WorldWideScience

Sample records for hearing asl-english bilinguals

  1. New Directions in ASL-English Bilingual Ebooks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stone, Adam

    2014-01-01

    The widespread adoption of smartphones and tablet computers have enabled the rapid creation and distribution of innovative American Sign Language (ASL) and written English bilingual ebooks, aimed primarily at deaf and hard-of-hearing children. These sign-print bilingual ebooks are unique in how they take advantage of digital platforms to display…

  2. Academic Achievement of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in an ASL/English Bilingual Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hrastinski, Iva; Wilbur, Ronnie B

    2016-04-01

    There has been a scarcity of studies exploring the influence of students' American Sign Language (ASL) proficiency on their academic achievement in ASL/English bilingual programs. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of ASL proficiency on reading comprehension skills and academic achievement of 85 deaf or hard-of-hearing signing students. Two subgroups, differing in ASL proficiency, were compared on the Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Progress and the reading comprehension subtest of the Stanford Achievement Test, 10th edition. Findings suggested that students highly proficient in ASL outperformed their less proficient peers in nationally standardized measures of reading comprehension, English language use, and mathematics. Moreover, a regression model consisting of 5 predictors including variables regarding education, hearing devices, and secondary disabilities as well as ASL proficiency and home language showed that ASL proficiency was the single variable significantly predicting results on all outcome measures. This study calls for a paradigm shift in thinking about deaf education by focusing on characteristics shared among successful deaf signing readers, specifically ASL fluency. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  3. Bilingual processing of ASL-English code-blends: The consequences of accessing two lexical representations simultaneously

    OpenAIRE

    Emmorey, Karen; Petrich, Jennifer; Gollan, Tamar H.

    2012-01-01

    Bilinguals who are fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) and English often produce code-blends - simultaneously articulating a sign and a word while conversing with other ASL-English bilinguals. To investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying code-blend processing, we compared picture-naming times (Experiment 1) and semantic categorization times (Experiment 2) for code-blends versus ASL signs and English words produced alone. In production, code-blending did not slow lexical retrieval for...

  4. Articulatory Suppression Effects on Short-Term Memory of Signed Digits and Lexical Items in Hearing Bimodal-Bilingual Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Hsiu Tan; Squires, Bonita; Liu, Chun Jung

    2016-01-01

    We can gain a better understanding of short-term memory processes by studying different language codes and modalities. Three experiments were conducted to investigate: (a) Taiwanese Sign Language (TSL) digit spans in Chinese/TSL hearing bilinguals (n = 32); (b) American Sign Language (ASL) digit spans in English/ASL hearing bilinguals (n = 15);…

  5. Lexical-Semantic Organization in Bilingually Developing Deaf Children with ASL-Dominant Language Exposure: Evidence from a Repeated Meaning Association Task

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mann, Wolfgang; Sheng, Li; Morgan, Gary

    2016-01-01

    This study compared the lexical-semantic organization skills of bilingually developing deaf children in American Sign Language (ASL) and English with those of a monolingual hearing group. A repeated meaning-association paradigm was used to assess retrieval of semantic relations in deaf 6-10-year-olds exposed to ASL from birth by their deaf…

  6. Altering Practices to Include Bimodal-bilingual (ASL-Spoken English) Programming at a Small School for the Deaf in Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Priestley, Karen; Enns, Charlotte; Arbuckle, Shauna

    2018-01-01

    Bimodal-bilingual programs are emerging as one way to meet broader needs and provide expanded language, educational and social-emotional opportunities for students who are deaf and hard of hearing (Marschark, M., Tang, G. & Knoors, H. (Eds). (2014). Bilingualism and bilingual Deaf education. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; Paludneviciene & Harris, R. (2011). Impact of cochlear implants on the deaf community. In Paludneviciene, R. & Leigh, I. (Eds.), Cochlear implants evolving perspectives (pp. 3-19). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press). However, there is limited research on students' spoken language development, signed language growth, academic outcomes or the social-emotional factors associated with these programs (Marschark, M., Tang, G. & Knoors, H. (Eds). (2014). Bilingualism and bilingual Deaf education. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; Nussbaum, D & Scott, S. (2011). The cochlear implant education center: Perspectives on effective educational practices. In Paludneviciene, R. & Leigh, I. (Eds.) Cochlear implants evolving perspectives (pp. 175-205). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press. The cochlear implant education center: Perspectives on effective educational practices. In Paludnevicience & Leigh (Eds). Cochlear implants evolving perspectives (pp. 175-205). Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press; Spencer, P. & Marschark, M. (Eds.) (2010). Evidence-based practice in educating deaf and hard-of-hearing students. New York, NY: Oxford University Press). The purpose of this case study was to look at formal and informal student outcomes as well as staff and parent perceptions during the first 3 years of implementing a bimodal-bilingual (ASL and spoken English) program within an ASL milieu at a small school for the deaf. Speech and language assessment results for five students were analyzed over a 3-year period and indicated that the students made significant positive gains in all areas, although results were variable. Staff and parent

  7. Vocabulary Use by Low, Moderate, and High ASL-Proficient Writers Compared to Hearing ESL and Monolingual Speakers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singleton, Jenny L; Morgan, Dianne; DiGello, Elizabeth; Wiles, Jill; Rivers, Rachel

    2004-01-01

    The written English vocabulary of 72 deaf elementary school students of various proficiency levels in American Sign Language (ASL) was compared with the performance of 60 hearing English-as-a-second-language (ESL) speakers and 61 hearing monolingual speakers of English, all of similar age. Students were asked to retell "The Tortoise and the Hare" story (previously viewed on video) in a writing activity. Writing samples were later scored for total number of words, use of words known to be highly frequent in children's writing, redundancy in writing, and use of English function words. All deaf writers showed significantly lower use of function words as compared to their hearing peers. Low-ASL-proficient students demonstrated a highly formulaic writing style, drawing mostly on high-frequency words and repetitive use of a limited range of function words. The moderate- and high-ASL-proficient deaf students' writing was not formulaic and incorporated novel, low-frequency vocabulary to communicate their thoughts. The moderate- and high-ASL students' performance revealed a departure from findings one might expect based on previous studies with deaf writers and their vocabulary use. The writing of the deaf writers also differed from the writing of hearing ESL speakers. Implications for deaf education and literacy instruction are discussed, with special attention to the fact that ASL-proficient, deaf second-language learners of English may be approaching English vocabulary acquisition in ways that are different from hearing ESL learners.

  8. Bilingual Word Recognition in Deaf and Hearing Signers: Effects of Proficiency and Language Dominance on Cross-Language Activation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morford, Jill P.; Kroll, Judith F.; Piñar, Pilar; Wilkinson, Erin

    2014-01-01

    Recent evidence demonstrates that American Sign Language (ASL) signs are active during print word recognition in deaf bilinguals who are highly proficient in both ASL and English. In the present study, we investigate whether signs are active during print word recognition in two groups of unbalanced bilinguals: deaf ASL-dominant and hearing…

  9. Ka-Pow! : using ASL and English to explore narratives in comics

    OpenAIRE

    Stone, Adam Michael

    2010-01-01

    A major goal in elementary education is to explore stories in its many forms, including comics. Based on Cummin's framework for the empowerment of minority students, a bilingual curriculum centered on comics was designed and implemented based on reading and creating narratives in the form of comics using American Sign Language (ASL) and English. Deaf students gained experience in working with comics and the narratives within, and acquired the linguistic abilities to do so, in both languages

  10. Validating Models of Clinical Word Recognition Tests for Spanish/English Bilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Lu-Feng

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: Shi and Sánchez (2010) developed models to predict the optimal test language for evaluating Spanish/English (S/E) bilinguals' word recognition. The current study intended to validate their conclusions in a separate bilingual listener sample. Method: Seventy normal-hearing S/E bilinguals varying in language profile were included.…

  11. Phonological Awareness and Vocabulary Performance of Monolingual and Bilingual Preschool Children with Hearing Loss

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lund, Emily; Werfel, Krystal L.; Schuele, C. Melanie

    2015-01-01

    This pilot study compared the phonological awareness skills and vocabulary performance of English monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual children with and without hearing loss. Preschool children with varying degrees of hearing loss (n = 18) and preschool children without hearing loss (n = 19) completed measures of phonological awareness and…

  12. Superordinate Precision: An Examination of Academic Writing among Bilingual Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Jessica A.; Hoffmeister, Robert J.

    2018-01-01

    Academic English is an essential literacy skill area for success in post-secondary education and in many work environments. Despite its importance, academic English is understudied with deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students. Nascent research in this area suggests that academic English, alongside American Sign Language (ASL) fluency, may play an…

  13. Bilingual approach to online cancer genetics education for Deaf American Sign Language users produces greater knowledge and confidence than English text only: A randomized study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmer, Christina G S; Boudreault, Patrick; Berman, Barbara A; Wolfson, Alicia; Duarte, Lionel; Venne, Vickie L; Sinsheimer, Janet S

    2017-01-01

    Deaf American Sign Language-users (ASL) have limited access to cancer genetics information they can readily understand, increasing risk for health disparities. We compared effectiveness of online cancer genetics information presented using a bilingual approach (ASL with English closed captioning) and a monolingual approach (English text). Bilingual modality would increase cancer genetics knowledge and confidence to create a family tree; education would interact with modality. We used a parallel 2:1 randomized pre-post study design stratified on education. 150 Deaf ASL-users ≥18 years old with computer and internet access participated online; 100 (70 high, 30 low education) and 50 (35 high, 15 low education) were randomized to the bilingual and monolingual modalities. Modalities provide virtually identical content on creating a family tree, using the family tree to identify inherited cancer risk factors, understanding how cancer predisposition can be inherited, and the role of genetic counseling and testing for prevention or treatment. 25 true/false items assessed knowledge; a Likert scale item assessed confidence. Data were collected within 2 weeks before and after viewing the information. Significant interaction of language modality, education, and change in knowledge scores was observed (p = .01). High education group increased knowledge regardless of modality (Bilingual: p information than a monolingual approach. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. English Verb Accuracy of Bilingual Cantonese-English Preschoolers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rezzonico, Stefano; Goldberg, Ahuva; Milburn, Trelani; Belletti, Adriana; Girolametto, Luigi

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: Knowledge of verb development in typically developing bilingual preschoolers may inform clinicians about verb accuracy rates during the 1st 2 years of English instruction. This study aimed to investigate tensed verb accuracy in 2 assessment contexts in 4- and 5-year-old Cantonese-English bilingual preschoolers. Method: The sample included…

  15. Age of acquisition and allophony in Spanish-English bilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barlow, Jessica A.

    2014-01-01

    This study examines age of acquisition (AoA) in Spanish-English bilinguals’ phonetic and phonological knowledge of /l/ in English and Spanish. In English, the lateral approximant /l/ varies in darkness by context [based on the second formant (F2) and the difference between F2 and the first formant (F1)], but the Spanish /l/ does not. Further, English /l/ is overall darker than Spanish /l/. Thirty-eight college-aged adults participated: 11 Early Spanish-English bilinguals who learned English before the age of 5 years, 14 Late Spanish-English bilinguals who learned English after the age of 6 years, and 13 English monolinguals. Participants’ /l/ productions were acoustically analyzed by language and context. The results revealed a Spanish-to-English phonetic influence on /l/ productions for both Early and Late bilinguals, as well as an English-to-Spanish phonological influence on the patterning of /l/ for the Late Bilinguals. These findings are discussed in terms of the Speech Learning Model and the effect of AoA on the interaction between a bilingual speaker’s two languages. PMID:24795664

  16. Developmental change in tone perception in Mandarin monolingual, English monolingual, and Mandarin-English bilingual infants: Divergences between monolingual and bilingual learners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Leher; Fu, Charlene S L; Seet, Xian Hui; Tong, Ashley P Y; Wang, Joelle L; Best, Catherine T

    2018-09-01

    Most languages use lexical tone to discriminate the meanings of words. There has been recent interest in tracking the development of tone categories during infancy. These studies have focused largely on monolingual infants learning either a tone language or a non-tone language. It remains to be seen how bilingual infants learning one tone language (e.g., Mandarin) and one non-tone language (e.g., English) discriminate tones. Here, we examined infants' discrimination of two Mandarin tones pairs: one salient and one subtle. Discrimination was investigated in three groups: Mandarin-English bilinguals, English monolinguals, and Mandarin monolinguals at 6 months and 9 months of age in a cross-sectional design. Results demonstrated relatively strong Mandarin tone discrimination in Mandarin monolinguals, with salient tone discrimination at 6 months and both salient and subtle tone discrimination at 9 months. English monolinguals discriminated neither contrast at 6 months but discriminated the salient contrast at 9 months. Surprisingly, there was no evidence for tone discrimination in Mandarin-English bilingual infants. In a second experiment, 12- and 13-month-old Mandarin-English bilingual and English monolingual infants were tested to determine whether bilinguals would demonstrate tone sensitivity at a later age. Results revealed a lack of tone sensitivity at 12 or 13 months in bilingual infants, yet English monolingual infants were sensitive to both salient and subtle Mandarin tone contrasts at 12 or 13 months. Our findings provide evidence for age-related convergence in Mandarin tone discrimination in English and Mandarin monolingual infants and for a distinct pattern of tone discrimination in bilingual infants. Theoretical implications for phonetic category acquisition are discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. How much exposure to English is necessary for a bilingual toddler to perform like a monolingual peer in language tests?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cattani, Allegra; Abbot-Smith, Kirsten; Farag, Rafalla; Krott, Andrea; Arreckx, Frédérique; Dennis, Ian; Floccia, Caroline

    2014-11-01

    significantly inversely related to the amount of exposure to English. Typically developing 2;6-year-olds who are bilingual in English and an additional language and who hear English 60% of the time or more, perform equivalently to their typically developing monolingual peers. © 2014 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

  18. Dual Language versus English-Only Support for Bilingual Children with Hearing Loss Who Use Cochlear Implants and Hearing Aids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bunta, Ferenc; Douglas, Michael; Dickson, Hanna; Cantu, Amy; Wickesberg, Jennifer; Gifford, René H.

    2016-01-01

    Background: There is a critical need to understand better speech and language development in bilingual children learning two spoken languages who use cochlear implants (CIs) and hearing aids (HAs). The paucity of knowledge in this area poses a significant barrier to providing maximal communicative outcomes to a growing number of children who have…

  19. Stuttering Characteristics of German-English Bilingual Speakers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schafer, Martina; Robb, Michael P.

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine stuttering behavior in German-English bilingual people who stutter (PWS), with particular reference to the frequency of stuttering on content and function words. Fifteen bilingual PWS were sampled who spoke German as the first language (L1) and English as a second language (L2). Conversational speech was…

  20. ASL-LEX: A lexical database of American Sign Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caselli, Naomi K; Sehyr, Zed Sevcikova; Cohen-Goldberg, Ariel M; Emmorey, Karen

    2017-04-01

    ASL-LEX is a lexical database that catalogues information about nearly 1,000 signs in American Sign Language (ASL). It includes the following information: subjective frequency ratings from 25-31 deaf signers, iconicity ratings from 21-37 hearing non-signers, videoclip duration, sign length (onset and offset), grammatical class, and whether the sign is initialized, a fingerspelled loan sign, or a compound. Information about English translations is available for a subset of signs (e.g., alternate translations, translation consistency). In addition, phonological properties (sign type, selected fingers, flexion, major and minor location, and movement) were coded and used to generate sub-lexical frequency and neighborhood density estimates. ASL-LEX is intended for use by researchers, educators, and students who are interested in the properties of the ASL lexicon. An interactive website where the database can be browsed and downloaded is available at http://asl-lex.org .

  1. The Home Literacy Environment and the English Narrative Development of Spanish-English Bilingual Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bitetti, Dana; Hammer, Carol Scheffner

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the home literacy environment (HLE) on the English narrative development of Spanish-English bilingual children from low-income backgrounds. Method: Longitudinal data were collected on 81 bilingual children from preschool through 1st grade. English narrative skills were assessed in the…

  2. Chinese Translation Errors in English/Chinese Bilingual Children's Picture Books

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Qiaoya; Chen, Xiaoning

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this study was to review the Chinese translation errors in 31 English/Chinese bilingual children's picture books. While bilingual children's books make definite contributions to language acquisition, few studies have examined the quality of these books, and even fewer have specifically focused on English/Chinese bilingual books.…

  3. Home and Community Language Proficiency in Spanish-English Early Bilingual University Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidtke, Jens

    2017-10-17

    This study assessed home and community language proficiency in Spanish-English bilingual university students to investigate whether the vocabulary gap reported in studies of bilingual children persists into adulthood. Sixty-five early bilinguals (mean age = 21 years) were assessed in English and Spanish vocabulary and verbal reasoning ability using subtests of the Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey-Revised (Schrank & Woodcock, 2009). Their English scores were compared to 74 monolinguals matched in age and level of education. Participants also completed a background questionnaire. Bilinguals scored below the monolingual control group on both subtests, and the difference was larger for vocabulary compared to verbal reasoning. However, bilinguals were close to the population mean for verbal reasoning. Spanish scores were on average lower than English scores, but participants differed widely in their degree of balance. Participants with an earlier age of acquisition of English and more current exposure to English tended to be more dominant in English. Vocabulary tests in the home or community language may underestimate bilingual university students' true verbal ability and should be interpreted with caution in high-stakes situations. Verbal reasoning ability may be more indicative of a bilingual's verbal ability.

