scholarly journals An investigation of non-standard english syntax in 12-year old coloured children

1981 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen C. Malan
Keyword(s):  
Language Assessment ◽  
Standard English ◽  
White Children ◽  
Matched Group ◽  
Verb Agreement ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Overall Performance ◽  
English Syntax ◽  
Repetition Task

Non-standard English (NSE) syntactic constructions occurring in the natural speech, behaviour of a group of 20 12-year old Coloured children were identified  and analysed. Three syntactic classes were isolated as having contained NSE constructions used significantly  by the group: auxiliary/copula verb forms, number-verb agreement and tense. A bi-dialectal sentence repetition task was then adminstered to the same group and to a matched group of White children, in which the two groups were compared on their ability to reproduce sentences containing (1) NSE constructions used significantly by the Coloured group, and (2) the standard English (SE) forms of these constructions. Results indicated that while Coloured Ss were able to reproduce many of the SE constructions, their overall performance  on these items was significantly inferior  to that of  White Ss. Conversely, their repetition of  NSE items was significantly  superior to that of  White Ss. The implications of these findings for the clinical language assessment of Coloured children were discussed.

scholarly journals Black English Vernacular and Reading Comprehension: A Cloze Study of Third, Sixth, and Ninth Graders

1982 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret S. Steffensen ◽  
Ralph E. Reynolds ◽  
Erica Mcclure ◽  
Larry F. Guthrie
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Content Word ◽  
Black English ◽  
Ninth Graders ◽  
Standard English ◽  
The Past ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Repetition Task

This study was concerned with the reading comprehension of speakers of Black English Vernacular (BEV). Third, sixth, and ninth graders were rated as BEV or Standard English (SE) speakers using a sentence repetition task. They were then asked to complete passages which had been clozed for content words and verbs in the past and present tenses. This task used a multiple-choice format: Verb distractors were other forms of the clozed verb; content word distractors were words that were anomalous in that context. In a second task, subjects supplied time adverbials for 15 short paragraphs written in the past, present, or future tenses. On the cloze task, BEV speakers had significantly more errors for verbs than for content words compared to SE speakers. They also had significantly more errors in selecting the appropriate time adverbial on the basis of tense. These findings can be attributed to differences that exist in the verbal systems of SE and BEV.

A Sentence Repetition Task for Early Language Assessment in Spanish

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Bravo ◽  
Miguel Lázaro ◽  
Sonia Mariscal
Keyword(s):  
Concurrent Validity ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Nonword Repetition ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Word Repetition ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
First Results ◽  
Repetition Task

Abstract Sentence repetition tasks have been widely used in the last years as a diagnostic tool in developmental language disorders. However in Spanish there are few (if any) of these instruments, especially for younger children. In this context, we develop a new Sentence Repetition Task for assessing language (morphosyntactic) abilities of very young Spanish children. A list of 33 sentences of different length and complexity was created and included in the task. A total of 130 typical developing children from 2 to 4 years of age were engaged in a play situation and asked to repeat the sentences. Children’s answers were scored for accuracy at sentence and word level and error analysis at the word level was undertaken. Besides a subsample of 92 children completed a non-word repetition task. First results show its adequacy to children from 2 to 4 years of age, its capacity to discriminate between different developmental levels, and its concurrent validity with the nonword repetition task.

scholarly journals Can we repeat what we do not say in L2?

2021 ◽  
pp. 164-182
Author(s):  
Jogilė Teresa Ramonaitė
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Implicit Knowledge ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Repetition Task ◽  
General Inability

The paper analyzes the results of a sentence repetition task performed by Lithuanian L2 speakers of different language proficiency levels. This paper focuses on a set of targeted verb forms included in the task because they are less likely to occur in free production. The different forms the speakers produced are analyzed by considering their correspondence (or not) to the targeted form, by comparing the speakers among each other with respect to their learner variety and by comparing the task results to the repertoire of the same speaker in the free production data. In multiple cases of failed re-production, the analysis examines what the targeted forms were substituted with and tries to identify possible reasons for such substitution. This analysis confirms the general inability of the basic variety speakers to distinguish between morphologically different forms and the dominant trend showing that L2 learners are more meaning-focused than form-focused. The analysis also shows growing implicit knowledge, or at least gradual passive acquisition, of the less frequent forms as the speaker advances in the post-basic continuum.

