CVC, CCV, etc.]), and type and rate of cross-linguistic effects. Results: The results indicated that there was no significant correlation between amount of output in each language and phonological skills either in the Spanish skills of PS children and Spanish-English bilingual speakers or in the English skills of PE children and Spanish-English bilingual speakers. In addition, there was no significant difference in segmental accuracy, syllabic accuracy, or percentage of occurrence of phonological patterns between either the Spanish skills of PS children and Spanish-English bilingual speakers or the English skills of PE children and Spanish-English bilingual speakers. Finally, the children showed a limited number of cross-linguistic effects. Clinical Implications: Results from this study indicate no link between parent estimates of language output and phonological skill and demonstrate that Spanish-English bilingual children will have commensurate, although not identical, phonological skills as compared to age-matched PS and PE children.

Effect of speaker certainty on novel word learning in monolingual and bilingual children

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (04) ◽  
pp. 883-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
MILIJANA BUAC ◽  
AURÉLIE TAUZIN-LARCHÉ ◽  
EMILY WEISBERG ◽  
MARGARITA KAUSHANSKAYA
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Novel Word Learning ◽  
Linguistic Backgrounds ◽  
Novel Words

In the present study, we examined the effect of speaker certainty on word-learning performance in English-speaking monolingual (MAge = 6.40) and Spanish–English bilingual (MAge = 6.58) children. No group differences were observed when children learned novel words from a certain speaker. However, bilingual children were more willing to learn novel words from an uncertain speaker than their monolingual peers. These findings indicate that language experience influences how children weigh cues to speaker credibility during learning and suggest that children with more diverse linguistic backgrounds (i.e., bilinguals) are less prone to prioritizing information based on speaker certainty.

scholarly journals Do Bilingual Children Have an Executive Function Advantage? Results From Inhibition, Shifting, and Updating Tasks

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 356-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genesis D. Arizmendi ◽  
Mary Alt ◽  
Shelley Gray ◽  
Tiffany P. Hogan ◽  
Samuel Green ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Bayes Factor ◽  
Second Graders ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Potential Factors

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine differences in performance between monolingual and Spanish–English bilingual second graders (aged 7–9 years old) on executive function tasks assessing inhibition, shifting, and updating to contribute more evidence to the ongoing debate about a potential bilingual executive function advantage. Method One hundred sixty-seven monolingual English-speaking children and 80 Spanish–English bilingual children were administered 7 tasks on a touchscreen computer in the context of a pirate game. Bayesian statistics were used to determine if there were differences between the monolingual and bilingual groups. Additional analyses involving covariates of maternal level of education and nonverbal intelligence, and matching on these same variables, were also completed. Results Scaled-information Bayes factor scores more strongly favored the null hypothesis that there were no differences between the bilingual and monolingual groups on any of the executive function tasks. For 2 of the tasks, we found an advantage in favor of the monolingual group. Conclusions If there is a bilingual advantage in school-aged children, it is not robust across circumstances. We discuss potential factors that might counteract an actual advantage, including task reliability and environmental influences.

Conceptual Versus Monolingual Scoring

2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 188-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Bedore ◽  
Elizabeth D. Peña ◽  
Melissa García ◽  
Celina Cortez
Keyword(s):  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Phase 2 ◽  
Classification Analysis ◽  
Test Items ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Semantic Development ◽  
Language Exposure ◽  
The Average Range

Purpose:This study evaluates the extent to which bilingual children produce the same or overlapping responses on tasks assessing semantic skills in each of their languages and whether classification analysis based on monolingual or conceptual scoring can accurately classify the semantic development of typically developing (TD) bilingual children.Method:In Study 1, 55 TD children (ages 4;0 [years;months] to 7;11) from bilingual backgrounds named characteristic properties of familiar items. The extent to which children produced overlapping responses in each of their languages and their errors were examined. In Study 2, 40 TD children (ages 5;0 to 6;1), group matched for age and bilingual language exposure, responded to the Phase 2 version of the Bilingual English Spanish Assessment (BESA; E. D. Peña, V. Gutierrez-Clellen, A. Iglesias, B. A. Goldstein, & L. M. Bedore, in development). Conceptual and monolingual scores were compared to determine the extent to which these were comparable for groups of children.Results:The results of Study 1 indicated that TD children from bilingual backgrounds are more likely to produce unique than overlapping responses when they respond to test items. Children were more likely to code switch when tested in Spanish than in English, but they were more likely to produce errors in English. In Study 2, monolingual and bilingual children achieved comparable conceptual scores. For Spanish-speaking bilingual children, the conceptual score was more likely to be in the average range of the monolingual children than was their monolingual score. For testing in English, monolingual and conceptual scores were similar.Clinical Implications:Bilingual children will benefit from conceptual scoring, especially when they are tested in Spanish.

scholarly journals Difficulties using standardized tests to identify the receptive expressive gap in bilingual children's vocabularies

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 328-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
TODD A. GIBSON ◽  
LINDA JARMULOWICZ ◽  
D. KIMBROUGH OLLER
Keyword(s):  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Picture Naming ◽  
English Language ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Old Spanish ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Language Tests ◽  
The Us ◽  
English Speaking