  4. Language Growth in English Monolingual and Spanish-English Bilingual Children from 2.5 to 5 Years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoff, Erika; Ribot, Krystal M

    2017-11-01

    To describe the trajectories of English and Spanish language growth in typically developing children from bilingual homes and compare those with the trajectories of English growth in children from monolingual homes, to assess effects of dual language exposure on language growth in typically developing children. Expressive vocabularies were assessed at 6-month intervals from age 30 to 60 months, in English for monolinguals and English and Spanish for bilinguals. Use of English and Spanish in the home was assessed via parental report. Multilevel modeling, including parent education as a covariate, revealed that children from bilingual homes lagged 6 months to 1 year behind monolingual children in English vocabulary growth. The size of the lag was related to the relative amount of English use in the home, but the relation was not linear. Increments in English use conferred the greatest benefit most among homes with already high levels of English use. These homes also were likely to have 1 parent who was a native English speaker. Bilingual children showed stronger growth in English than in Spanish. Bilingual children can lag 6 months to 1 year behind monolingual children in normal English language development. Such lags may not necessarily signify clinically relevant delay if parents report that children also have skills in the home language. Shorter lags are associated with 2 correlated factors: more English exposure and more exposure from native English speakers. Early exposure to Spanish in the home does not guarantee acquisition of Spanish. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Teacher Beliefs regarding Bilingualism in an English Medium Reading Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaish, Viniti

    2012-01-01

    Reading classes in schools where English is the medium of instruction are increasingly servicing a linguistically diverse population; however, teacher-training for English teachers lacks a focus on bilingualism. Using the context of Singapore, this paper analyses beliefs on bilingualism of English teachers in an early intervention reading program.…

  6. Literacy Outcomes of a Chinese/English Bilingual Program in Ontario

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koh, Poh Wee; Chen, Xi; Cummins, James; Li, Jia

    2017-01-01

    This study examined the performance of Mandarin-speaking students in a K-Grade 4 50/50 Chinese/English bilingual program. The program was intended to facilitate students' learning of English and their adjustment to English-medium instruction within the school context. The bilingual-program students were compared to students from Mandarin-speaking…

  7. Vowel reduction in word-final position by early and late Spanish-English bilinguals.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emily Byers

    Full Text Available Vowel reduction is a prominent feature of American English, as well as other stress-timed languages. As a phonological process, vowel reduction neutralizes multiple vowel quality contrasts in unstressed syllables. For bilinguals whose native language is not characterized by large spectral and durational differences between tonic and atonic vowels, systematically reducing unstressed vowels to the central vowel space can be problematic. Failure to maintain this pattern of stressed-unstressed syllables in American English is one key element that contributes to a "foreign accent" in second language speakers. Reduced vowels, or "schwas," have also been identified as particularly vulnerable to the co-articulatory effects of adjacent consonants. The current study examined the effects of adjacent sounds on the spectral and temporal qualities of schwa in word-final position. Three groups of English-speaking adults were tested: Miami-based monolingual English speakers, early Spanish-English bilinguals, and late Spanish-English bilinguals. Subjects performed a reading task to examine their schwa productions in fluent speech when schwas were preceded by consonants from various points of articulation. Results indicated that monolingual English and late Spanish-English bilingual groups produced targeted vowel qualities for schwa, whereas early Spanish-English bilinguals lacked homogeneity in their vowel productions. This extends prior claims that schwa is targetless for F2 position for native speakers to highly-proficient bilingual speakers. Though spectral qualities lacked homogeneity for early Spanish-English bilinguals, early bilinguals produced schwas with near native-like vowel duration. In contrast, late bilinguals produced schwas with significantly longer durations than English monolinguals or early Spanish-English bilinguals. Our results suggest that the temporal properties of a language are better integrated into second language phonologies than

  8. Simultaneous vs. Successive Bilingualism among Preschool-Aged Children: A Study of Four-Year-Old Korean-English Bilinguals in the USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Ah-Young; Park, Anne; Lust, Barbara

    2018-01-01

    The current study compares simultaneous vs. successive bilingualism through a mixed-method research design with four four-year-old Korean-English bilingual children who were born and raised in the USA. Two simultaneous bilinguals were exposed to Korean and English from birth, whereas two successive bilinguals were exposed to Korean from birth, but…

  9. English word frequency and recognition in bilinguals: Inter-corpus comparison and error analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Lu-Feng

    2015-01-01

    This study is the second of a two-part investigation on lexical effects on bilinguals' performance on a clinical English word recognition test. Focus is on word-frequency effects using counts provided by four corpora. Frequency of occurrence was obtained for 200 NU-6 words from the Hoosier mental lexicon (HML) and three contemporary corpora, American National Corpora, Hyperspace analogue to language (HAL), and SUBTLEX(US). Correlation analysis was performed between word frequency and error rate. Ten monolinguals and 30 bilinguals participated. Bilinguals were further grouped according to their age of English acquisition and length of schooling/working in English. Word frequency significantly affected word recognition in bilinguals who acquired English late and had limited schooling/working in English. When making errors, bilinguals tended to replace the target word with a word of a higher frequency. Overall, the newer corpora outperformed the HML in predicting error rate. Frequency counts provided by contemporary corpora predict bilinguals' recognition of English monosyllabic words. Word frequency also helps explain top replacement words for misrecognized targets. Word-frequency effects are especially prominent for bilinguals foreign born and educated.

  10. Bilingual skills of deaf/hard of hearing children from Spain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guiberson, Mark

    2014-03-01

    This study described the first language (L1) and second language (L2) skills of a group of Spanish deaf/hard of hearing (DHH) children who were bilingual. Participants included parents of 51 DHH children from Spain. Parents completed an electronic survey that included questions on background, details on child's hearing loss, and bilingual status and L2 exposure. Parents also completed the Student Oral Language Observation Matrix, a rating scale that describes language skills. DHH bilingual children demonstrated L1 skills that were stronger than their monolingual DHH peers. Bilingual children demonstrated a wide range of L2 proficiency, and most were exposed to an L2 through parents and/or schooling. The majority of parents reported that their children demonstrated L2 skills that were either better than or at the level they had expected. These results correspond with earlier studies that indicate the DHH children are capable of becoming bilingual. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.

  11. Compositions in English: Comparing the Works of Monolinguals, Passive Bilinguals, and Active Bilinguals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julia Eka Rini

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This study tries to see whether the subjects’ “monolingualism” and “bilingualism” (monolinguals learning an L2 and bilinguals learning an L3 influence their study on English, especially writing. The term “bilinguals” also means “multilinguals” in this study. Bilinguals in this paper are classified into two; first, passive bilinguals who are only exposed to another local language, besides speaking Bahasa Indonesia at home, and second, active bilinguals who are exposed to and also speak other language(s and Bahasa Indonesia at home. The findings show that the monolingual and the active bilingual are better than the passive one; the active bilingual is better than the monolingual. However, if the passive and the active bilingual are combined, the monolingual is better than the bilinguals.

  12. Vowel reduction in word-final position by early and late Spanish-English bilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-01-01

    Vowel reduction is a prominent feature of American English, as well as other stress-timed languages. As a phonological process, vowel reduction neutralizes multiple vowel quality contrasts in unstressed syllables. For bilinguals whose native language is not characterized by large spectral and durational differences between tonic and atonic vowels, systematically reducing unstressed vowels to the central vowel space can be problematic. Failure to maintain this pattern of stressed-unstressed syllables in American English is one key element that contributes to a “foreign accent” in second language speakers. Reduced vowels, or “schwas,” have also been identified as particularly vulnerable to the co-articulatory effects of adjacent consonants. The current study examined the effects of adjacent sounds on the spectral and temporal qualities of schwa in word-final position. Three groups of English-speaking adults were tested: Miami-based monolingual English speakers, early Spanish-English bilinguals, and late Spanish-English bilinguals. Subjects performed a reading task to examine their schwa productions in fluent speech when schwas were preceded by consonants from various points of articulation. Results indicated that monolingual English and late Spanish-English bilingual groups produced targeted vowel qualities for schwa, whereas early Spanish-English bilinguals lacked homogeneity in their vowel productions. This extends prior claims that schwa is targetless for F2 position for native speakers to highly-proficient bilingual speakers. Though spectral qualities lacked homogeneity for early Spanish-English bilinguals, early bilinguals produced schwas with near native-like vowel duration. In contrast, late bilinguals produced schwas with significantly longer durations than English monolinguals or early Spanish-English bilinguals. Our results suggest that the temporal properties of a language are better integrated into second language phonologies than spectral

  13. Mandarin-English Bilinguals Process Lexical Tones in Newly Learned Words in Accordance with the Language Context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quam, Carolyn; Creel, Sarah C

    2017-01-01

    Previous research has mainly considered the impact of tone-language experience on ability to discriminate linguistic pitch, but proficient bilingual listening requires differential processing of sound variation in each language context. Here, we ask whether Mandarin-English bilinguals, for whom pitch indicates word distinctions in one language but not the other, can process pitch differently in a Mandarin context vs. an English context. Across three eye-tracked word-learning experiments, results indicated that tone-intonation bilinguals process tone in accordance with the language context. In Experiment 1, 51 Mandarin-English bilinguals and 26 English speakers without tone experience were taught Mandarin-compatible novel words with tones. Mandarin-English bilinguals out-performed English speakers, and, for bilinguals, overall accuracy was correlated with Mandarin dominance. Experiment 2 taught 24 Mandarin-English bilinguals and 25 English speakers novel words with Mandarin-like tones, but English-like phonemes and phonotactics. The Mandarin-dominance advantages observed in Experiment 1 disappeared when words were English-like. Experiment 3 contrasted Mandarin-like vs. English-like words in a within-subjects design, providing even stronger evidence that bilinguals can process tone language-specifically. Bilinguals (N = 58), regardless of language dominance, attended more to tone than English speakers without Mandarin experience (N = 28), but only when words were Mandarin-like-not when they were English-like. Mandarin-English bilinguals thus tailor tone processing to the within-word language context.

  14. Research applications for an Object and Action Naming Battery to assess naming skills in adult Spanish-English bilingual speakers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edmonds, Lisa A; Donovan, Neila J

    2014-06-01

    Virtually no valid materials are available to evaluate confrontation naming in Spanish-English bilingual adults in the U.S. In a recent study, a large group of young Spanish-English bilingual adults were evaluated on An Object and Action Naming Battery (Edmonds & Donovan in Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 55:359-381, 2012). Rasch analyses of the responses resulted in evidence for the content and construct validity of the retained items. However, the scope of that study did not allow for extensive examination of individual item characteristics, group analyses of participants, or the provision of testing and scoring materials or raw data, thereby limiting the ability of researchers to administer the test to Spanish-English bilinguals and to score the items with confidence. In this study, we present the in-depth information described above on the basis of further analyses, including (1) online searchable spreadsheets with extensive empirical (e.g., accuracy and name agreeability) and psycholinguistic item statistics; (2) answer sheets and instructions for scoring and interpreting the responses to the Rasch items; (3) tables of alternative correct responses for English and Spanish; (4) ability strata determined for all naming conditions (English and Spanish nouns and verbs); and (5) comparisons of accuracy across proficiency groups (i.e., Spanish dominant, English dominant, and balanced). These data indicate that the Rasch items from An Object and Action Naming Battery are valid and sensitive for the evaluation of naming in young Spanish-English bilingual adults. Additional information based on participant responses for all of the items on the battery can provide researchers with valuable information to aid in stimulus development and response interpretation for experimental studies in this population.

  15. Mandarin-English Bilinguals Process Lexical Tones in Newly Learned Words in Accordance with the Language Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quam, Carolyn; Creel, Sarah C.

    2017-01-01

    Previous research has mainly considered the impact of tone-language experience on ability to discriminate linguistic pitch, but proficient bilingual listening requires differential processing of sound variation in each language context. Here, we ask whether Mandarin-English bilinguals, for whom pitch indicates word distinctions in one language but not the other, can process pitch differently in a Mandarin context vs. an English context. Across three eye-tracked word-learning experiments, results indicated that tone-intonation bilinguals process tone in accordance with the language context. In Experiment 1, 51 Mandarin-English bilinguals and 26 English speakers without tone experience were taught Mandarin-compatible novel words with tones. Mandarin-English bilinguals out-performed English speakers, and, for bilinguals, overall accuracy was correlated with Mandarin dominance. Experiment 2 taught 24 Mandarin-English bilinguals and 25 English speakers novel words with Mandarin-like tones, but English-like phonemes and phonotactics. The Mandarin-dominance advantages observed in Experiment 1 disappeared when words were English-like. Experiment 3 contrasted Mandarin-like vs. English-like words in a within-subjects design, providing even stronger evidence that bilinguals can process tone language-specifically. Bilinguals (N = 58), regardless of language dominance, attended more to tone than English speakers without Mandarin experience (N = 28), but only when words were Mandarin-like—not when they were English-like. Mandarin-English bilinguals thus tailor tone processing to the within-word language context. PMID:28076400

  16. Cross-Cultural Transfer in Gesture Frequency in Chinese-English Bilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    So, Wing Chee

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to examine cross-cultural differences in gesture frequency and the extent to which exposure to two cultures would affect the gesture frequency of bilinguals when speaking in both languages. The Chinese-speaking monolinguals from China, English-speaking monolinguals from America, and Chinese-English bilinguals from…

  17. Cross-Linguistic Influence in French-English Bilingual Children's Possessive Constructions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicoladis, Elena

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this article was to test the predictions of a speech production model of cross-linguistic influence in French-English bilingual children. A speech production model predicts bidirectional influence (i.e., bilinguals' greater use of periphrastic constructions like the hat of the dog relative to monolinguals in English and reversed…

  18. Text Revision in Deaf and Hearing Bilingual Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teruggi, Lilia A.; Gutiérrez-Cáceres, Rafaela

    2016-01-01

    In this study we explored the revision process and strategies implemented by deaf and hearing students who attend the same bilingual school context (LIS and Italian). For that we analysed and compared the types and quality of revisions made by deaf and hearing participants to their first draft of a narrative text ("Frog, Where Are You?")…

  19. A Tale of Two Features: Perception of Cantonese Lexical Tone and English Lexical Stress in Cantonese-English Bilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Xiuli; Burnham, Denis

    2015-01-01

    This study investigated the similarities and differences in perception of Cantonese tones and English stress patterns by Cantonese-English bilingual children, adults, and English monolingual adults. All three groups were asked to discriminate pairs of syllables that minimally differed in either Cantonese tone or in English stress. Bilingual children’s performance on tone perception was comparable to their performance on stress perception. By contrast, bilingual adults’ performance on tone perception was lower than their performance on stress perception, and there was a similar pattern in English monolingual adults. Bilingual adults tended to perform better than English monolingual adults on both the tone and stress perception tests. A significant correlation between tone perception and stress perception performance was found in bilingual children but not in bilingual adults. All three groups showed lower accuracy in the high rising-low rising contrast than any of the other 14 Cantonese tone contrasts. The acoustic analyses revealed that average F0, F0 onset, and F0 major slope were the critical acoustic correlates of Cantonese tones, whereas multiple acoustic correlates were salient in English stress, including average F0, spectral balance, duration and intensity. We argue that participants’ difficulty in perceiving high rising-low rising contrasts originated from the contrasts’ similarities in F0 onset and average F0; indeed the difference between their major slopes was the only cue with which to distinguish them. Acoustic-perceptual correlation analyses showed that although the average F0 and F0 onset were associated with tone perception performance in all three groups, F0 major slope was only associated with tone perception in the bilingual adult group. These results support a dynamic interactive account of suprasegmental speech perception by emphasizing the positive prosodic transfer between Cantonese tone and English stress, and the role that level of

  20. Innovative practice: Conversational use of English in bilingual adults with dementia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kokorelias, Kristina M; Ryan, Ellen B; Elliot, Gail

    2017-02-01

    Regression to mother tongue is common in those with dementia. In two long-term care facilities, we explored the use of bilinguals' two languages for five older adults with mild-moderate dementia who have begun to regress to Greek. We also examined the role of Montessori DementiAbility Methods: The Montessori Way-based English language activities in fostering conversational use of English. Over 10 sessions, participants' vocabulary or grammatical structure in English did not improve. However, four of the five participants were able to maintain a conversation in English for longer periods of time. This study contributes to strategies for optimizing meaningful conversation for bilingual long-term care residents with dementia. Moreover, the data suggest a change in the policy and practice for dementia care so that there are more opportunities for residents to speak English in non-English mother-tongue facilities. Greater attention to the specific language needs of bilinguals in English-dominant settings would also be advisable.

