Factors Influencing Cognate Performance for Young Multilingual Children's Vocabulary: A Research Synthesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 2170-2188
Author(s):  
Lindsey R. Squires ◽  
Sara J. Ohlfest ◽  
Kristen E. Santoro ◽  
Jennifer L. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Test Validity ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
High Quality Research ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Word Characteristics ◽  
Study Inclusion ◽  
Task Level

Purpose The purpose of this systematic review was to determine evidence of a cognate effect for young multilingual children (ages 3;0–8;11 [years;months], preschool to second grade) in terms of task-level and child-level factors that may influence cognate performance. Cognates are pairs of vocabulary words that share meaning with similar phonology and/or orthography in more than one language, such as rose – rosa (English–Spanish) or carrot – carotte (English–French). Despite the cognate advantage noted with older bilingual children and bilingual adults, there has been no systematic examination of the cognate research in young multilingual children. Method We conducted searches of multiple electronic databases and hand-searched article bibliographies for studies that examined young multilingual children's performance with cognates based on study inclusion criteria aligned to the research questions. Results The review yielded 16 articles. The majority of the studies (12/16, 75%) demonstrated a positive cognate effect for young multilingual children (measured in higher accuracy, faster reaction times, and doublet translation equivalents on cognates as compared to noncognates). However, not all bilingual children demonstrated a cognate effect. Both task-level factors (cognate definition, type of cognate task, word characteristics) and child-level factors (level of bilingualism, age) appear to influence young bilingual children's performance on cognates. Conclusions Contrary to early 1990s research, current researchers suggest that even young multilingual children may demonstrate sensitivity to cognate vocabulary words. Given the limits in study quality, more high-quality research is needed, particularly to address test validity in cognate assessments, to develop appropriate cognate definitions for children, and to refine word-level features. Only one study included a brief instruction prior to assessment, warranting cognate treatment studies as an area of future need. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12753179

Bitonal pitch accent and phonological alignment in Sardinian

Probus ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miran Kim ◽  
Lori Repetti
Keyword(s):  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Prosodic Structure ◽  
Stressed Syllable ◽  
Romance Language ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Landing Sites ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
As Stress

Abstract This study presents new data on pitch accent alignment in Sardinian, a Romance language spoken in Italy. We propose that what has been described as “stress shift” in encliticization processes is not a change in the word level stress, but variation in the association of the pitch accent. Our claim is that word level stress remains in situ, and the falling tune which our data exhibit can be interpreted as a bitonal pitch accent (HL*) associated with the entire verb + enclitic unit: the starred tone is associated with the rightmost metrically prominent syllable, and the leading tone is associated with the word-level stressed syllable. The research questions we address are twofold: (i) how are the landing sites of the two tonal targets phonetically identified; (ii) how are the phonetic facts reconciled with prosodic structure.

Developmental Sequences in Perception and Interpretation of Ambiguous Sentences

1978 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 959-969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth H. Wiig ◽  
Michele F. Gilbert ◽  
Sue Hirsch Christian
Keyword(s):  
Deep Structure ◽  
Fourth Graders ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
College Level ◽  
Developmental Sequences ◽  
Concrete Operational ◽  
Syntactic Ambiguities ◽  
Age Range

The present research assessed the normal development of ability to perceive and interpret lexical and syntactic ambiguities in 40 grade school children, 10 kindergarteners, 10 second-graders, 10 fourth-graders, 10 sixth-graders, and 10 college students. Eight lexically ambiguous, eight syntactically ambiguous, and four unambiguous control sentences were presented for interpretation of their alternatives in meaning. Each experimental sentence was associated with four pictorial choices. Significant increases in the ability to perceive and interpret the alternative meanings of the lexical ambiguities occurred at or before the fourth grade (mean age 10 yr., 0 mo.) while significant changes for the syntactic and deep-structure ambiguities occurred at or before the sixth grade (mean age 12 yr., 0 mo.). Reaction times proved significantly shorter for the unambiguous than for the ambiguous sentences but remained stable over the present age range with the exception that the median reaction times between first and second responses decreased significantly between second grade and college level. The findings suggest that the ability to process lexical ambiguities increases and stabilizes during the concrete operational stage while the ability to process syntactic ambiguities stabilizes during the formal operational stage (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969).

Exploring the Use of Parent and Teacher Questionnaires to Screen for Language Disorders in Bilingual Children

2020 ◽  
pp. 027112142094230
Author(s):  
Amy S. Pratt ◽  
Ashley M. Adams ◽  
Elizabeth D. Peña ◽  
Lisa M. Bedore
Keyword(s):  
Language Disorder ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Typical Development ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Language Knowledge ◽  
Teacher Reports ◽  
Report Measure

We explore the classification accuracy of a parent and teacher report measure, the Inventory to Assess Language Knowledge (ITALK), to screen for developmental language disorder (DLD) in bilingual children. Participants included 120 Spanish English bilingual children with typical development (TD) and 19 bilingual children with DLD, ranging in age from 5 to 8 years old. Parents’ and teachers’ reports correlated moderately with each other and significantly predicted children’s performance on language-specific measures of morphosyntax and semantics. Results yielded sensitivity of .90 and specificity of .63 when using a composite of parent and teacher reports in Spanish and English. Examination of structure loadings in follow-up analyses by grade showed that teachers’ report of English and parents’ report of Spanish were the strongest predictors of impairment in kindergarten. In second grade, the strongest predictors were parent and teacher reports in English. Implications for referral and identification are discussed.