Effects of Sentence Structure on Sentence Elicited Imitation Responses

1978 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 809-819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Carol Hudgins ◽  
Walter L. Cullinan
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Female College Students ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Response Accuracy ◽  
Relative Pronoun ◽  
Elicited Imitation ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Repetition Task

This study investigates the effects of sentence structure on the number of error sentences and response latency in a sentence-repetition task. Forty female college students repeated short and long test sentences containing either a single self-embedded or right-branching subject-focus or object-focus relative clause. Sentences were also controlled for deletion of the relative pronoun of the relative clause. Sentence structure was found to affect sentence elicited imitation response accuracy and latency in a manner similar to the effects of structure on ease of comprehension. The findings are consistent with a canonical-sentoid strategy explanation of sentence processing during sentence imitation.

Towards a characterisation of saliency on first exposure to a second language

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 131-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebekah Rast ◽  
Jean-Yves Dommergues
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Length ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Slavic Language ◽  
Word Stress ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
First Contact ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Repetition Task ◽  
Over Time

This paper attempts to shed light on the question of what in the input is perceived and processed by the learner, and how it is processed upon first contact with a target language. Subjects were French learners of Polish who had had no contact with Polish or any other Slavic language before the onset of the project. They were tested on a sentence repetition task before receiving any Polish instruction, after 4 hours of instruction, and again after 8 hours. The results suggest that even as little as 8 hours of exposure induces a recognizable interlanguage; that the influence of global input can be predicted by word length, word stress, phonemic distance, transparency, position and frequency; and that the role these factors play evolves over time. Together the results suggest a way to characterise the notion of saliency in the input.

scholarly journals The Effects of Frequency and Predictability on Repetition in Children With Developmental Language Disorder

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1165-1180
Author(s):  
Justin B. Kueser ◽  
Laurence B. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Nonword Repetition ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
High Predictability ◽  
Overall Performance ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance ◽  
Repetition Task

Purpose Studies have shown that children with typical development (TD) respond to frequency and predictability when repeating nonidiomatic multiword sequences (e.g., go wash your hands ). We extended these findings by explicitly examining the interaction between frequency and predictability in a repetition task for children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and children with TD. Method We created 48 four-word phrases, manipulating two factors: the frequency of occurrence of the entire four-word phrase (e.g., look in the mirror vs. look in the basket ) and the predictability of the fourth word in the phrase given the preceding three words (e.g., corn on the ___ vs. look in the ___ ). These phrases were presented in a repetition task to 17 children with DLD ( M age = 58.89 months), 19 same-age children with TD ( M age = 59.79 months), and 17 younger children with TD matched to the DLD group on nonword repetition and mean length of utterance ( M age = 38.94 months). Children's repetitions were judged for the presence or absence of word and morphological errors. Only the first three words of the sequence were scored (e.g., look in the ). Results We found a main effect of sequence frequency, with high-frequency sequences being repeated more accurately than low-frequency sequences, modulated by a significant interaction with predictability, where the effect of sequence frequency was larger for sequences with high-predictability contexts than for sequences with low-predictability contexts. We also found a significant effect of group, with children with DLD demonstrating poorer overall performance, particularly when compared to the same-age group with TD. Conclusions Frequency and predictability are strong predictors of language production in children with TD. These factors also have effects for children with DLD, raising important clinical questions about the design of facilitative contexts for the teaching of difficult linguistic forms.

scholarly journals The Morphosyntactic Abilities of Bilingual Malay Preschool Children Based on the Malay and English Sentence Repetition Tasks