  1. Deaf Parents of Cochlear-Implanted Children: Beliefs on Bimodal Bilingualism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchiner, Julie Cantrell

    2015-01-01

    This study investigated 17 Deaf families in North America with cochlear-implanted children about their attitudes, beliefs, and practices on bimodal bilingualism (defined as using both a visual/manual language and an aural/oral language) in American Sign Language (ASL) and English. A survey and follow-up interviews with 8 families were conducted.…

  2. Vocabulary Growth in Armenian-English Bilingual Kindergarteners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hovsepian, Alice

    2018-01-01

    Four-year-old (n = 20) and five-year-old (n = 22) bilingual children were tested twice in six months on Armenian (minority language) and English (majority language) picture identification and picture naming tasks to examine receptive and expressive vocabulary growth in both languages. Parental education, Armenian/English language exposure, and…

  3. Non-Selective Lexical Access in Late Arabic-English Bilinguals: Evidence from Gating.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boudelaa, Sami

    2018-02-07

    Previous research suggests that late bilinguals who speak typologically distant languages are the least likely to show evidence of non-selective lexical access processes. This study puts this claim to test by using the gating task to determine whether words beginning with speech sounds that are phonetically similar in Arabic and English (e.g., [b,d,m,n]) give rise to selective or non-selective lexical access processes in late Arabic-English bilinguals. The results show that an acoustic-phonetic input (e.g., [bæ]) that is consistent with words in Arabic (e.g., [bædrun] "moon") and English (e.g., [bæd] "bad") activates lexical representations in both languages of the bilingual. This non-selective activation holds equally well for mixed lists with words from both Arabic and English and blocked lists consisting only of Arabic or English words. These results suggest that non-selective lexical access processes are the default mechanism even in late bilinguals of typologically distant languages.

  4. Patterns of Stuttering in a Spanish/English Bilingual: A Case Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ardila, Alfredo; Ramos, Eliane; Barrocas, Robert

    2011-01-01

    Stuttering patterns may differ when comparing two languages. In bilinguals, specific patterns of stuttering in each one of the languages may potentially be found. This study reports on the case of a 27-year-old Spanish/English simultaneous bilingual whose dominant language is English. Speech and language testing was performed in both languages…

  5. Cognitive reserve in Parkinson's disease: the effects of welsh-english bilingualism on executive function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hindle, John V; Martin-Forbes, Pamela A; Bastable, Alexandra J M; Pye, Kirstie L; Martyr, Anthony; Whitaker, Christopher J; Craik, Fergus I M; Bialystok, Ellen; Thomas, Enlli M; Mueller Gathercole, Virginia C; Clare, Linda

    2015-01-01

    Objective. Bilingualism has been shown to benefit executive function (EF) and delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease. This study aims at examining whether a bilingual advantage applies to EF in Parkinson's disease (PD). Method. In a cross-sectional outpatient cohort of monolingual English (n = 57) and bilingual Welsh/English (n = 46) speakers with PD we evaluated the effects of bilingualism compared with monolingualism on performance on EF tasks. In bilinguals we also assessed the effects of the degree of daily usage of each language and the degree of bilingualism. Results. Monolinguals showed an advantage in performance of language tests. There were no differences in performance of EF tests in monolinguals and bilinguals. Those who used Welsh less in daily life had better performance on one test of English vocabulary. The degree of bilingualism correlated with one test of nonverbal reasoning and one of working memory but with no other tests of EF. Discussion. The reasons why the expected benefit in EF in Welsh-English bilinguals with PD was not found require further study. Future studies in PD should include other language pairs, analysis of the effects of the degree of bilingualism, and longitudinal analysis of cognitive decline or dementia together with structural or functional neuroimaging.

  6. Writing and Reading Knowledge of Spanish/English Second-Generation Bilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ardila, Alfredo; Garcia, Krystal; Garcia, Melissa; Mejia, Joselyn; Vado, Grace

    2017-01-01

    Written bilingualism represents a particular type of bilingualism that is not frequently approached. The aim of this study was to investigate the writing and reading abilities of second-generation immigrants, Spanish-English bilinguals in South Florida. 58 participants (36 females, 22 males; 18-39 years of age) were selected. Both parents were…

  7. Cognitive Reserve in Parkinson's Disease: The Effects of Welsh-English Bilingualism on Executive Function

    OpenAIRE

    Hindle, John V.; Martin-Forbes, Pamela A.; Bastable, Alexandra J. M.; Pye, Kirstie L.; Martyr, Anthony; Whitaker, Christopher J.; Craik, Fergus I. M.; Bialystok, Ellen; Thomas, Enlli M.; Mueller Gathercole, Virginia C.; Clare, Linda

    2015-01-01

    Objective. Bilingualism has been shown to benefit executive function (EF) and delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease. This study aims at examining whether a bilingual advantage applies to EF in Parkinson's disease (PD). Method. In a cross-sectional outpatient cohort of monolingual English (n = 57) and bilingual Welsh/English (n = 46) speakers with PD we evaluated the effects of bilingualism compared with monolingualism on performance on EF tasks. In bilinguals we also assessed the effects of ...

  8. Code-switching among chiShona-English bilinguals in courtroom ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    As has become the norm in bilingual situations, code-switching in both formal and informal contexts has increased recognition as a verbal mode of communication. This article presents a parsimonious exegesis of the patterns and functions of code-switching in the courtroom discourse of chiShona-English bilinguals.

  9. Metaphoric Reference: An Eye Movement Analysis of Spanish-English and English-Spanish Bilingual Readers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberto Ramírez Heredia

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available This study examines the processing of metaphoric reference by bilingual speakers. English dominant, Spanish dominant, and balanced bilinguals read passages in English biasing either a figurative (e.g., describing a weak and soft fighter that always lost and everyone hated or a literal (e.g., describing a donut and bakery shop that made delicious pastries meaning of a critical metaphoric referential description (e.g., creampuff. We recorded the eye movements (first fixation, gaze duration, go-past duration, and total reading time for the critical region, which was a metaphoric referential description in each passage. The results revealed that literal vs. figurative meaning activation was modulated by language dominance, where Spanish dominant bilinguals were more likely to access the literal meaning, and English dominant and balanced bilinguals had access to both the literal and figurative meanings of the metaphoric referential description. Overall, there was a general tendency for the literal interpretation to be more active, as revealed by shorter reading times for the metaphoric reference used literally, in comparison to when it was used figuratively. Results are interpreted in terms of the Graded Salience Hypothesis (Giora, 2002, 2003 and the Literal Salience Model (Cieślicka, 2006, 2015.

  10. Marking of verb tense in the English of preschool English-Mandarin bilingual children: evidence from language development profiles within subgroups on the Singapore English Action Picture Test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brebner, Chris; McCormack, Paul; Liow, Susan Rickard

    2016-01-01

    The phonological and morphosyntactic structures of English and Mandarin contrast maximally and an increasing number of bilinguals speak these two languages. Speech and language therapists need to understand bilingual development for children speaking these languages in order reliably to assess and provide intervention for this population. To examine the marking of verb tense in the English of two groups of bilingual pre-schoolers learning these languages in a multilingual setting where the main educational language is English. The main research question addressed was: are there differences in the rate and pattern of acquisition of verb-tense marking for English-language 1 children compared with Mandarin-language 1 children? Spoken language samples in English from 481 English-Mandarin bilingual children were elicited using a 10-item action picture test and analysed for each child's use of verb tense markers: present progressive '-ing', regular past tense '-ed', third-person singular '-s', and irregular past tense and irregular past-participle forms. For 4-6 year olds the use of inflectional markers by the different language dominance groups was compared statistically using non-parametric tests. This study provides further evidence that bilingual language development is not the same as monolingual language development. The results show that there are very different rates and patterns of verb-tense marking in English for English-language 1 and Mandarin-language 1 children. Furthermore, they show that bilingual language development in English in Singapore is not the same as monolingual language development in English, and that there are differences in development depending on language dominance. Valid and reliable assessment of bilingual children's language skills needs to consider the characteristics of all languages spoken, obtaining accurate information on language use over time and accurately establishing language dominance is essential in order to make a

  11. Cognitive Reserve in Parkinson’s Disease: The Effects of Welsh-English Bilingualism on Executive Function

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John V. Hindle

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective. Bilingualism has been shown to benefit executive function (EF and delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. This study aims at examining whether a bilingual advantage applies to EF in Parkinson’s disease (PD. Method. In a cross-sectional outpatient cohort of monolingual English (n=57 and bilingual Welsh/English (n=46 speakers with PD we evaluated the effects of bilingualism compared with monolingualism on performance on EF tasks. In bilinguals we also assessed the effects of the degree of daily usage of each language and the degree of bilingualism. Results. Monolinguals showed an advantage in performance of language tests. There were no differences in performance of EF tests in monolinguals and bilinguals. Those who used Welsh less in daily life had better performance on one test of English vocabulary. The degree of bilingualism correlated with one test of nonverbal reasoning and one of working memory but with no other tests of EF. Discussion. The reasons why the expected benefit in EF in Welsh-English bilinguals with PD was not found require further study. Future studies in PD should include other language pairs, analysis of the effects of the degree of bilingualism, and longitudinal analysis of cognitive decline or dementia together with structural or functional neuroimaging.

  12. Examining the Text Quality of English/Chinese Bilingual Children's Picture Books

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Qiaoya; Chen, Xiaoning

    2016-01-01

    As a branch of multicultural literature, bilingual children's picture books present a special opportunity for readers to expand their horizons and knowledge of other cultures. The researchers took a closer look at the text quality of 31 English/Chinese bilingual children's picture books. These bilingual books were examined on the aspects of the…

  13. English Vocabulary Acquisition of Bilingual Learners at the Primary and Secondary Levels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pholsward, Ruja; Boonprasitt, Donrutai

    2015-01-01

    This paper reports research findings of English vocabulary acquisition of bilingual learners at the levels of Primary 6 and Secondary 3 at Satit Bilingual School of Rangsit University. The purpose was to find out the extent to which learners at these levels have acquired English vocabulary to communicate their ideas about themselves and their…

  14. Comparing Bilingual to Monolingual Learners on English Spelling: A Meta-analytic Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Jing; Quiroz, Blanca; Dixon, L Quentin; Joshi, R Malatesha

    2016-08-01

    This study reports on a meta-analysis to examine how bilingual learners compare with English monolingual learners on two English spelling outcomes: real-word spelling and pseudo-word spelling. Eighteen studies published in peer-reviewed journals between 1990 and 2014 were retrieved. The study-level variables and characteristics (e.g. sample size, study design and research instruments) were coded, and 29 independent effect sizes across the 18 retrieved studies were analysed. We found that bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on real-word spelling overall and more so in early grades, but monolinguals outperformed bilinguals on pseudo-word spelling. Further, bilinguals at risk for reading difficulties did better on real-word spelling than monolinguals at risk for reading difficulties. Having investigated systematic sources of variability in effect sizes, we conclude that in comparison with their monolingual peers, bilingual learners, especially those from alphabetic L1 backgrounds, are able to master constrained skills, such as English spelling, in the current instructional context. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  15. Development and Use of English Evaluative Expressions in Narratives of Chinese-English Bilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Liang; Yan, Ruixia

    2011-01-01

    This study compares the development and use of evaluative expressions in the English narratives elicited from 80 Chinese-English bilinguals and 80 American monolingual peers at four ages--five, eight, ten, and young adults--using the wordless picture book "Frog, where are you?" (Mayer, 1969). Results revealed both similarities and differences…

  16. Acquisition of stress and pitch accent in English-Spanish bilingual children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Sahyang; Andruski, Jean; Nathan, Geoffrey S.; Casielles, Eugenia; Work, Richard

    2005-09-01

    Although understanding of prosodic development is considered crucial for understanding of language acquisition in general, few studies have focused on how children develop native-like prosody in their speech production. This study will examine the acquisition of lexical stress and postlexical pitch accent in two English-Spanish bilingual children. Prosodic characteristics of English and Spanish are different in terms of frequent stress patterns (trochaic versus penultimate), phonetic realization of stress (reduced unstressed vowel versus full unstressed vowel), and frequent pitch accent types (H* versus L*+H), among others. Thus, English-Spanish bilingual children's prosodic development may provide evidence of their awareness of language differences relatively early during language development, and illustrate the influence of markedness or input frequency in prosodic acquisition. For this study, recordings from the children's one-word stage are used. Durations of stressed and unstressed syllables and F0 peak alignment are measured, and pitch accent types in different accentual positions (nuclear versus prenuclear) are transcribed using American English ToBI and Spanish ToBI. Prosodic development is compared across ages within each language and across languages at each age. Furthermore, the bilingual children's productions are compared with monolingual English and Spanish parents' productions.

  17. Cross-Language Transfer of Word Reading Accuracy and Word Reading Fluency in Spanish-English and Chinese-English Bilinguals: Script-Universal and Script-Specific Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pasquarella, Adrian; Chen, Xi; Gottardo, Alexandra; Geva, Esther

    2015-01-01

    This study examined cross-language transfer of word reading accuracy and word reading fluency in Spanish-English and Chinese-English bilinguals. Participants included 51 Spanish-English and 64 Chinese-English bilinguals. Both groups of children completed parallel measures of phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, word reading accuracy,…

  18. Bilingualism in the English of tertiary students: A sine-qua-non for ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Effects of Bilingualism on the English of Tertiary Students as a mentorship and entrepreneurial tool were investigated. The term bilingualism is the use of two languages (repertoire) of an individual or a speech community. An important feature of bilingualism is that it is a consequence of language in contact which deals with ...

  19. Reading, syntactic, orthographic, and working memory skills of bilingual Arabic-English speaking Canadian children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abu-Rabia, Salim; Siegel, Linda S

    2002-11-01

    This study assessed the reading, language, and memory skills of 56 bilingual Arab-Canadian children age's 9-14. English was their main instructional language, and Arabic was the language spoken at home. All children attended a Heritage Language Program in Toronto where they were taught to read and write Arabic. The children were administered word and pseudo-word reading, language, and working memory tests in English and Arabic. The majority of the children showed at least adequate proficiency in both languages. There was a significant relationship between the acquisition of word and pseudo-word reading working memory, and syntactic awareness skills in the two languages. The poor readers in Arabic had lower scores on all linguistic tasks, except the visual task. There were no significant differences between bilingual English Arabic children and monolingual English-speaking children on the reading, language, and memory tasks. However, bilingual English Arabic children who had reading problems in English had higher scores on English pseudo-word reading and spelling tasks than monolingual English-speaking children with reading disabilities, probably because of positive transfer from the regular nature of Arabic orthography. In this case, bilingualism does not appear to have negative consequences for the development of language reading skills in both languages--Arabic and English--despite the different nature of the two orthographies.

  20. Bilingual Lexicography: Some Issues with Modern English Urdu Lexicography – a User's Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saleem, Muhammad Ilyas

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available The tradition of bilingual lexicography in the Indian subcontinent is more than two centuries old and goes back to as far as 1772 (Hadley. This article examines the development of bilingual lexicography in the Indian subcontinent with special reference to English-Hindustani or -Urdu dictionary development. It further explores some issues specific to this field and tries to suggest some solutions. First of all it describes the historical perspective of linguistic work in the subcontinent and then discusses issues relating to English-Urdu bilingual lexicography in particular

  1. Hearing Loss: Issues in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreland, Christopher; Atcherson, Samuel R; Zazove, Philip; McKee, Michael M

    2015-07-01

    Hearing loss can lead to impairments in language and speech acquisition, educational attainment, social development, and reading achievement. More than 90% of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children are born to hearing parents who may lack the knowledge or experience to effectively care for a child with hearing loss. Family involvement is crucial for teaching self-advocacy and global communication skills, optimizing social development, and helping DHH individuals understand and manage external attitudes about deafness and hearing loss. American Sign Language is a naturally developed language with an always-expanding lexicon and grammatical structures different from those of English. Teaching spoken English and American Sign Language equally, often called bilingual bimodal education, can enhance academic and reading achievement as well as language and psychosocial development. Formal schooling options for a DHH child include enrollment in a public or private school system (often called inclusion, integration, or mainstreaming), a school for the deaf, or a bilingual school. Individuals with hearing loss experience stereotypes and biases that create disparities in health insurance coverage, health care access, and outcomes of mental and physical conditions. Family physicians should recognize and minimize biases to improve health care in the DHH community. Written permission from the American Academy of Family Physicians is required for reproduction of this material in whole or in part in any form or medium.

  2. Narrative skills in two languages of Mandarin-English bilingual children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Ying; Bedore, Lisa M; Sheng, Li; Peña, Elizabeth D

    2018-03-08

    Narrative skills between Mandarin and English in Mandarin-English (ME) bilingual children were compared, exploring cross-linguistic interactions of these skills, and influences of age and current language experience (input and output) on narrative performance. Macrostructure and microstructure in elicited narratives from 21 ME bilingual children were analysed. Language experience was collected by parent report and entered as a covariate. Repeated measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to compare the two languages. Children demonstrated better narrative performance in English than Mandarin, with a larger cross-linguistic difference in microstructure than macrostructure. Significant cross-linguistic correlations were only found in children with high Mandarin vocabulary. Age, associated with length of English exposure, only significantly correlated with narrative performance in English. Output had stronger correlations with narrative skills than input. Macrostructure may be less variable across languages than microstructure. Children may need to reach a threshold of vocabulary for cross-linguistic interactions of narrative skills to occur. The effect of age in English may be related to increased cumulative English experience. Children may experience a plateau in Mandarin due to insufficient Mandarin exposure. Stronger correlations between output and narrative skills may be attributed to the expressive nature of both.