Performance of Bilingual Children on the Spanish Version of the ITPA

1980 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 536-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred McCall Perez
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
San Francisco Bay Area ◽  
Kindergarten Children ◽  
Spanish Version ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Hispanic Children ◽  
Bay Area ◽  
Motor Tests ◽  
Visual Motor

A Spanish version of the ITPA and its English translation were administered alternatively to kindergarten and second grade Hispanic children from bilingual classes in the San Francisco Bay area. It was found that: (a) the kindergarten children scored the same in English as in Spanish except for two auditory-vocal tests on which they scored significantly higher in English; (b) the second grade children scored significantly higher on all auditory-vocal tests except one: (c) on the visual-motor tests both groups scored equally in English and in Spanish and equal to the average standardization norms; (d) neither group scored significantly higher in Spanish on any of the 10 tests of the ITPA; and (e) the major deviation in scores for each group was in the auditory-vocal channel whether the test was administered in Spanish or in English. The results from this sample of Hispanic children throw some doubt on the court decisions that require bilingual Hispanic children to be tested in the language that is predominant in the home.

Discourse particles in Chinese–Japanese code switching: Constrained by the Matrix Language Frame?

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-122
Author(s):  
Hai-Rong Meng ◽  
Takeshi Nakamoto
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Discourse Particles ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Truth Conditional ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Conditional Information ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Discourse Interface

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The purpose of this paper is to clarify the grammatical constraints on discourse particles in Chinese–Japanese intra-sentential code switching in light of the general framework of the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model augmented by the 4-M model. Design/methodology/approach: This study retrieves data collected for three years from three Chinese–Japanese bilingual children aged between 2;1 and 5;0. Data and analysis: The database consists of nearly 300 hours of spontaneous conversations that are audio-recorded from the families of the three bilingual children, as well as diary entries. It shows that a large number of code switching utterances involve discourse particles. Findings/conclusions: Qualitative analyses of the data indicate that discourse particles are generally constrained by the MLF, yet they do not fit into any category of the 4-M model. Morphologically bound, discourse particles represent the information structure of a sentence (as in the Japanese topic marker - wa) or encode constraints on the inferential processes (as in the Japanese complementizer - kara) rather than truth-conditional information. They manifest some idiosyncrasy at the interface of syntax and pragmatics, and set up the MLF at a discourse level. Thus, the MLF model is extended from a merely syntactic level to the syntax–discourse interface. Originality: The present work has contributed empirical evidence from a hitherto undocumented language pair of Chinese and Japanese, and made theoretical explorations on the linguistic constraints of discourse particles. Significance/implications: On one hand, it is work that provides support for the robust nature of universality of the MLF constraints on code switching. On the other hand, discourse particles exhibit typological features that need further theoretical exploration in order to make a more comprehensive account for the grammatical constraints on Chinese–Japanese code switching.

The Relationship of Level of Eye-Hand Coordination and Answer Marking Format to the Test Performance of First — And Second-Grade Pupils; Implications for Test Validity

1985 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-375
Author(s):  
Gary C. Ramseyer ◽  
Valjean M. Cashen
Keyword(s):  
Test Performance ◽  
Short Form ◽  
Test Validity ◽  
Severe Depression ◽  
Answer Sheet ◽  
Developmental Differences ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Mental Maturity ◽  
Hand Coordination ◽  
Grade One

This study was concerned with the effects of eye-hand coordination on the ability of first- and second-grade pupils to use separate answer sheets on the California Test of Mental Maturity, Short Form (CTMM). The subjects were 57 pupils enrolled in these two grades at one elementary school. In terms of their scores on Subtest I of the Frostig Developmental Test of Visual Perception, subjects were grouped into low, middle, and high levels of eye-hand coordination. The CTMM was then administered twice to all subjects: once using the test booklet marking format and once employing a separate answer sheet. Order of administration was counterbalanced within each eye-hand group. As expected, the analysis of variance yielded significant main effects of marking format at each grade level in favor of the booklet marking format. Moreover, marking format and eye-hand group membership yielded a significant interaction ( p <.05) at grade one. Simple effects tests indicated significant differences in favor of the booklet format for low and middle range eye-hand groups but not for the high group. It was concluded that a low level of eye-hand coordination contributes to a severe depression of separate answer sheet performance at grade one. Developmental differences were cited as the probable cause. Implications for test validity were discussed briefly.