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zur Hanis Hamim ◽  
Rogayah Abdul Razak ◽  
Badrulzaman Abdul Hamid
Keyword(s):  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Function Words ◽  
English Sentence ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Language Difficulties ◽  
Age Factor ◽  
And Function ◽  
Repetition Task

Sentence repetition task has been proven to be a tool that can detect language difficulties and is indicative of abnormal language. In Malaysia, studies on the language abilities of bilingual children in sentence repetition (SR) tasks are sparse. Therefore, this study is aimed at examining the morphosyntactic abilities of 60 bilingual Malay children aged 4;0 to 6;11 based on SR tasks in Malay (L1) and English (L2). In the SR task, participants were asked to listen carefully to sentences being read out and then repeat verbatim the sentences heard. Their responses were scored based on accuracy, syntax, grammar, and word categories. The findings demonstrated a significant difference between the two languages in terms of accuracy [df= 118, t=1.990, p= .049]; the Malay language had statistically higher scores compared to English scores. There was also a significant difference on the performance based on age factor, [Malay (df5,54=3.561, p= .007); English (df5,54=2.894, p= .022)]. The results also revealed that the omission of both content and function words was more prominent compared to other error types. A triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative data was done. The findings highlighted the morphosyntactic abilities of the bilingual children in both languages and error patterns produced.

scholarly journals The acquisition of relative clauses in Russian and Polish in monolingual and bilingual children

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-248
Author(s):  
Alla V. Peeters-Podgaevskaja ◽  
Bibi E. Janssen ◽  
Anne E. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Subject And Object ◽  
Repetition Task

Abstract In this paper, we present the results on (re)production of relative clauses in a sentence repetition task by Russian and Polish monolingual and bilingual children (3;6–6;6 years). Russian and Polish both involve overt case marking in the relative clause formation, but the case marking in Polish is more regular and transparent. Our results suggest that, when case marking is the only disambiguating cue, its transparency and regularity contributes to a significantly better performance. This explains why the Polish children, both monolingual and bilingual, were more successful in reproduction of subject and object relatives compared to their Russian peers.

scholarly journals Sentence Repetition as a Clinical Marker of Developmental Language Disorder: Evidence From Arabic

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Juhayna Taha ◽  
Vesna Stojanovik ◽  
Emma Pagnamenta
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Scoring Methods ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Function Words ◽  
Sentence Repetition ◽  
Palestinian Arabic ◽  
Arabic Speaking ◽  
Repetition Task

Purpose: Research on the typical and impaired grammatical acquisition of Arabic is limited. This study systematically examined the morphosyntactic abilities of Arabic-speaking children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD) using a novel sentence repetition task. The usefulness of the task as an indicator of DLD in Arabic was determined. Method: A LITMUS (Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings) sentence repetition task was developed in Palestinian Arabic (LITMUS-SR-PA-72) and administered to 30 children with DLD ( M = 61.50 months, SD = 11.27) and 60 age-matched typically developing (TD) children ( M = 63.85 months, SD = 10.16). The task targeted grammatical structures known to be problematic for Arabic-speaking children with DLD (language specific) and children with DLD across languages (language independent). Responses were scored using binary, error, and structural scoring methods. Results: Children with DLD scored below TD children on the LITMUS-SR-PA-72, in general, and in the repetition of language-specific and language-independent structures. The frequency of morphosyntactic errors was higher in the DLD group relative to the TD group. Despite the large similarity of the type of morphosyntactic errors between the two groups, some atypical errors were exclusively produced by the DLD group. The three scoring methods showed good diagnostic power in the discrimination between children with DLD and children without DLD. Conclusions: Sentence repetition was an area of difficulty for Palestinian Arabic–speaking children with DLD. The DLD group demonstrated difficulties with language-specific and language-independent structures, particularly complex sentences with noncanonical word order. Most grammatical errors made by the DLD group resembled those of the TD group and were mostly omissions or substitutions of grammatical affixes or omissions of function words. SR appears to hold promise as a good indicator for the presence or absence of DLD in Arabic. Further validation of these findings using population-based studies is warranted. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16968043

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