  3. Sociocultural and Academic Considerations for School-Age d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing Multilingual Learners: A Case Study of a Deaf Latina.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Sharon; Scott, Jessica

    2016-01-01

    For decades , research has focused on American Sign Language/English bilingual education for d/Deaf and hard of hearing students whose families used English or ASL. However, a growing population of d/Dhh children come from households where languages other than English (e.g., Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese) are used. In a longitudinal case study, the authors document the K-12 educational pathway of a deaf Latina student. Anecdotal records, semistructured interviews, assessment data, and document reviews of the participant's school and clinical records are used to develop the case study. The findings provide the basis for recommendations for future research and for critical factors to consider to improve the education of d/Dhh Multilingual Learners (DMLs). These include ensuring appropriate educational placements, addressing early communication and language needs, determining effective instructional techniques and assessments, strengthening the L1 to support L2 learning, and providing students with opportunities to learn their heritage language.

  4. How Deaf American Sign Language/English Bilingual Children Become Proficient Readers: An Emic Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mounty, Judith L.; Pucci, Concetta T.; Harmon, Kristen C.

    2014-01-01

    A primary tenet underlying American Sign Language/English bilingual education for deaf students is that early access to a visual language, developed in conjunction with language planning principles, provides a foundation for literacy in English. The goal of this study is to obtain an emic perspective on bilingual deaf readers transitioning from…

  5. Translation Priming Effect in Spanish-English Bilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramírez Sarmiento, Albeiro Miguel Ángel

    2011-01-01

    This article aims to establish the effects of masked priming by translation equivalents in Spanish-English bilinguals with a high-intermediate level of proficiency in their second language. Its findings serve as evidence to support the hypothesis that semantic representations mediate the mental association among non-cognates from a speaker's first…

  6. English Phonological Awareness in Bilinguals: A Cross-Linguistic Study of Tamil, Malay and Chinese English-Language Learners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dixon, L. Quentin; Chuang, Hui-Kai; Quiroz, Blanca

    2012-01-01

    To test the lexical restructuring hypothesis among bilingual English-language learners, English phonological awareness (PA), English vocabulary and ethnic language vocabulary (Mandarin Chinese, Malay or Tamil) were assessed among 284 kindergarteners (168 Chinese, 71 Malays and 45 Tamils) in Singapore. A multi-level regression analysis showed that…

  7. The Disfluent Speech of Bilingual Spanish–English Children: Considerations for Differential Diagnosis of Stuttering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bedore, Lisa M.; Ramos, Daniel

    2015-01-01

    Purpose The primary purpose of this study was to describe the frequency and types of speech disfluencies that are produced by bilingual Spanish–English (SE) speaking children who do not stutter. The secondary purpose was to determine whether their disfluent speech is mediated by language dominance and/or language produced. Method Spanish and English narratives (a retell and a tell in each language) were elicited and analyzed relative to the frequency and types of speech disfluencies produced. These data were compared with the monolingual English-speaking guidelines for differential diagnosis of stuttering. Results The mean frequency of stuttering-like speech behaviors in the bilingual SE participants ranged from 3% to 22%, exceeding the monolingual English standard of 3 per 100 words. There was no significant frequency difference in stuttering-like or non-stuttering-like speech disfluency produced relative to the child's language dominance. There was a significant difference relative to the language the child was speaking; all children produced significantly more stuttering-like speech disfluencies in Spanish than in English. Conclusion Results demonstrate that the disfluent speech of bilingual SE children should be carefully considered relative to the complex nature of bilingualism. PMID:25215876

  8. English Word Reading Difficulties and Orthographic Processing Weaknesses in Chinese English Bilingual Adolescents with Dyslexia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Xiuhong; McBride, Catherine

    2017-01-01

    Is dyslexia in Chinese for Chinese-English bilinguals associated with difficulties in reading English, given differences in L1 and L2 orthographies? Among 11 Hong Kong Chinese adolescents with dyslexia, who were diagnosed by professional psychologists using the diagnostic criteria set out in a standardized test, and 14 adolescents without…

  9. SALT 2010 Bilingual S/E Version: A Tool for Assessing the Language Production of Bilingual (Spanish/English) Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Jon F.; Iglesias, Aquiles; Rojas, Raul

    2010-01-01

    Assessing the language development of bilingual children can be a challenge--too often, children in the complex process of learning both Spanish and English are under- or over-diagnosed with language disorders. SLPs can change that with "SALT 2010 Bilingual S/E Version" for grades K-3, the first tool to comprehensively assess children's language…

  10. Sentence comprehension in Swahili-English bilingual agrammatic speakers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Abuom, Tom O.; Shah, Emmah; Bastiaanse, Roelien

    For this study, sentence comprehension was tested in Swahili-English bilingual agrammatic speakers. The sentences were controlled for four factors: (1) order of the arguments (base vs. derived); (2) embedding (declarative vs. relative sentences); (3) overt use of the relative pronoun "who"; (4)

  11. Translational equivalents and composition of the entries in bilingual English-Serbian dictionaries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zečević Snežana M.

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is the analysis of translational eqivalents as well as of the composition of the entries in bilingual English-Serbian dictionaries. It is initially assumed that there are different microstructure and macrostructure of the dictionaries of different volume and purpose, likewise the correspondence of translational equivalents of their entries. The analysis conducted for the requirements of this paper included six randomly chosen lexemes of the English language taken from three bilingual dictionaries that were contrasted with their equivalent lexemes presented in the monolingual English dictionary which was later used for checking. The results of the analysis presented less meaning of the lexemes in Colloquial and Universal English-Serbian Dictionary while the utmost variety of semantic dimensions was noted in Encyclopedic English-Serbian Dictionary which by its quality and organization presents an inexhaustible source of information necessary for translating texts from English to Serbian language.

  12. Impact of Bilingual Education Programs on Limited English Proficient Students and Their Peers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Daysal, N. Meltem; Chin, Aimee; Imberman, Scott

    2013-01-01

    bilingual education above this 20-student cutoff. Using this discontinuity as an instrument for district bilingual education provision, we find that providing bilingual education programs (relative to providing only English as a Second Language programs) does not significantly impact the standardized test...... scores of students with Spanish as their home language (comprised primarily of ever-LEP students). However, we find significant positive impacts on non-LEP students’ achievement, which indicates that education programs for LEP students have spillover effects to non-LEP students.......Texas requires a school district to offer bilingual education when its enrollment of limited English proficient (LEP) students in a particular elementary grade and language is twenty or higher. Using school panel data, we find a significant increase in the probability that a district provides...

  13. Language-invariant verb processing regions in Spanish-English bilinguals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willms, Joanna L; Shapiro, Kevin A; Peelen, Marius V; Pajtas, Petra E; Costa, Albert; Moo, Lauren R; Caramazza, Alfonso

    2011-07-01

    Nouns and verbs are fundamental grammatical building blocks of all languages. Studies of brain-damaged patients and healthy individuals have demonstrated that verb processing can be dissociated from noun processing at a neuroanatomical level. In cases where bilingual patients have a noun or verb deficit, the deficit has been observed in both languages. This suggests that the noun-verb distinction may be based on neural components that are common across languages. Here we investigated the cortical organization of grammatical categories in healthy, early Spanish-English bilinguals using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a morphophonological alternation task. Four regions showed greater activity for verbs than for nouns in both languages: left posterior middle temporal gyrus (LMTG), left middle frontal gyrus (LMFG), pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), and right middle occipital gyrus (RMOG); no regions showed greater activation for nouns. Multi-voxel pattern analysis within verb-specific regions showed indistinguishable activity patterns for English and Spanish, indicating language-invariant bilingual processing. In LMTG and LMFG, patterns were more similar within than across grammatical category, both within and across languages, indicating language-invariant grammatical class information. These results suggest that the neural substrates underlying verb-specific processing are largely independent of language in bilinguals, both at the macroscopic neuroanatomical level and at the level of voxel activity patterns. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. The Representation of Bilingual Mental Lexicon and English Vocabulary Acquisition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ying, Zhang

    2017-01-01

    This paper provides an overview of the theories on the organization and development of L1 mental lexicon and the representation mode of bilingual mental lexicon. It analyzes the structure and characteristics of Chinese EFL learners and their problems in English vocabulary acquisition. On the basis of this, it suggests that English vocabulary…

  15. Narratives in Two Languages: Storytelling of Bilingual Cantonese-English Preschoolers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rezzonico, Stefano; Goldberg, Ahuva; Mak, Katy Ka-Yan; Yap, Stephanie; Milburn, Trelani; Belletti, Adriana; Girolametto, Luigi

    2016-06-01

    The aim of this study was to compare narratives generated by 4-year-old and 5-year-old children who were bilingual in English and Cantonese. The sample included 47 children (23 who were 4 years old and 24 who were 5 years old) living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who spoke both Cantonese and English. The participants spoke and heard predominantly Cantonese in the home. Participants generated a story in English and Cantonese by using a wordless picture book; language order was counterbalanced. Data were transcribed and coded for story grammar, morphosyntactic quality, mean length of utterance in words, and the number of different words. Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed higher story grammar scores in English than in Cantonese, but no other significant main effects of language were observed. Analyses also revealed that older children had higher story grammar, mean length of utterance in words, and morphosyntactic quality scores than younger children in both languages. Hierarchical regressions indicated that Cantonese story grammar predicted English story grammar and Cantonese microstructure predicted English microstructure. However, no correlation was observed between Cantonese and English morphosyntactic quality. The results of this study have implications for speech-language pathologists who collect narratives in Cantonese and English from bilingual preschoolers. The results suggest that there is a possible transfer in narrative abilities between the two languages.

  16. G.-M. de Schryver (Editor. Oxford Bilingual School Dictionary: Zulu and English

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D.J. Prinsloo

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available The Oxford Bilingual School Dictionary: Zulu and English (henceforth OZSD is the latest addition to the bidirectional English–isiZulu bilingual dictionary market and is based on the same successful and prize-winning formula used for the Oxford Northern Sotho School Dictionary (ONSD published in 2007.

  17. Verbal fluency in bilingual Spanish/English Alzheimer's disease patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvatierra, Judy; Rosselli, Monica; Acevedo, Amarilis; Duara, Ranjan

    2007-01-01

    Studies have demonstrated that in verbal fluency tests, monolinguals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show greater difficulties retrieving words based on semantic rather than phonemic rules. The present study aimed to determine whether this difficulty was reproduced in both languages of Spanish/English bilinguals with mild to moderate AD whose primary language was Spanish. Performance on semantic and phonemic verbal fluency of 11 bilingual AD patients was compared to the performance of 11 cognitively normal, elderly bilingual individuals matched for gender, age, level of education, and degree of bilingualism. Cognitively normal subjects retrieved significantly more items under the semantic condition compared to the phonemic, whereas the performance of AD patients was similar under both conditions, suggesting greater decline in semantic verbal fluency tests. This pattern was produced in both languages, implying a related semantic decline in both languages. Results from this study should be considered preliminary because of the small sample size.

  18. From Test Scores to Language Use: Emergent Bilinguals Using English to Accomplish Academic Tasks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez-Mojica, Claudia

    2018-01-01

    Prominent discourses about emergent bilinguals' academic abilities tend to focus on performance as measured by test scores and perpetuate the message that emergent bilinguals trail far behind their peers. When we remove the constraints of formal testing situations, what can emergent bilinguals do in English as they engage in naturally occurring…

  19. The relation between working memory and language comprehension in signers and speakers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emmorey, Karen; Giezen, Marcel R; Petrich, Jennifer A F; Spurgeon, Erin; O'Grady Farnady, Lucinda

    2017-06-01

    This study investigated the relation between linguistic and spatial working memory (WM) resources and language comprehension for signed compared to spoken language. Sign languages are both linguistic and visual-spatial, and therefore provide a unique window on modality-specific versus modality-independent contributions of WM resources to language processing. Deaf users of American Sign Language (ASL), hearing monolingual English speakers, and hearing ASL-English bilinguals completed several spatial and linguistic serial recall tasks. Additionally, their comprehension of spatial and non-spatial information in ASL and spoken English narratives was assessed. Results from the linguistic serial recall tasks revealed that the often reported advantage for speakers on linguistic short-term memory tasks does not extend to complex WM tasks with a serial recall component. For English, linguistic WM predicted retention of non-spatial information, and both linguistic and spatial WM predicted retention of spatial information. For ASL, spatial WM predicted retention of spatial (but not non-spatial) information, and linguistic WM did not predict retention of either spatial or non-spatial information. Overall, our findings argue against strong assumptions of independent domain-specific subsystems for the storage and processing of linguistic and spatial information and furthermore suggest a less important role for serial encoding in signed than spoken language comprehension. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Intervention for bilingual speech sound disorders: A case study of an isiXhosa-English-speaking child.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rossouw, Kate; Pascoe, Michelle

    2018-03-19

     Bilingualism is common in South Africa, with many children acquiring isiXhosa as a home language and learning English from a young age in nursery or crèche. IsiXhosa is a local language, part of the Bantu language family, widely spoken in the country. Aims: To describe changes in a bilingual child's speech following intervention based on a theoretically motivated and tailored intervention plan. Methods and procedures: This study describes a female isiXhosa-English bilingual child, named Gcobisa (pseudonym) (chronological age 4 years and 2 months) with a speech sound disorder. Gcobisa's speech was assessed and her difficulties categorised according to Dodd's (2005) diagnostic framework. From this, intervention was planned and the language of intervention was selected. Following intervention, Gcobisa's speech was reassessed. Outcomes and results: Gcobisa's speech was categorised as a consistent phonological delay as she presented with gliding of/l/in both English and isiXhosa, cluster reduction in English and several other age appropriate phonological processes. She was provided with 16 sessions of intervention using a minimal pairs approach, targeting the phonological process of gliding of/l/, which was not considered age appropriate for Gcobisa in isiXhosa when compared to the small set of normative data regarding monolingual isiXhosa development. As a result, the targets and stimuli were in isiXhosa while the main language of instruction was English. This reflects the language mismatch often faced by speech language therapists in South Africa. Gcobisa showed evidence of generalising the target phoneme to English words. Conclusions and implications: The data have theoretical implications regarding bilingual development of isiXhosa-English, as it highlights the ways bilingual development may differ from the monolingual development of this language pair. It adds to the small set of intervention studies investigating the changes in the speech of bilingual

  1. Intervention for bilingual speech sound disorders: A case study of an isiXhosa–English-speaking child

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kate Rossouw

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: Bilingualism is common in South Africa, with many children acquiring isiXhosa as a home language and learning English from a young age in nursery or crèche. IsiXhosa is a local language, part of the Bantu language family, widely spoken in the country.   Aims: To describe changes in a bilingual child’s speech following intervention based on a theoretically motivated and tailored intervention plan.   Methods and procedures: This study describes a female isiXhosa–English bilingual child, named Gcobisa (pseudonym (chronological age 4 years and 2 months with a speech sound disorder. Gcobisa’s speech was assessed and her difficulties categorised according to Dodd’s (2005 diagnostic framework. From this, intervention was planned and the language of intervention was selected. Following intervention, Gcobisa’s speech was reassessed.   Outcomes and results: Gcobisa’s speech was categorised as a consistent phonological delay as she presented with gliding of/l/in both English and isiXhosa, cluster reduction in English and several other age appropriate phonological processes. She was provided with 16 sessions of intervention using a minimal pairs approach, targeting the phonological process of gliding of/l/, which was not considered age appropriate for Gcobisa in isiXhosa when compared to the small set of normative data regarding monolingual isiXhosa development. As a result, the targets and stimuli were in isiXhosa while the main language of instruction was English. This reflects the language mismatch often faced by speech language therapists in South Africa. Gcobisa showed evidence of generalising the target phoneme to English words.   Conclusions and implications: The data have theoretical implications regarding bilingual development of isiXhosa–English, as it highlights the ways bilingual development may differ from the monolingual development of this language pair. It adds to the small set of intervention studies

  2. The Home Literacy Environment and the English Narrative Development of Spanish–English Bilingual Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammer, Carol Scheffner

    2016-01-01

    Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the home literacy environment (HLE) on the English narrative development of Spanish–English bilingual children from low-income backgrounds. Method Longitudinal data were collected on 81 bilingual children from preschool through 1st grade. English narrative skills were assessed in the fall and spring of each year. Microstructure measures included mean length of utterance in morphemes and number of different words. The Narrative Scoring Scheme (Heilmann, Miller, Nockerts, & Dunaway, 2010) measured macrostructure. Each fall, the children's mothers reported the frequency of literacy activities and number of children's books in the home. Growth curve modeling was used to describe the children's narrative development and the impact of the HLE over time. Results Significant growth occurred for all narrative measures. The HLE did not affect microstructure growth. The frequency with which mothers read to their children had a positive impact on the growth of the children's total Narrative Scoring Scheme scores. Other aspects of the HLE, such as the frequency with which the mothers told stories, did not affect macrostructure development. Conclusions These results provide information about the development of English narrative abilities and demonstrate the importance of frequent book reading for the overall narrative quality of children from Spanish-speaking homes who are learning English. PMID:27701625

  3. The Complex Relationship between Bilingual Home Language Input and Kindergarten Children's Spanish and English Oral Proficiencies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cha, Kijoo; Goldenberg, Claude

    2015-01-01

    This study examined how emergent bilingual children's English and Spanish proficiencies moderated the relationships between Spanish and English input at home (bilingual home language input [BHLI]) and children's oral language skills in each language. The sample comprised over 1,400 Spanish-dominant kindergartners in California and Texas. BHLI was…

  4. Temporal features of word-initial /s/+stop clusters in bilingual Mandarin-English children and monolingual English children and adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Jing

    2018-03-01

    This study investigated the durational features of English word-initial /s/+stop clusters produced by bilingual Mandarin (L1)-English (L2) children and monolingual English children and adults. The participants included two groups of five- to six-year-old bilingual children: low proficiency in the L2 (Bi-low) and high proficiency in the L2 (Bi-high), one group of age-matched English children, and one group of English adults. Each participant produced a list of English words containing /sp, st, sk/ at the word-initial position followed by /a, i, u/, respectively. The absolute durations of the clusters and cluster elements and the durational proportions of elements to the overall cluster were measured. The results revealed that Bi-high children behaved similarly to the English monolinguals whereas Bi-low children used a different strategy of temporal organization to coordinate the cluster components in comparison to the English monolinguals and Bi-high children. The influence of language experience and continuing development of temporal features in children were discussed.