Recommended methods for conducting human factors experiments on the subjective evaluation of colour rendition

2021 ◽  
pp. 147715352110198
Author(s):  
M Royer ◽  
K Houser ◽  
D Durmus ◽  
T Esposito ◽  
M Wei
Keyword(s):  
Power Distribution ◽  
Spectral Power ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Light Sources ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
High Quality Research ◽  
Quality Research ◽  
Research Questions

This article explores the best practices for conducting psychophysical experiments that investigate how colour rendition influences the perception of architectural environments. We offer guidance that covers all stages of research from preliminary development to publication, focusing especially on experiments that investigate qualities such as perceived naturalness, vividness, preference or acceptability in response to changes in the spectral power distribution of light sources. This article is intended to be a consolidated guide for researchers and reviewers of this type of research. Key recommendations include: (1) New work should be motivated by clearly expressed research questions and, when possible, explicit hypotheses that build on the existing body of knowledge, (2) visual stimuli comprising spectral power distributions and visual targets should be deliberately engineered to probe the research questions, (3) experiments should be designed to lessen potential biases, (4) reporting of experimental conditions and statistical analyses should be thorough and (5) Results should be contextual, resisting overgeneralization that cannot be supported by the data. Our motivation is to encourage high-quality research that is credible and discourage poor quality research that slows scientific progress and misuses resources.

scholarly journals The Somali-diaspora experience: a focus on Somali children as cultural brokers, and as ambassadors of language and culture

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdinasir Farah Mohamud
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Immigrant Families ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Bilingual Child ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Cultural Brokers ◽  
Somali Diaspora ◽  
Vast Literature ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Host Nation

This paper examines the Somali-Canadian Diaspora experience, and in particular, focuses on the role children in immigrant families play as cultural brokers and as ambassadors of language and culture. Utilizing the literature on language acquisition, this paper’s aim is to include the Somali-Canadian Diaspora’s voice into the vast literature that exists, which examines the importance of bilingual children, who assist their families in integrating and settling in a host nation. The second component of this paper examines the role language has on identity, and utilizing cultural brokers’ language acquisition, investigates how cultural brokers’ identity is formed by their bilingualism. The paper posed two research questions: 1. In what ways do cultural brokers play a role as ambassadors of language and culture to assist their families in navigating the challenges of a new country? 2. In what ways do the cultural brokers’ bilingual abilities inform their identity? Keywords: Cultural Broker, Bilingual child, Acculturation, Familism, Biculturalism, Hyphen-identity, Somali-Diaspora

scholarly journals An exploratory study of punctuation in bilingual children's texts

2011 ◽  
pp. 106
Author(s):  
Amparo Clavijo Olarte ◽  
Ann Freeman ◽  
Andrea García Obregon
Keyword(s):  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Direct Relation ◽  
Direct Speech ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Indirect Speech ◽  
Children's Writing

This article describes first and second grade children's writing and focuses on the uses of punctuation as they develop awareness of the orthographic features of texts. This exploratory study was carried out with a group of first and second grade bilingual children in a school in Tucson, Arizona. Our research project focused on observing the process bilingual children followed when writing the story of Caperucita Roja to analyse thje content of their texts in the different episodes of their stories and the use of punctuation around dialogue and narratives. The findings show that the mejority of children were aware of the use of punctuation marks in their writings. We found a direct relation between puntuation and the use of dialogue (indirect speech) in children texts. Children used additional (sintactic and lexical) forms in their texts that demostrate that they know the use of direct speech. children's texts exhibited very little use of punctuation in their narratives; they only used period and capital letters.

scholarly journals TP9.1.4Use of a modified Delphi process to develop research priorities in Major Trauma

2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke McElroy ◽  
J McGillivray ◽  
Michael Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Major Trauma ◽  
Phase 1 ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Delphi Process ◽  
Future Research ◽  
High Quality Research ◽  
Trauma Research ◽  
Modified Delphi ◽  
Research Questions

Abstract Aims Delphi methodology can be used to develop consensus opinion amongst a group of stakeholders. This can be used to prioritise clinically relevant, patient centred research questions to guide future funding allocations. The aim of our study was to identify key future research priorities pertaining to the management of major trauma in the UK. Methods A three-phased modified Delphi process was undertaken. Phase 1 involved the submission of research questions by members of the trauma community using an online survey (Phase 1). Phases 2 and 3 involved two consecutive rounds of prioritisation after questions were subdivided into 6 subcategories: Brain Injury, Rehabilitation, Trauma in Older People, Prehospital, Interventional, and Miscellaneous (Phases 2 and 3). Cut-off points were agreed by consensus among the steering subcommittees. This established a final prioritised list of research questions. Results 201 questions across all were submitted by 65 stakeholders in phase 1. After analysis and with consensus achieved, 186 questions were taken forward for prioritisation in phase 2 with 114 included in phase 3. 56 prioritised major trauma research questions across the 6 categories were identified with a clear focus on long-term patient outcomes. Conclusions Consensus from within the major trauma community has identified 56 key research questions across 6 categories. Dissemination of these questions to funding bodies to allow for the development of high-quality research is now required. There is a clear indication for targeted multi-centric multi-disciplinary research in major trauma.

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