Receptive standardized vocabulary scores have been found to be much higher than expressive standardized vocabulary scores in children with Spanish as L1, learning L2 (English) in school (Gibson et al., 2012). Here we present evidence suggesting the receptive-expressive gap may be harder to evaluate than previously thought. We compared the performance of 116 six-year-old Spanish–English bilingual children in the US to 30 monolingual Spanish-speaking peers in Mexico across two Spanish-language standardized picture naming tests and one standardized picture pointing test. The performance of 134 monolingual English-speaking peers was compared using similar English-language tests. Results revealed the presence and magnitude of a receptive-expressive gap was largely dependent on the tests used. These discrepant results likely exist because widely-used standardized tests do not offer comparable normed scores. We review possible test norming practices that may have contributed to these results and suggest guidelines to determine a meaningful receptive-expressive gap for bilingual children.

The role of morphophonological regularity in young Spanish-speaking children's production of gendered noun phrases

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 753-776
Author(s):  
BRITTANY A. LINDSEY ◽  
LOUANN GERKEN
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Congruity Effect ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
High Predictability

ABSTRACTAdult Spanish speakers generally know which form a determiner preceding a noun should have even if the noun is not in their lexicon, because Spanish demonstrates high predictability between determiner form and noun form (la noun-a and el noun-o). We asked whether young children learning Spanish are similarly sensitive to the correlation of determiner and noun forms, or whether they initially learn determiner–noun pairings one-by-one. Spanish–English bilingual children and adults repeated Spanish words and non-words preceded by gender congruous and incongruous determiners. If children learn determiner–noun pairings one-by-one, they should show a gender congruity effect only for words. In contrast with this prediction, both children and adults demonstrated congruity effects for words and non-words, indicating sensitivity to correlated morphophonological forms. Furthermore, both age groups showed more facility in producing phrases with nouns ending in -a, which are more frequent and predictable from the preceding determiner.

A longitudinal study of the phonological development of two Cantonese–English bilingual children

1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALISON HOLM ◽  
BARBARA DODD
Keyword(s):  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Phonological Development ◽  
Phonological Acquisition ◽  
Process Data ◽  
Phonological Process ◽  
Error Patterns ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Longitudinal Case Studies

Longitudinal case studies of the successive phonological acquisition of two Cantonese–English bilingual children, aged 2;3 to 3;1 years and 2;9 to 3;5 years, are presented. The children were assessed at 4-week intervals. The first assessment of their phonology occurred when they had been exposed to English for three months. Phoneme acquisition and phonological process data revealed that both children had separate phonological systems for the two languages. The two phonological systems for each child developed in similar ways to monolingual children acquiring Cantonese and English. However, a number of error patterns, indicative of disorder in monolingual children, were evident in the children's phonological systems in English and in Cantonese. These patterns have been documented as normal error patterns for successive bilingual Cantonese–English speaking children. The difference between normal successive bilingual phonological development and normal monolingual development is addressed.

scholarly journals The Global and the National in the Linguistics of Fashion Blogs

2021 ◽  
pp. 62-70
Author(s):  
Н.А. Ахренова ◽  
А.А. Орлова
Keyword(s):  
National Character ◽  
Written Text ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Written Traditions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Linguistic Means

Исследуются лингвопрагматические и лингвокультурные особенности текстов англоязычной, испаноязычной и франкоязычной блогосферы моды. Основой написания статьи явилась следующая гипотеза: в процессе глобализации происходит унификация письменных традиций в различных лингвокультурах с сохранением ключевых особенностей менталитета и национального характера. Цель исследования состоит в изучении влияния процесса глобализации на национальное своеобразие культур, их лингвистические особенности и традиции создания письменного текста, что находит отражение в текстах блогов, посвященных модной индустрии. В результате проведенного изучения обнаружено определенное сходство блогов о моде в трех лингвокультурах: англоязычной, франкоязычной и испаноязычной. Обоснованность выводов, к которым пришли авторы в ходе сравнительного анализа сходств и различий в употреблении лингвистических средств и средств художественной выразительности в блогах на упомянутых ранее языках, подтверждается обширным проанализированным материалом — 30 модных блогов на трех языках, входящих в десятку самых популярных. The article focuses on linguo-pragmatic and linguocultural features of the texts of the English-speaking, Spanish-speaking and French-speaking fashion blogosphere. Hypothetically, in the process of globalization, written traditions are unified in various linguistic cultures, but at the same time they retain the key features of mentality and national character. The purpose of the paper is to study the impact of globalization on the national identity of cultures, their linguistic characteristics and traditions of creating a written text, which is reflected in the rapidly developing blogosphere, exemplified by fashion blogs. The study found some similarities between fashion blogs across three linguistic cultures: English, French, and Spanish. The validity of the conclusions made by the authors in the course of a comparative analysis of the similarities and differences in the use of linguistic means and means of artistic expression in blogs in the previously mentioned languages is confirmed by extensive material for analysis — 30 fashion blogs in three languages, which are among the ten most popular.

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