  5. Bimodal bilingualism as multisensory training?: Evidence for improved audiovisual speech perception after sign language exposure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Joshua T; Darcy, Isabelle; Newman, Sharlene D

    2016-02-15

    The aim of the present study was to characterize effects of learning a sign language on the processing of a spoken language. Specifically, audiovisual phoneme comprehension was assessed before and after 13 weeks of sign language exposure. L2 ASL learners performed this task in the fMRI scanner. Results indicated that L2 American Sign Language (ASL) learners' behavioral classification of the speech sounds improved with time compared to hearing nonsigners. Results indicated increased activation in the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) after sign language exposure, which suggests concomitant increased phonological processing of speech. A multiple regression analysis indicated that learner's rating on co-sign speech use and lipreading ability was correlated with SMG activation. This pattern of results indicates that the increased use of mouthing and possibly lipreading during sign language acquisition may concurrently improve audiovisual speech processing in budding hearing bimodal bilinguals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Language-specific memory for everyday arithmetic facts in Chinese-English bilinguals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yalin; Yanke, Jill; Campbell, Jamie I D

    2016-04-01

    The role of language in memory for arithmetic facts remains controversial. Here, we examined transfer of memory training for evidence that bilinguals may acquire language-specific memory stores for everyday arithmetic facts. Chinese-English bilingual adults (n = 32) were trained on different subsets of simple addition and multiplication problems. Each operation was trained in one language or the other. The subsequent test phase included all problems with addition and multiplication alternating across trials in two blocks, one in each language. Averaging over training language, the response time (RT) gains for trained problems relative to untrained problems were greater in the trained language than in the untrained language. Subsequent analysis showed that English training produced larger RT gains for trained problems relative to untrained problems in English at test relative to the untrained Chinese language. In contrast, there was no evidence with Chinese training that problem-specific RT gains differed between Chinese and the untrained English language. We propose that training in Chinese promoted a translation strategy for English arithmetic (particularly multiplication) that produced strong cross-language generalization of practice, whereas training in English strengthened relatively weak, English-language arithmetic memories and produced little generalization to Chinese (i.e., English training did not induce an English translation strategy for Chinese language trials). The results support the existence of language-specific strengthening of memory for everyday arithmetic facts.

  7. Analogical Transfer by Spanish-English Bilinguals: Implications for Educational and Employment Settings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fukumine, Eri; Kennison, Shelia M.

    2016-01-01

    The present research investigated analogical transfer during problem solving by bilinguals. In a study with 50 Spanish-English bilinguals, participants solved a target problem whose solution was similar to that of a preceding source problem. The source problem was always presented in the 2nd language; the target problem was always presented in the…

  8. PROPOSING A LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE AND SELF-ASSESSMENT OF PROFICIENCY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR BILINGUAL BRAZILIAN SIGN LANGUAGE/PORTUGUESE HEARING TEACHERS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ingrid FINGER

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This article presents a language experience and self-assessment of proficiency questionnaire for hearing teachers who use Brazilian Sign Language and Portuguese in their teaching practice. By focusing on hearing teachers who work in Deaf education contexts, this questionnaire is presented as a tool that may complement the assessment of linguistic skills of hearing teachers. This proposal takes into account important factors in bilingualism studies such as the importance of knowing the participant’s context with respect to family, professional and social background (KAUFMANN, 2010. This work uses as model the following questionnaires: LEAP-Q (MARIAN; BLUMENFELD; KAUSHANSKAYA, 2007, SLSCO – Sign Language Skills Classroom Observation (REEVES et al., 2000 and the Language Attitude Questionnaire (KAUFMANN, 2010, taking into consideration the different kinds of exposure to Brazilian Sign Language. The questionnaire is designed for bilingual bimodal hearing teachers who work in bilingual schools for the Deaf or who work in the specialized educational department who assistdeaf students.

  9. Exploring Noun Bias in Filipino-English Bilingual Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucas, Rochelle Irene G.; Bernardo, Allan B. I.

    2008-01-01

    Researchers have suggested that there is a noun bias in children's early vocabularies brought about by features of adults' child-directed utterances, which may vary across languages (E. V. Bates et al., 1994; D. Gentner, 1982). In the present study, the authors explored noun bias in 60 Filipino-English bilingual children whose 2 languages differed…

  10. The efficacy of dictionary use while reading for learning new words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamilton, Harley

    2012-01-01

    The researcher investigated the use of three types of dictionaries while reading by high school students with severe to profound hearing loss. The objective of the study was to determine the effectiveness of each type of dictionary for acquiring the meanings of unknown vocabulary in text. The three types of dictionaries were (a) an online bilingual multimedia English-American Sign Language (ASL) dictionary (OBMEAD), (b) a paper English-ASL dictionary (PBEAD), and (c) an online monolingual English dictionary (OMED). It was found that for immediate recall of target words, the OBMEAD was superior to both the PBEAD and the OMED. For later recall, no significant difference appeared between the OBMEAD and the PBEAD. For both of these, recall was statistically superior to recall for words learned via the OMED.

  11. The English proficiency and academic language skills of Australian bilingual children during the primary school years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dennaoui, Kamelia; Nicholls, Ruth Jane; O'Connor, Meredith; Tarasuik, Joanne; Kvalsvig, Amanda; Goldfeld, Sharon

    2016-04-01

    Evidence suggests that early proficiency in the language of school instruction is an important predictor of academic success for bilingual children. This study investigated whether English-proficiency at 4-5 years of age predicts academic language and literacy skills among Australian bilingual children at 10-11 years of age, as part of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children ( LSAC, 2012 ). The LSAC comprises a nationally representative clustered cross-sequential sample of Australian children. Data were analysed from a sub-sample of 129 bilingual children from the LSAC Kindergarten cohort (n = 4983), for whom teachers completed the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) checklist (a population measure of early childhood development) and the Academic Rating Scale (ARS) language and literacy subscale. Linear regression analyses revealed that bilingual children who commenced school with stronger English proficiency had higher academic language and literacy scores at the end of primary school (β = 0.45). English proficiency remained a significant predictor, even when accounting for gender and socio-economic disadvantage (β = 0.38). The findings indicate that bilingual children who begin school without English proficiency are at risk of difficulties with academic language and literacy, even after 6 years of schooling. Risk factors need to be identified so early support can be targeted towards the most vulnerable children.

  12. CzEngVallex: a Bilingual Czech-English Valency Lexicon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Urešová Zdeňka

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper introduces a new bilingual Czech-English verbal valency lexicon (called CzEng-Vallex representing a relatively large empirical database. It includes 20,835 aligned valency frame pairs (i.e., verb senses which are translations of each other and their aligned arguments. This new lexicon uses data from the Prague Czech-English Dependency Treebank and also takes advantage of the existing valency lexicons for both languages: the PDT-Vallex for Czech and the EngVallex for English. The CzEngVallex is available for browsing as well as for download in the LINDAT/CLARIN repository.

  13. Total and Conceptual Vocabulary in Spanish–English Bilinguals From 22 to 30 Months: Implications for Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Core, Cynthia; Hoff, Erika; Rumiche, Rosario; Señor, Melissa

    2015-01-01

    Purpose Vocabulary assessment holds promise as a way to identify young bilingual children at risk for language delay. This study compares 2 measures of vocabulary in a group of young Spanish–English bilingual children to a single-language measure used with monolingual children. Method Total vocabulary and conceptual vocabulary were used to measure mean vocabulary size and growth in 47 Spanish–English bilingually developing children from 22 to 30 months of age based on results from the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI; Fenson et al., 1993) and the Inventario del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas (Jackson-Maldonado et al., 2003). Bilingual children’s scores of total vocabulary and conceptual vocabulary were compared with CDI scores for a control group of 56 monolingual children. Results The total vocabulary measure resulted in mean vocabulary scores and average rate of growth similar to monolingual growth, whereas conceptual vocabulary scores were significantly smaller and grew at a slower rate than total vocabulary scores. Total vocabulary identified the same proportion of bilingual children below the 25th percentile on monolingual norms as the CDI did for monolingual children. Conclusion These results support the use of total vocabulary as a means of assessing early language development in young bilingual Spanish–English speaking children. PMID:24023382

  14. The Impact of Bimodal Bilingual Parental Input on the Communication and Language Development of a Young Deaf Child

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levesque, Elizabeth; Brown, P. Margaret; Wigglesworth, Gillian

    2014-01-01

    This study explores the impact of bimodal bilingual parental input on the communication and language development of a young deaf child. The participants in this case study were a severe-to-profoundly deaf boy and his hearing parents, who were enrolled in a bilingual (English and Australian Sign Language) homebased early intervention programme. The…

  15. English-Chinese Cross-Language IR Using Bilingual Dictionaries

    Science.gov (United States)

    2006-01-01

    specialized dictionaries together contain about two million entries [6]. 4 Monolingual Experiment The Chinese documents and the Chinese translations of... monolingual performance. The main performance-limiting factor is the limited coverage of the dictionary used in query translation. Some of the key con...English-Chinese Cross-Language IR using Bilingual Dictionaries Aitao Chen , Hailing Jiang , and Fredric Gey School of Information Management

  16. Tone Attrition in Mandarin Speakers of Varying English Proficiency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Creel, Sarah C.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine whether the degree of dominance of Mandarin–English bilinguals' languages affects phonetic processing of tone content in their native language, Mandarin. Method We tested 72 Mandarin–English bilingual college students with a range of language-dominance profiles in the 2 languages and ages of acquisition of English. Participants viewed 2 photographs at a time while hearing a familiar Mandarin word referring to 1 photograph. The names of the 2 photographs diverged in tone, vowels, or both. Word recognition was evaluated using clicking accuracy, reaction times, and an online recognition measure (gaze) and was compared in the 3 conditions. Results Relative proficiency in English was correlated with reduced word recognition success in tone-disambiguated trials, but not in vowel-disambiguated trials, across all 3 dependent measures. This selective attrition for tone content emerged even though all bilinguals had learned Mandarin from birth. Lengthy experience with English thus weakened tone use. Conclusions This finding has implications for the question of the extent to which bilinguals' 2 phonetic systems interact. It suggests that bilinguals may not process pitch information language-specifically and that processing strategies from the dominant language may affect phonetic processing in the nondominant language—even when the latter was learned natively. PMID:28124064

  17. Use of Monolingual and Bilingual Dictionaries among Students of English

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monika Kavalir

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available The study of dictionary use in 32 firstyear students of English at the University of Ljubljana in the academic year 2009/2010 shows that students use a variety of dictionaries with a slight preponderance of monolingual dictionaries over bilingual ones. The bilingual dictionaries listed do not include some of the most recent and most comprehensive dictionaries while some of the most frequently used resources are quite modest sized. The students are already predominantly users of electronic and online dictionaries with a lower frequency of printed resources – a trend which is only likely to accelerate with the advent of new bilingual online dictionaries. These results have practical relevance for teachers in all sectors, from primary and secondary schools to universities, as they point towards a need for additional training in the use of bilingual dictionaries. The transition from printed to electronic and online resources can also be expected to induce changes in EFL methodology at all levels.

  18. Translating Politeness in Bilingual English-Spanish Business Correspondence

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Sandro; Fuertes Olivera, Pedro

    2008-01-01

    which pragmatic information types are needed when translating business letters. The analysis focuses on a Spanish-English business dictionary and its treatment of politeness in special sections dealing with business correspondence. The findings show that the treatment is insufficient, because users......Politeness is an important element in interlingual business communication. Translators uae bilingual dictionaries as tools helping them in business discourse across cultures, but dictionaries do not contain the relevant pragmatic information. The functions of dictionaries are used to determine......' business-language competence does not enable them to express the right level of politeness. Bilingual dictionaries should offer a systematic treatment of cultural and genre-specific means of expressing politeness in contrastive, informative texts showing the specific uses of politeness in business...

  19. Bimodal Bilingual Language Development of Hearing Children of Deaf Parents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofmann, Kristin; Chilla, Solveig

    2015-01-01

    Adopting a bimodal bilingual language acquisition model, this qualitative case study is the first in Germany to investigate the spoken and sign language development of hearing children of deaf adults (codas). The spoken language competence of six codas within the age range of 3;10 to 6;4 is assessed by a series of standardised tests (SETK 3-5,…

  20. Semantic and Conceptual Factors in Spanish-English Bilinguals' Processing of Lexical Categories in Their Two Languages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gathercole, Virginia C. Mueller; Stadthagen-González, Hans; Pérez-Tattam, Rocío; Yava?, Feryal

    2016-01-01

    This study examines possible semantic interaction in fully fluent adult simultaneous and early second language (L2) bilinguals. Monolingual and bilingual speakers of Spanish and English (n = 144) were tested for their understanding of lexical categories that differed in their two languages. Simultaneous bilinguals came from homes in which Spanish…

  1. Item-level psychometrics and predictors of performance for Spanish/English bilingual speakers on an object and action naming battery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edmonds, Lisa A; Donovan, Neila J

    2012-04-01

    There is a pressing need for psychometrically sound naming materials for Spanish/English bilingual adults. To address this need, in this study the authors examined the psychometric properties of An Object and Action Naming Battery (An O&A Battery; Druks & Masterson, 2000) in bilingual speakers. Ninety-one Spanish/English bilinguals named O&A Battery items in English and Spanish. Responses underwent a Rasch analysis. Using correlation and regression analyses, the authors evaluated the effect of psycholinguistic (e.g., imageability) and participant (e.g., proficiency ratings) variables on accuracy. Rasch analysis determined unidimensionality across English and Spanish nouns and verbs and robust item-level psychometric properties, evidence for content validity. Few items did not fit the model, there were no ceiling or floor effects after uninformative and misfit items were removed, and items reflected a range of difficulty. Reliability coefficients were high, and the number of statistically different ability levels provided indices of sensitivity. Regression analyses revealed significant correlations between psycholinguistic variables and accuracy, providing preliminary construct validity. The participant variables that contributed most to accuracy were proficiency ratings and time of language use. Results suggest adequate content and construct validity of O&A items retained in the analysis for Spanish/English bilingual adults and support future efforts to evaluate naming in older bilinguals and persons with bilingual aphasia.

  2. Cultural Effect on Perspective Taking in Chinese-English Bilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luk, Kevin K. S.; Xiao, Wen S.; Cheung, Him

    2012-01-01

    Some recent evidence has suggested that perspective taking skills in everyday life situations may differ across cultural groups. In the present study, we investigated this effect via culture priming in a group of Chinese-English bilingual adults in the context of a communication game. Results showed that the participants made more perspective…

  3. Patterns of Language Preference Among Bilingual (Filipino-English) Boys

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ledesma, Heloise Marie L.; Morris, Robin D.

    2005-01-01

    The pattern of language preference in a simultaneous bilingual (Filipino-English) population was examined, including changes in the pattern of preference over time. Participants were 81 Filipino boys (Mean age=6 years, 2 months) recruited from two schools in the Philippines. A language preference checklist was completed by the parents of the…

  4. Addressing Clinician-Client Mismatch: A Preliminary Intervention Study with a Bilingual Vietnamese-English Preschooler

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pham, Giang; Kohnert, Kathryn; Mann, Deanine

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: This project examined receptive vocabulary treatment outcomes in the two languages of a bilingual preschooler with moderate to severe language impairment. Method: A series of single-subject experimental designs was used to compare English-only (EO) and bilingual (BI) approaches to receptive vocabulary treatment. The participant, Nam, was…

  5. Marking of Verb Tense in the English of Preschool English-Mandarin Bilingual Children: Evidence from Language Development Profiles within Subgroups on the Singapore English Action Picture Test

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brebner, Chris; McCormack, Paul; Rickard Liow, Susan

    2016-01-01

    Background: The phonological and morphosyntactic structures of English and Mandarin contrast maximally and an increasing number of bilinguals speak these two languages. Speech and language therapists need to understand bilingual development for children speaking these languages in order reliably to assess and provide intervention for this…

  6. Marital Quality in Deaf-Deaf and Deaf-Hearing Marriages

    OpenAIRE

    Mosier, Anthony G.

    1999-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to assess similarities and differences in marital adjustment between Deaf-Deaf and Deaf-hearing married couples. In examining marital adjustment, Spanier's Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS) was translated from English to American Sign Language (ASL) and administered to 30 Deaf-Deaf and 22 Deaf-hearing couple respondents. Although there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. Deaf-Deaf couples tended to have higher marital adj...

  7. Infants and Toddlers with Hearing Loss from Bilingual Homes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christine Yoshinaga-Itano

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available This article provides information about intervention strategies for children who are deaf or hard of hearing in non-English speaking homes with research data on children in Spanish-speaking homes living in the United States.  A description of the language learning environment of these families are compared to children with typical development in Spanish-speaking homes, children who are deaf or hard of hearing in English-speaking homes and children with typical development in English-speaking homes.  The language learning environment includes the average number of adult words, of conversational turns, and child vocalizations in an average day, as well as the percent of the day in silence, in noise, with TV/radio, with distant language and meaningful language. 

  8. English as a Foreign Language in Bilingual Language-minority Children, Children with Dyslexia and Monolingual Typical Readers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonifacci, Paola; Canducci, Elisa; Gravagna, Giulia; Palladino, Paola

    2017-05-01

    The present study was aimed at investigating literacy skills in English as a foreign language in three different groups of children: monolinguals with dyslexia (n = 19), typically developing bilinguals (language-minority) (n = 19) and a control group of monolinguals (Italian) (n = 76). Bilinguals were not expected to fail in English measures, and their gap with monolinguals would be expected to be limited to the instructional language, owing to underexposure. All participants were enrolled in Italian primary schools (fourth and fifth grades). A non-verbal reasoning task and Italian and English literacy tasks were administered. The Italian battery included word and non-word reading (speed and accuracy), word and non-word writing, and reading comprehension; the English battery included similar tasks, except for the non-word writing. Bilingual children performed similarly to typical readers in English tasks, whereas in Italian tasks, their performance was similar to that of typical readers in reading speed but not in reading accuracy and writing. Children with dyslexia underperformed compared with typically developing children in all English and Italian tasks, except for reading comprehension in Italian. Profile analysis and correlational analyses were further discussed. These results suggest that English as a foreign language might represent a challenge for students with dyslexia but a strength for bilingual language-minority children. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  9. Influence of current input-output and age of first exposure on phonological acquisition in early bilingual Spanish-English-speaking kindergarteners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruiz-Felter, Roxanna; Cooperson, Solaman J; Bedore, Lisa M; Peña, Elizabeth D

    2016-07-01

    Although some investigations of phonological development have found that segmental accuracy is comparable in monolingual children and their bilingual peers, there is evidence that language use affects segmental accuracy in both languages. To investigate the influence of age of first exposure to English and the amount of current input-output on phonological accuracy in English and Spanish in early bilingual Spanish-English kindergarteners. Also whether parent and teacher ratings of the children's intelligibility are correlated with phonological accuracy and the amount of experience with each language. Data for 91 kindergarteners (mean age = 5;6 years) were selected from a larger dataset focusing on Spanish-English bilingual language development. All children were from Central Texas, spoke a Mexican Spanish dialect and were learning American English. Children completed a single-word phonological assessment with separate forms for English and Spanish. The assessment was analyzed for segmental accuracy: percentage of consonants and vowels correct and percentage of early-, middle- and late-developing (EML) sounds correct were calculated. Children were more accurate on vowel production than consonant production and showed a decrease in accuracy from early to middle to late sounds. The amount of current input-output explained more of the variance in phonological accuracy than age of first English exposure. Although greater current input-output of a language was associated with greater accuracy in that language, English-dominant children were only significantly more accurate in English than Spanish on late sounds, whereas Spanish-dominant children were only significantly more accurate in Spanish than English on early sounds. Higher parent and teacher ratings of intelligibility in Spanish were correlated with greater consonant accuracy in Spanish, but the same did not hold for English. Higher intelligibility ratings in English were correlated with greater current English

  10. Designing Bilingual Scenarios to Promote English Language Learning at a Public School in Monteria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romero, Yanilis; Manjarres, Milton Pájaro

    2016-01-01

    This research study examines the assumptions of creating bilingual scenarios to promote English language learning for 384 students of ninth, tenth and eleventh grade of a public school in Monteria Colombia. An action research methodology was carried out in this study. The findings of this research suggested that the creation of bilingual scenarios…

  11. The role of native-language phonology in the auditory word identification and visual word recognition of Russian-English bilinguals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shafiro, Valeriy; Kharkhurin, Anatoliy V

    2009-03-01

    Does native language phonology influence visual word processing in a second language? This question was investigated in two experiments with two groups of Russian-English bilinguals, differing in their English experience, and a monolingual English control group. Experiment 1 tested visual word recognition following semantic categorization of words containing four phonological vowel contrasts (/i/-/u/,/I/-/A/,/i/-/I/,/epsilon/-/ae/). Experiment 2 assessed auditory identification accuracy of words containing these four contrasts. Both bilingual groups demonstrated reduced accuracy in auditory identification of two English vowel contrasts absent in their native phonology (/i/-/I/,epsilon/-/ae/). For late- bilinguals, auditory identification difficulty was accompanied by poor visual word recognition for one difficult contrast (/i/-/I/). Bilinguals' visual word recognition moderately correlated with their auditory identification of difficult contrasts. These results indicate that native language phonology can play a role in visual processing of second language words. However, this effect may be considerably constrained by orthographic systems of specific languages.

  12. What can speech production errors tell us about cross-linguistic processing in bilingual aphasia? Evidence from four English/Afrikaans bilingual individuals with aphasia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diane Kendall

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: The aim of this study is contribute to clinical practice of bilinguals around the globe, as well as to add to our understanding of bilingual aphasia processing, by analysing confrontation naming data from four Afrikaans/English bilingual individuals with acquired aphasia due to a left hemisphere stroke. Methods: This is a case series analysis of four Afrikaans/English bilingual aphasic individuals following a left cerebrovascular accident. Error analysis of confrontation naming data in both languages was performed. Research questions were directed toward the between language differences in lexical retrieval abilities, types of errors produced and degree of cognate overlap. Results: Three of the four participants showed significantly higher naming accuracy in first acquired language (L1 relative to the second acquired language (L2 and the largest proportion of error type for those three participants in both L1 and L2 was omission. One of the four participants (linguistically balanced showed no between language accuracy difference. Regarding cognate overlap, there was a trend for higher accuracy for higher cognate words (compared to low. Discussion: This study showed that naming performance in these four individuals was reflective of their relative language proficiency and use patterns prior to their stroke. These findings are consistent with the hierarchical model, in normal bilingual speakers and with persons with bilingual aphasia.

  13. The Role of the Introductory Matter in Bilingual Dictionaries of English and Arabic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hashan Al-Ajmi

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available

    Abstract: Monolingual and bilingual dictionaries for learners of English as foreign language differ from each other in many aspects. Among the differences are the types of information a dictionary provides outside the A?Z word list, especially in its introductory matter. Yet, dictionary introductions have been referred to rather peripherally in the literature on dictionary users and uses. Within the context of lexicographic practice, this study aims to outline the differences between EFL learner's dictionaries and bilingual English?Arabic dictionaries, and to determine to what extent a given set of popular dictionaries provide varied and sufficient information in their introductions. Three categories of dictionaries will be the subject of comparison: EFL dictionaries, European bilingual dictionaries, and bilingual dictionaries in the Arab world.

    Keywords: BILINGUAL DICTIONARY, INTRODUCTORY MATTER, ENGLISH?ARABIC, EFL LEARNER'S DICTIONARY, ORIENTALIST DICTIONARY

    Opsomming: Die rol van die inleidende gedeelte in tweetalige woordeboekevan Engels en Arabies. Eentalige en tweetalige woordeboeke vir aanleerders vanEngels as vreemde taal verskil in baie opsigte van mekaar. Een van die verskille is die tipes inligtingwat 'n woordeboek buite die A–Z-woordelys verskaf, veral in die inleidende gedeelte. Tog isdaar slegs in die verbygaan na woordeboekinleidings in die literatuur oor woordeboekgebruikersen -gebruik verwys. Hierdie studie het dit ten doel om, binne die konteks van die leksikografiesepraktyk, die verskille uit te stippel tussen EVT-aanleerderswoordeboeke en tweetalige Engels–Arabiesewoordeboeke, en te bepaal in watter mate 'n gegewe groep gewilde woordeboeke veelsoortigeen genoegsame inligting in hul inleidings verskaf. Drie kategorieë woordeboeke sal die onderwerpvan hierdie vergelyking vorm: EVT-woordeboeke, Europese tweetalige woordeboeke entweetalige woordeboeke binne die Arabiese w

  14. Measuring growth in bilingual and monolingual children's english productive vocabulary development: the utility of combining parent and teacher report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vagh, Shaher Banu; Pan, Barbara Alexander; Mancilla-Martinez, Jeannette

    2009-01-01

    This longitudinal study examined growth in the English productive vocabularies of bilingual and monolingual children between ages 24 and 36 months and explored the utility and validity of supplementing parent reports with teacher reports to improve the estimation of children's vocabulary. Low-income, English-speaking and English/Spanish-speaking parents and Early Head Start and Head Start program teachers completed the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory, Words and Sentences for 85 children. Results indicate faster growth rates for monolingual than for bilingual children and larger vocabularies for bilingual children who spoke mostly English than mostly Spanish at home. Parent-teacher composite reports, like parent reports, significantly related to children's directly assessed productive vocabulary at ages 30 and 36 months, but parent reports fit the model better. Implications for vocabulary assessment are discussed.

  15. Assessing the Double Phonemic Representation in Bilingual Speakers of Spanish and English: An Electrophysiological Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia-Sierra, Adrian; Ramirez-Esparza, Nairan; Silva-Pereyra, Juan; Siard, Jennifer; Champlin, Craig A.

    2012-01-01

    Event Related Potentials (ERPs) were recorded from Spanish-English bilinguals (N = 10) to test pre-attentive speech discrimination in two language contexts. ERPs were recorded while participants silently read magazines in English or Spanish. Two speech contrast conditions were recorded in each language context. In the "phonemic in English"…

  16. So They Want Us to Learn French: Promoting and Opposing Bilingualism in English-Speaking Canada

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayday, Matthew

    2015-01-01

    Since the 1960s, bilingualism has become a defining aspect of Canadian identity. And yet, fifty years after the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism was formed and with over forty years of federal government funding and supports for second-language education, relatively few English Canadians speak or choose to speak French. What…

  17. An Extra Radiator? Teachers' Views of Support Teaching and Withdrawal in Developing the English of Bilingual Pupils.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williamson, John

    1989-01-01

    Explores the attitudes of British secondary school teachers toward withdrawal and mainstream support as ways of helping bilingual pupils develop competence in English. Suggests that the results allow for envisaging an ideal classroom situation for teaching bilingual pupils. (KO)

  18. Interpreting Mini-Mental State Examination Performance in Highly Proficient Bilingual Spanish-English and Asian Indian-English Speakers: Demographic Adjustments, Item Analyses, and Supplemental Measures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milman, Lisa H; Faroqi-Shah, Yasmeen; Corcoran, Chris D; Damele, Deanna M

    2018-04-17

    Performance on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), among the most widely used global screens of adult cognitive status, is affected by demographic variables including age, education, and ethnicity. This study extends prior research by examining the specific effects of bilingualism on MMSE performance. Sixty independent community-dwelling monolingual and bilingual adults were recruited from eastern and western regions of the United States in this cross-sectional group study. Independent sample t tests were used to compare 2 bilingual groups (Spanish-English and Asian Indian-English) with matched monolingual speakers on the MMSE, demographically adjusted MMSE scores, MMSE item scores, and a nonverbal cognitive measure. Regression analyses were also performed to determine whether language proficiency predicted MMSE performance in both groups of bilingual speakers. Group differences were evident on the MMSE, on demographically adjusted MMSE scores, and on a small subset of individual MMSE items. Scores on a standardized screen of language proficiency predicted a significant proportion of the variance in the MMSE scores of both bilingual groups. Bilingual speakers demonstrated distinct performance profiles on the MMSE. Results suggest that supplementing the MMSE with a language screen, administering a nonverbal measure, and/or evaluating item-based patterns of performance may assist with test interpretation for this population.

  19. Group Differences between English and Spanish Speakers' Reading Fluency Growth in Bilingual Immersion Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taub, Gordon E.; Sivo, Stephen A.; Puyana, Olivia E.

    2017-01-01

    This study investigates second language acquisition of learners enrolled in a dual language/two-way bilingual immersion program. Two groups of third-grade students participated in this study. The first group was composed of Spanish-dominant participants learning English, and the second group was composed of English-dominant students learning…

  20. bilingualism in the english of tertiary students: a sine-qua-non

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    REV YOUNG EZENWA OBIOHA

    questions were used to investigate the effects of Bilingualism on the English of tertiary students. A total of three hundred students from two tertiary institutions were used. ... thoughts, inner feelings, personal psychological ... Chinese migration to the U.S.A (Akindele & ... child is taught Mathematical multiplication and division ...

  1. The Stroop effect in English-Japanese bilinguals: the effect of phonological similarity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sumiya, Hiromi; Healy, Alice F

    2008-01-01

    English-Japanese bilinguals performed a Stroop color-word interference task with both English and Japanese stimuli and responded in both English and Japanese. The Japanese stimuli were either the traditional color terms (TCTs) written in Hiragana or loanwords (LWs) from English written in Katakana. Both within-language and between-language interference were found for all combinations of stimuli and responses. The between-language interference was larger for Katakana LWs (phonologically similar to English) than for Hiragana TCTs, especially with Japanese responses. The magnitude of this phonological effect increased with self-rated reading fluency in Japanese. Overall responding was slower and the Stroop effect larger with English than with Japanese stimuli. These results suggest that unintentional lexical access elicits automatic phonological processing even with intermediate-level reading proficiency.

  2. Total and Conceptual Vocabulary in Spanish-English Bilinguals from 22 to 30 Months: Implications for Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Core, Cynthia; Hoff, Erika; Rumiche, Rosario; Senor, Melissa

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: Vocabulary assessment holds promise as a way to identify young bilingual children at risk for language delay. This study compares 2 measures of vocabulary in a group of young Spanish-English bilingual children to a single-language measure used with monolingual children. Method: Total vocabulary and conceptual vocabulary were used to…

  3. Iconic Native Culture Cues Inhibit Second Language Production in a Non-immigrant Population: Evidence from Bengali-English Bilinguals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roychoudhuri, Kesaban S; Prasad, Seema G; Mishra, Ramesh K

    2016-01-01

    We examined if iconic pictures belonging to one's native culture interfere with second language production in bilinguals in an object naming task. Bengali-English bilinguals named pictures in both L1 and L2 against iconic cultural images representing Bengali culture or neutral images. Participants named in both "Blocked" and "Mixed" language conditions. In both conditions, participants were significantly slower in naming in English when the background was an iconic Bengali culture picture than a neutral image. These data suggest that native language culture cues lead to activation of the L1 lexicon that competed against L2 words creating an interference. These results provide further support to earlier observations where such culture related interference has been observed in bilingual language production. We discuss the results in the context of cultural influence on the psycholinguistic processes in bilingual object naming.

  4. The Role of Home and School Factors in Predicting English Vocabulary among Bilingual Kindergarten Children in Singapore

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dixon, L. Quentin

    2011-01-01

    Research in monolingual populations indicate that vocabulary knowledge is essential to reading achievement, but how vocabulary develops in bilingual children has been understudied. The current study investigated the role of home and school factors in predicting English vocabulary among 284 bilingual kindergartners (168 Chinese, 65 Malay, 51…

  5. Bilingual Language Acquisition in a Minority Context: Using the Irish-English Communicative Development Inventory to Track Acquisition of an Endangered Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Toole, Ciara; Hickey, Tina M.

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated the role of language exposure in vocabulary acquisition in Irish, a threatened minority language in Ireland which is usually acquired with English in a bilingual context. Using a bilingual Irish-English adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories) [Fenson, L., V. A. Marchman, D. J. Thal, P. S.…

  6. The South African English Smartphone Digits-in-Noise Hearing Test: Effect of Age, Hearing Loss, and Speaking Competence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potgieter, Jenni-Marí; Swanepoel, De Wet; Myburgh, Hermanus Carel; Smits, Cas

    2017-11-20

    This study determined the effect of hearing loss and English-speaking competency on the South African English digits-in-noise hearing test to evaluate its suitability for use across native (N) and non-native (NN) speakers. A prospective cross-sectional cohort study of N and NN English adults with and without sensorineural hearing loss compared pure-tone air conduction thresholds to the speech reception threshold (SRT) recorded with the smartphone digits-in-noise hearing test. A rating scale was used for NN English listeners' self-reported competence in speaking English. This study consisted of 454 adult listeners (164 male, 290 female; range 16 to 90 years), of whom 337 listeners had a best ear four-frequency pure-tone average (4FPTA; 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz) of ≤25 dB HL. A linear regression model identified three predictors of the digits-in-noise SRT, namely, 4FPTA, age, and self-reported English-speaking competence. The NN group with poor self-reported English-speaking competence (≤5/10) performed significantly (p English-speaking competence for the N and NN groups (≥6/10) and NN group alone (≤5/10). Logistic regression models, which include age in the analysis, showed a further improvement in sensitivity and specificity for both groups (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.962 and 0.903, respectively). Self-reported English-speaking competence had a significant influence on the SRT obtained with the smartphone digits-in-noise test. A logistic regression approach considering SRT, self-reported English-speaking competence, and age as predictors of best ear 4FPTA >25 dB HL showed that the test can be used as an accurate hearing screening tool for N and NN English speakers. The smartphone digits-in-noise test, therefore, allows testing in a multilingual population familiar with English digits using dynamic cutoff values that can be chosen according to self-reported English-speaking competence and age.

  7. Evaluating Online Bilingual Dictionaries: The Case of Popular Free English-Polish Dictionaries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lew, Robert; Szarowska, Agnieszka

    2017-01-01

    Language learners today exhibit a strong preference for free online resources. One problem with such resources is that their quality can vary dramatically. Building on related work on monolingual resources for English, we propose an evaluation framework for online bilingual dictionaries, designed to assess lexicographic quality in four major…

  8. Second language proficiency modulates conflict-monitoring in an oculomotor Stroop task: evidence from Hindi-English bilinguals.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Niharika eSingh

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Many studies have confirmed the presence of a bilingual advantage which is manifested as enhanced cognitive and attention control. However, very few studies have investigated the role of second language proficiency on the modulation of conflict-monitoring in bilinguals. We investigated this by comparing high and low proficient Hindi-English bilinguals on a modified saccadic arrow Stroop task under different monitoring conditions, and tested the predictions of the bilingual executive control advantage proposal. The task of the participants was to make an eye movement towards the colour patch in the same colour as the central arrow, ignoring the patch to which the arrow was pointing. High-proficient bilinguals had overall faster saccade latency on all types of trials as compared to the low proficient bilinguals. The overall saccadic latency for high proficiency bilinguals was similarly affected by the different types of monitoring conditions, whereas conflict resolution advantage was found only for high monitoring demanding condition. The results support a conflict-monitoring account in a novel oculomotor task and also suggest that language proficiency could modulate executive control in bilinguals.

  9. Preposition accuracy on a sentence repetition task in school age Spanish–English bilinguals*

    Science.gov (United States)

    TALIANCICH-KLINGER, CASEY L.; BEDORE, LISA M.; PEÑA, ELIZABETH D.

    2018-01-01

    Preposition knowledge is important for academic success. The goal of this project was to examine how different variables such as English input and output, Spanish preposition score, mother education level, and age of English exposure (AoEE) may have played a role in children’s preposition knowledge in English. 148 Spanish–English children between 7;0 and 9;11 produced prepositions in English and Spanish on a sentence repetition task from an experimental version of the Bilingual English Spanish Assessment Middle Extension (Peña, Bedore, Gutierrez-Clellen, Iglesias & Goldstein, in development). English input and output accounted for most of the variance in English preposition score. The importance of language-specific experiences in the development of prepositions is discussed. Competition for selection of appropriate prepositions in English and Spanish is discussed as potentially influencing low overall preposition scores in English and Spanish. PMID:28506324

  10. Social Competence and Language Skills in Mandarin-English Bilingual Preschoolers: The Moderation Effect of Emotion Regulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Yonggang; Wyver, Shirley; Xu Rattanasone, Nan; Demuth, Katherine

    2016-01-01

    Research Findings: The main aim of this study was to examine whether language skills and emotion regulation are associated with social competence and whether the relationship between English skills and social competence is moderated by emotion regulation in Mandarin-English bilingual preschoolers. The language skills of 96 children ages…

  11. The Comparison of the Monolingual and Bilingual Japanese Students in The English Achievement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ienneke Indra Dewi

    2007-11-01

    Full Text Available Article is intended to know whether the monolingual or bilingual Japanese students are better in the English achievement and whether the exposure of English influences the ability. The data were taken from 60 Japanese students who are supposed to fill in the questionnaires regarding their language background. The English achievement data were taken from the students’ scores in Senior High School National Examination and the data further were compared to the TOEFL English score. The analysis is carried out using ANOVA analysis. This research indicates that monolinguals are better learners in English and exposure is proved to influence the students’ ability in English.                                                  

  12. The Development of Bilingual Narrative Retelling Among Spanish-English Dual Language Learners Over Two Years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucero, Audrey

    2018-05-25

    This exploratory study investigates the development of oral narrative retell proficiency among Spanish-English emergent bilingual children longitudinally from kindergarten to second grade in Spanish and English as they learned literacy in the 2 languages concurrently. Oral narrative retell assessments were conducted with children who spoke Spanish at home and were enrolled in a dual language immersion program (N = 12) in the spring of kindergarten and second grade. Retells were transcribed and coded for vocabulary and grammar at the microlevel (Miller, 2012) and story structure at the macrolevel (Heilmann, Miller, Nockerts, & Dunaway, 2010). In microstructure paired-sample t tests, children showed significant improvements in vocabulary in both languages (Spanish total number of words η2 = .43, Spanish number of different words η2 = .44, English total number of words η2 = .61, English number of different words η2 = .62) but not grammar by second grade. At the macrostructure level, children showed significantly higher performance in English only (English narrative scoring scheme η2 = .47). The finding that children significantly improved in vocabulary in both languages but in overall story structure only in English suggests that discourse skills were being facilitated in English whereas Spanish discourse development may have stagnated even within a dual language immersion program. Results contribute to what is currently known about bilingual oral narrative development among young Spanish speakers enrolled in such programs and can inform assessment and instructional decisions.

  13. Investigating Black ASL: A Systematic Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toliver-Smith, Andrea; Gentry, Betholyn

    2017-01-01

    The authors reviewed the literature regarding linguistic variations seen in American Sign Language. These variations are influenced by region and culture. Features of spoken languages have also influenced sign languages as they intersected, e.g., Black ASL has been influenced by African American English. A literature review was conducted to…

  14. L2-L1 Translation Priming Effects in a Lexical Decision Task: Evidence From Low Proficient Korean-English Bilinguals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoonhyoung Lee

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available One of the key issues in bilingual lexical representation is whether L1 processing is facilitated by L2 words. In this study, we conducted two experiments using the masked priming paradigm to examine how L2-L1 translation priming effects emerge when unbalanced, low proficiency, Korean-English bilinguals performed a lexical decision task. In Experiment 1, we used a 150 ms SOA (50 ms prime duration followed by a blank interval of 100 ms and found a significant L2-L1 translation priming effect. In contrast, in Experiment 2, we used a 60 ms SOA (50 ms prime duration followed by a blank interval of 10 ms and found a null effect of L2-L1 translation priming. This finding is the first demonstration of a significant L2-L1 translation priming effect with unbalanced Korean-English bilinguals. Implications of this work are discussed with regard to bilingual word recognition models.

  15. Validation of Linguistic and Communicative Oral Language Tests for Spanish-English Bilingual Programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Politzer, Robert L.; And Others

    1983-01-01

    The development, administration, and scoring of a communicative test and its validation with tests of linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in English and Spanish are reported. Correlation with measures of home language use and school achievement are also presented, and issues of test validation for bilingual programs are discussed. (MSE)

  16. Caregiver talk to young Spanish-English bilinguals: Comparing direct observation and parent-report measures of dual-language exposure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchman, Virginia A.; Martínez, Lucía Z.; Hurtado, Nereyda; Grüter, Theres; Fernald, Anne

    2016-01-01

    In research on language development by bilingual children, the early language environment is commonly characterized in terms of the relative amount of exposure a child gets to each language based on parent report. Little is known about how absolute measures of child-directed speech in two languages relate to language growth. In this study of 3-year-old Spanish-English bilinguals (n = 18), traditional parent-report estimates of exposure were compared to measures of the number of Spanish and English words children heard during naturalistic audio recordings. While the two estimates were moderately correlated, observed numbers of child-directed words were more consistently predictive of children's processing speed and standardized test performance, even when controlling for reported proportion of exposure. These findings highlight the importance of caregiver engagement in bilingual children's language outcomes in both of the languages they are learning. PMID:27197746

  17. Can yu rid guat ay rot? A Developmental Investigation of Cross-Linguistic Spelling Errors among Spanish-English Bilingual Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howard, Elizabeth R.; Green, Jennifer D.; Arteagoitia, Igone

    2012-01-01

    This study contributes to the literature on cross-linguistic literacy relationships for English language learners, and in particular, the Spanish-influenced spelling patterns of Spanish-English bilinguals. English spelling, reading, and vocabulary assessments were administered to 220 students in four TWI programs over a three-year period, from…

  18. Item-Level Psychometrics and Predictors of Performance for Spanish/English Bilingual Speakers on "An Object and Action Naming Battery"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edmonds, Lisa A.; Donovan, Neila J.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: There is a pressing need for psychometrically sound naming materials for Spanish/English bilingual adults. To address this need, in this study the authors examined the psychometric properties of An Object and Action Naming Battery (An O&A Battery; Druks & Masterson, 2000) in bilingual speakers. Method: Ninety-one Spanish/English…

  19. Beyond the Fourth Grade Glass Ceiling: Understanding Reading Comprehension among Bilingual/Bimodal Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Jessica Armytage

    2015-01-01

    Research has found that, on average, deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students graduate from high school reading at the fourth grade level (Allen, 1986). Additionally, DHH children of deaf parents (Charrow & Fletcher, 1974) and those with strong American Sign Language (ASL) proficiency (Strong & Prinz, 1997) tend to outperform DHH students…

  20. Acquisition of compound words in Chinese-English bilingual children: Decomposition and cross-language activation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cheng, C.; Wang, M.; Perfetti, C.A.

    2011-01-01

    This study investigated compound processing and cross-language activation in a group of Chinese–English bilingual children, and they were divided into four groups based on the language proficiency levels in their two languages. A lexical decision task was designed using compound words in both

  1. Assessing the Productive Vocabulary of Spanish-English Bilingual Toddlers from Low-Income Families

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mancilla-Martinez, Jeannette; Pan, Barbara Alexander; Vagh, Shaher Banu

    2011-01-01

    This study investigates the utility and validity of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) for use with low-income parents and their 24- to 36-month-old Spanish-English bilingual children (n = 79). Issues in the interpretation of the integrated CDI/Inventarios del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas (IDHC) score to index…

  2. Bilingual Cancer Genetic Education Modules for the Deaf Community: Development and Evaluation of the Online Video Material.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boudreault, Patrick; Wolfson, Alicia; Berman, Barbara; Venne, Vickie L; Sinsheimer, Janet S; Palmer, Christina

    2018-04-01

    Health information about inherited forms of cancer and the role of family history in cancer risk for the American Sign Language (ASL) Deaf community, a linguistic and cultural community, needs improvement. Cancer genetic education materials available in English print format are not accessible for many sign language users because English is not their native or primary language. Per Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations, the level of literacy for printed health education materials should not be higher than 6th grade level (~ 11 to 12 years old), and even with this recommendation, printed materials are still not accessible to sign language users or other nonnative English speakers. Genetic counseling is becoming an integral part of healthcare, but often ASL users are not considered when health education materials are developed. As a result, there are few genetic counseling materials available in ASL. Online tools such as video and closed captioning offer opportunities for educators and genetic counselors to provide digital access to genetic information in ASL to the Deaf community. The Deaf Genetics Project team used a bilingual approach to develop a 37-min interactive Cancer Genetics Education Module (CGEM) video in ASL with closed captions and quizzes, and demonstrated that this approach resulted in greater cancer genetic knowledge and increased intentions to obtain counseling or testing, compared to standard English text information (Palmer et al., Disability and Health Journal, 10(1):23-32, 2017). Though visually enhanced educational materials have been developed for sign language users with multimodal/lingual approach, little is known about design features that can accommodate a diverse audience of sign language users so the material is engaging to a wide audience. The main objectives of this paper are to describe the development of the CGEM and to determine if viewer demographic characteristics are associated with two measurable aspects of

  3. Cognitive neuropsychological and regional cerebral blood flow study of a Japanese-English bilingual girl with specific language impairment (SLI).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uno, Akira; Wydell, Taeko N; Kato, Motoichiro; Itoh, Kanae; Yoshino, Fumihiro

    2009-02-01

    We report here on an investigation into the possible factors which might have contributed to language impairment (LI) in EM, a 14-year-old Japanese-English bilingual girl. EM was born in the UK to Japanese parents with no other siblings, and used English to communicate with all other people except for her parents. A delay in her English language development was identified at primary school in the UK, which was attributed to her bilingualism. The deficiency in her English language skills persisted into her adolescence despite more than adequate educational opportunities (including additional language support). At the start of her secondary education, language ability/literacy attainment tests were conducted in both English and Japanese, and the results suggested specific language impairment (SLI) in both languages. Further, her brain Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) revealed significantly lower Regional Cerebral Blood Flow(rCBF) in the left temporo-parietal area, which is also similar to the area of dysfunction often found among Japanese individuals with SLI.

  4. Orthographic Context Sensitivity in Vowel Decoding by Portuguese Monolingual and Portuguese-English Bilingual Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vale, Ana Paula

    2011-01-01

    This study examines the pronunciation of the first vowel in decoding disyllabic pseudowords derived from Portuguese words. Participants were 96 Portuguese monolinguals and 52 Portuguese-English bilinguals of equivalent Portuguese reading levels. The results indicate that sensitivity to vowel context emerges early, both in monolinguals and in…

  5. Bilingual children's social preferences hinge on accent.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeJesus, Jasmine M; Hwang, Hyesung G; Dautel, Jocelyn B; Kinzler, Katherine D

    2017-12-01

    Past research finds that monolingual and bilingual children prefer native speakers to individuals who speak in unfamiliar foreign languages or accents. Do children in bilingual contexts socially distinguish among familiar languages and accents and, if so, how do their social preferences based on language and accent compare? The current experiments tested whether 5- to 7-year-olds in two bilingual contexts in the United States demonstrate social preferences among the languages and accents that are present in their social environments. We compared children's preferences based on language (i.e., English vs. their other native language) and their preferences based on accent (i.e., English with a native accent vs. English with a non-native [yet familiar] accent). In Experiment 1, children attending a French immersion school demonstrated no preference between English and French speakers but preferred American-accented English to French-accented English. In Experiment 2, bilingual Korean American children demonstrated no preference between English and Korean speakers but preferred American-accented English to Korean-accented English. Across studies, bilingual children's preferences based on accent (i.e., American-accented English over French- or Korean-accented English) were not related to their own language dominance. These results suggest that children from diverse linguistic backgrounds demonstrate social preferences for native-accented speakers. Implications for understanding the potential relation between social reasoning and language acquisition are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Verbal intelligence in bilinguals when measured in L1 and L2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ardila, Alfredo; Lopez-Recio, Alexandra; Sakowitz, Ariel; Sanchez, Estefania; Sarmiento, Stephanie

    2018-04-04

    This study was aimed at studying the Verbal IQ in two groups of Spanish/English bilinguals: simultaneous and early sequential bilinguals. 48 Spanish/English bilinguals born in the U.S. or Latin American countries but moving to United States before the age of 10 were selected. The verbal subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (English and Spanish) - Third Edition (WAIS-III) was administered. Overall, performance was significantly better in English for both groups of bilinguals. Verbal IQ difference when tested in Spanish and English was about one standard deviation higher in English for simultaneous bilinguals, and about half standard deviation for early sequential bilinguals. In both groups, Verbal IQ in English was about 100; considering the level of education of our sample (bachelor degree, on average), it can be assumed that Verbal IQ in English was lower than expected, suggesting that bilinguals may be penalized even when evaluated in the dominant language.

  7. Comparison of Iranian Monolingual and Bilingual EFL Students' Listening Comprehension in Terms of Watching English Movie with Latinized Persian Subtitles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamchi, Roghayeh; Kumar, Vishal

    2016-01-01

    The main concern of the present study was to compare Iranian monolingual and bilingual EFL students' listening comprehension in terms of Latinized Persian subtitling of English movie to see whether there was a significant difference between monolinguals and bilinguals on immediate linguistic comprehension of the movie. Latinized Persian subtitling…

  8. Cognitive advantages and disadvantages in early and late bilinguals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pelham, Sabra D; Abrams, Lise

    2014-03-01

    Previous research has documented advantages and disadvantages of early bilinguals, defined as learning a 2nd language by school age and using both languages since that time. Relative to monolinguals, early bilinguals manifest deficits in lexical access but benefits in executive function. We investigated whether becoming bilingual after childhood (late bilinguals) can produce the cognitive advantages and disadvantages typical of early bilinguals. Participants were 30 monolingual English speakers, 30 late English-Spanish bilinguals, and 30 early Spanish-English bilinguals who completed a picture naming task (lexical access) and an attentional network task (executive function). Late and early bilinguals manifested equivalent cognitive effects in both tasks, demonstrating lexical access deficits and executive function benefits. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that cognitive effects associated with bilingualism arise as the result of proficient, habitual use of 2 languages and not of developmental changes associated with becoming bilingual during childhood.

  9. Korea's "Model Minority": A Case Study of an American-Korean Bilingual Student's Challenges Learning English in South Korea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schenck, Andrew D.

    2013-01-01

    In contemporary South Korean society, there is a strong emphasis on cultural homogeneity and, simultaneously, the development of English proficiency as a human resource. Since language is inextricably linked to identity, bilingual learners from English speaking countries may feel pressure to conform to Korean cultural and linguistic norms, leading…

  10. Semantic facilitation in bilingual first language acquisition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bilson, Samuel; Yoshida, Hanako; Tran, Crystal D; Woods, Elizabeth A; Hills, Thomas T

    2015-07-01

    Bilingual first language learners face unique challenges that may influence the rate and order of early word learning relative to monolinguals. A comparison of the productive vocabularies of 435 children between the ages of 6 months and 7 years-181 of which were bilingual English learners-found that monolinguals learned both English words and all-language concepts faster than bilinguals. However, bilinguals showed an enhancement of an effect previously found in monolinguals-the preference for learning words with more associative cues. Though both monolinguals and bilinguals were best fit by a similar model of word learning, semantic network structure and growth indicated that the two groups were learning English words in a different order. Further, in comparison with a model of two-monolinguals-in-one-mind, bilinguals overproduced translational equivalents. Our results support an emergent account of bilingual first language acquisition, where learning a word in one language facilitates its acquisition in a second language. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Validation of a quality-of-life measure for deaf or hard of hearing youth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patrick, Donald L; Edwards, Todd C; Skalicky, Anne M; Schick, Brenda; Topolski, Tari D; Kushalnagar, Poorna; Leng, Mei; O'Neill-Kemp, Aprille M; Sie, Kathleen Sie

    2011-07-01

    Quality-of-life (QOL) measures targeting youth with hearing loss are useful in population needs assessment, educational placement, and program design and evaluation. This study assesses the cross-sectional validity of the Youth Quality of Life Instrument-Deaf and Hard of Hearing Module (YQOL-DHH). STUDY DESIGN. Instrument development and cross-sectional survey. Recruitment through schools, professional organizations, clinics, and programs for youth who are deaf or hard of hearing. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Thirty-five candidate items were administered to 230 adolescents aged 11 to 18 years: 49% female, 61% white, 11% mild hearing loss, 20% moderate/moderate-severe, 41% severe/profound, and 28% with cochlear implants. Participants completed individual or group-administered questionnaires by paper and pencil (58%), Web-based English (29%), American Sign Language (ASL) or Pidgin Signed English (PSE) (9%) on DVD, or interviewer-supervised ASL or PSE DVD (4%). The Children's Depression Inventory (CDI-S) was also completed. Factor structure, reliability, construct validity, and respondent burden were assessed. Thirty-two items were retained in the final instrument covering 3 domains: self-acceptance/advocacy (14 items, Cronbach α = 0.84), perceived stigma (8 items, Cronbach α = 0.85), and participation (10 items, Cronbach α = 0.86). QOL was not significantly associated with hearing level. One-week test-retest coefficients were acceptable: self-acceptance/ advocacy (0.70), perceived stigma (0.78), and participation 0.92). As predicted, the total CDI-S score was associated in the appropriate direction (P < .0001) with all YQOL-DHH domains. Time to complete the paper-and-pencil version was 12 minutes. The YQOL-DHH shows good reliability and validity for assessing hearing-specific QOL in adolescents.

  12. Self-Ratings of Spoken Language Dominance: A Multilingual Naming Test (MINT) and Preliminary Norms for Young and Aging Spanish-English Bilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gollan, Tamar H.; Weissberger, Gali H.; Runnqvist, Elin; Montoya, Rosa I.; Cera, Cynthia M.

    2012-01-01

    This study investigated correspondence between different measures of bilingual language proficiency contrasting self-report, proficiency interview, and picture naming skills. Fifty-two young (Experiment 1) and 20 aging (Experiment 2) Spanish-English bilinguals provided self-ratings of proficiency level, were interviewed for spoken proficiency, and…

  13. Novel word retention in bilingual and monolingual speakers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kan, Pui Fong; Sadagopan, Neeraja

    2014-01-01

    The goal of this research was to examine word retention in bilinguals and monolinguals. Long-term word retention is an essential part of vocabulary learning. Previous studies have documented that bilinguals outperform monolinguals in terms of retrieving newly-exposed words. Yet, little is known about whether or to what extent bilinguals are different from monolinguals in word retention. Participants were 30 English-speaking monolingual adults and 30 bilingual adults who speak Spanish as a home language and learned English as a second language during childhood. In a previous study (Kan et al., 2014), the participants were exposed to the target novel words in English, Spanish, and Cantonese. In this current study, word retention was measured a week after the fast mapping task. No exposures were given during the one-week interval. Results showed that bilinguals and monolinguals retain a similar number of words. However, participants produced more words in English than in either Spanish or Cantonese. Correlation analyses revealed that language knowledge plays a role in the relationships between fast mapping and word retention. Specifically, within- and across-language relationships between bilinguals' fast mapping and word retention were found in Spanish and English, by contrast, within-language relationships between monolinguals' fast mapping and word retention were found in English and across-language relationships between their fast mapping and word retention performance in English and Cantonese. Similarly, bilinguals differed from monolinguals in the relationships among the word retention scores in three languages. Significant correlations were found among bilinguals' retention scores. However, no such correlations were found among monolinguals' retention scores. The overall findings suggest that bilinguals' language experience and language knowledge most likely contribute to how they learn and retain new words.

  14. Bilingual experience and executive functioning in young children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlson, Stephanie M; Meltzoff, Andrew N

    2008-03-01

    Advanced inhibitory control skills have been found in bilingual speakers as compared to monolingual controls (Bialystok, 1999). We examined whether this effect is generalized to an unstudied language group (Spanish-English bilingual) and multiple measures of executive function by administering a battery of tasks to 50 kindergarten children drawn from three language groups: native bilinguals, monolinguals (English), and English speakers enrolled in second-language immersion kindergarten. Despite having significantly lower verbal scores and parent education/income level, Spanish-English bilingual children's raw scores did not differ from their peers. After statistically controlling for these factors and age, native bilingual children performed significantly better on the executive function battery than both other groups. Importantly, the relative advantage was significant for tasks that appear to call for managing conflicting attentional demands (Conflict tasks); there was no advantage on impulse-control (Delay tasks). These results advance our understanding of both the generalizability and specificity of the compensatory effects of bilingual experience for children's cognitive development.

  15. Survey of Spanish parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing: decision-making factors associated with communication modality and bilingualism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guiberson, Mark

    2013-06-01

    The purpose of the present study was (a) to describe factors and trends associated with Spanish parents’ choice of communication modality and spoken language bilingualism for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) and (b) to identify if bilingual variables predict children’s bilingual status in a country where bilingualism is common. Seventy-one Spanish parents of children who are DHH completed an online survey that included questions about demographics, family and professional involvement and support, accessibility to information and services, and bilingual background and beliefs. Analyses were completed to describe groups and to examine how variables were associated with parents’ decisions. Thirty-eight percent of parents chose to raise their children to be spoken-language bilingual. Most parents indicated that they believed being bilingual was beneficial for their children and that children who are DHH are capable of becoming bilingual in spoken languages. Parent’s bilingual score, beliefs about raising children who are DHH bilingually, and encouragement to do so, were significantly associated with children’s bilingual status. In communities where bilingualism is common, bilingual parents will often choose to raise children who are DHH bilingual in spoken languages. Implications for practice and future studies in the United States are provided.

  16. Vowel reduction patterns of early Spanish- English bilinguals receiving continuous L1 and L2 input

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Byers Emily

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This study investigates the production of three morphophonetic variations of schwa in American English: the plural allomorph {-s} as in watches, the possessive allomorph {-s} as in Sasha’s, and word-finally as in Russia. The production of these three allomorphs were examined in Miami’s English monolingual and early Spanish-English bilingual populations. Our purpose was to determine how native-like early Spanish-English bilinguals′ spectral qualities and reduced vowel durations were compared to Miami English monolinguals during a reading task. Results indicate that early bilinguals′ reduced vowels followed the same overall pattern as monolinguals, but had different acoustic properties.

  17. The Disfluent Speech of Bilingual Spanish-English Children: Considerations for Differential Diagnosis of Stuttering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byrd, Courtney T.; Bedore, Lisa M.; Ramos, Daniel

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to describe the frequency and types of speech disfluencies that are produced by bilingual Spanish-English (SE) speaking children who do not stutter. The secondary purpose was to determine whether their disfluent speech is mediated by language dominance and/or language produced. Method: Spanish and…

  18. Implicit co-activation of American Sign Language in deaf readers: An ERP study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meade, Gabriela; Midgley, Katherine J; Sevcikova Sehyr, Zed; Holcomb, Phillip J; Emmorey, Karen

    2017-07-01

    In an implicit phonological priming paradigm, deaf bimodal bilinguals made semantic relatedness decisions for pairs of English words. Half of the semantically unrelated pairs had phonologically related translations in American Sign Language (ASL). As in previous studies with unimodal bilinguals, targets in pairs with phonologically related translations elicited smaller negativities than targets in pairs with phonologically unrelated translations within the N400 window. This suggests that the same lexicosemantic mechanism underlies implicit co-activation of a non-target language, irrespective of language modality. In contrast to unimodal bilingual studies that find no behavioral effects, we observed phonological interference, indicating that bimodal bilinguals may not suppress the non-target language as robustly. Further, there was a subset of bilinguals who were aware of the ASL manipulation (determined by debrief), and they exhibited an effect of ASL phonology in a later time window (700-900ms). Overall, these results indicate modality-independent language co-activation that persists longer for bimodal bilinguals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Bilingual Enhancements Have No Socioeconomic Boundaries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krizman, Jennifer; Skoe, Erika; Kraus, Nina

    2016-01-01

    To understand how socioeconomic status (SES) and bilingualism simultaneously operate on cognitive and sensory function, we examined executive control, language skills, and neural processing of sound in adolescents who differed in language experience (i.e. English monolingual or Spanish-English bilingual) and level of maternal education (a proxy…

  20. Bilingual Education Act: Background and Reauthorization Issues. CRS Report for Congress.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aleman, Steven R.

    The Bilingual Education Act (BEA) title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), is the federal program intended to help children who are limited English proficient (LEP) learn English. BEA activities focus on transitional bilingual education; developmental bilingual education; special alternative instruction (such as English as…

  1. Understanding Disorder Within Variation: Production of English Grammatical Forms by English Language Learners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bedore, Lisa M; Peña, Elizabeth D; Anaya, Jissel B; Nieto, Ricardo; Lugo-Neris, Mirza J; Baron, Alisa

    2018-04-05

    This study examines English performance on a set of 11 grammatical forms in Spanish-English bilingual, school-age children in order to understand how item difficulty of grammatical constructions helps correctly classify language impairment (LI) from expected variability in second language acquisition when taking into account linguistic experience and exposure. Three hundred seventy-eight children's scores on the Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment-Middle Extension (Peña, Bedore, Gutiérrez-Clellen, Iglesias, & Goldstein, 2008) morphosyntax cloze task were analyzed by bilingual experience groups (high Spanish experience, balanced English-Spanish experience, high English experience, ability (typically developing [TD] vs. LI), and grammatical form. Classification accuracy was calculated for the forms that best differentiated TD and LI groups. Children with LI scored lower than TD children across all bilingual experience groups. There were differences by grammatical form across bilingual experience and ability groups. Children from high English experience and balanced English-Spanish experience groups could be accurately classified on the basis of all the English grammatical forms tested except for prepositions. For bilinguals with high Spanish experience, it was possible to rule out LI on the basis of grammatical production but not rule in LI. It is possible to accurately identify LI in English language learners once they use English 40% of the time or more. However, for children with high Spanish experience, more information about development and patterns of impairment is needed to positively identify LI.

  2. Reading English with Japanese in mind: Effects of frequency, phonology, and meaning in different-script bilinguals

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Miwa, K.; Dijkstra, A.F.J.; Bolger, P.; Baayen, R.H.

    2014-01-01

    Previous priming studies suggest that, even for bilinguals of languages with different scripts, non-selective lexical activation arises. This lexical decision eye-tracking study examined contributions of frequency, phonology, and meaning of L1 Japanese words on L2 English word lexical decision

  3. Bilingualism and National Development in Malaysia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ozog, A. Conrad K.

    1993-01-01

    Malaysia's long tradition of English medium instruction and bilingualism officially ended in 1970. This paper reviews the role of bilingualism in the development of the country, including the role of a bilingual population in national development and the possible effects of the abandonment of bilingual education. (Contains 38 references.)…

  4. Un Bosquejo del Proyecto Bilingue (Outline of a Bilingual Project).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Compton City Schools, CA.

    Bilingual education in English and Spanish is intended to give native speakers of both languages insights into two cultures, a broader background, and greater life opportunities. Spanish-speaking students in bilingual programs can retain their language ties and the ability to communicate with their families and older relatives. The directors of…

  5. The Impact of Early Social Interactions on Later Language Development in Spanish-English Bilingual Infants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramírez-Esparza, Nairán; García-Sierra, Adrián; Kuhl, Patricia K.

    2017-01-01

    This study tested the impact of child-directed language input on language development in Spanish-English bilingual infants (N = 25, 11- and 14-month-olds from the Seattle metropolitan area), across languages and independently for each language, controlling for socioeconomic status. Language input was characterized by social interaction variables,…

  6. Designing an American Sign Language Avatar for Learning Computer Science Concepts for Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Students and Deaf Interpreters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrei, Stefan; Osborne, Lawrence; Smith, Zanthia

    2013-01-01

    The current learning process of Deaf or Hard of Hearing (D/HH) students taking Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses needs, in general, a sign interpreter for the translation of English text into American Sign Language (ASL) signs. This method is at best impractical due to the lack of availability of a specialized sign…

  7. Bilingualism accentuates children's conversational understanding.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Siegal

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Although bilingualism is prevalent throughout the world, little is known about the extent to which it influences children's conversational understanding. Our investigation involved children aged 3-6 years exposed to one or more of four major languages: English, German, Italian, and Japanese. In two experiments, we examined the children's ability to identify responses to questions as violations of conversational maxims (to be informative and avoid redundancy, to speak the truth, be relevant, and be polite. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In Experiment 1, with increasing age, children showed greater sensitivity to maxim violations. Children in Italy who were bilingual in German and Italian (with German as the dominant language L1 significantly outperformed Italian monolinguals. In Experiment 2, children in England who were bilingual in English and Japanese (with English as L1 significantly outperformed Japanese monolinguals in Japan with vocabulary age partialled out. CONCLUSIONS: As the monolingual and bilingual groups had a similar family SES background (Experiment 1 and similar family cultural identity (Experiment 2, these results point to a specific role for early bilingualism in accentuating children's developing ability to appreciate effective communicative responses.

  8. Assessing Bilingual Knowledge Organization in Secondary Science Classrooms =

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Jason S.

    Improving outcomes for English language learners (ELLs) in secondary science remains an area of high need. The purpose of this study is to investigate bilingual knowledge organization in secondary science classrooms. This study involved thirty-nine bilingual students in three biology classes at a public high school in The Bronx, New York City. Methods included an in-class survey on language use, a science content and English proficiency exam, and bilingual free-recalls. Fourteen students participated in bilingual free-recalls which involved a semi-structured process of oral recall of information learned in science class. Free-recall was conducted in both English and Spanish and analyzed using flow-map methods. Novel methods were developed to quantify and visualize the elaboration and mobilization of ideas shared across languages. It was found that bilingual narratives displayed similar levels of organizational complexity across languages, though English recalls tended to be longer. English proficiency was correlated with narrative complexity in English. There was a high degree of elaboration on concepts shared across languages. Finally, higher Spanish proficiency correlated well with greater overlapping elaboration across languages. These findings are discussed in light of current cognitive theory before presenting the study's limitations and future directions of research.

  9. Literacy Skills among Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students and Students with Cochlear Implants in Bilingual/Bicultural Education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dammeyer, Jesper Herup

    2014-01-01

    Research has shown that many deaf students do not develop age-appropriate reading and writing abilities. This study evaluates the literacy skills of deaf students, hard of hearing students, and students with cochlear implants in bilingual/bicultural schools in Denmark. The results show that 45 per...... cent of the students did not have any reading and writing difficulties (i.e. they were no more than 1 year behind in school). Regression analysis models show that language abilities (either aural-oral or signed) and additional disabilities were explaining factors. Neither the level of hearing loss nor...

  10. Bilingual Advertising in Melbourne Chinatown

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Sherry Yong

    2014-01-01

    This paper explores the function of bilingual advertising by analyzing a case study of bilingual advertising in the Chinatown of Melbourne, Australia. The use of bilingual advertising in an immigrant setting differentiates itself from those in Asian settings where English is not used by dominant proportion of speakers in the society, and this…

  11. Bilingualism--A Sanguine Step in ELT

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anil, Beena

    2014-01-01

    Bilingualism can be used as a teaching aid in teaching and learning English language in an Indian classroom and to improve the language accuracy, fluency, and clarity of learners. Bilingualism can aid the teaching and learning process productively in the classroom. In India, most of the students consider English as a subject rather than a tool of…

  12. Bilingual teaching in nursing education in China: evolution, status, and future directions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Wei; Xu, Yu; Zhu, Jianhua

    2011-09-01

    Based on Chinese published literature and personal observations, this article reviews the history of bilingual teaching in nursing education in China, describes its current status and challenges, and predicts its future directions. Bilingual teaching in nursing education enjoys increasing popularity in China. The major factors that affect bilingual teaching are bilingual educators, students' English-language levels, bilingual teaching materials, and teaching models. Based on surveys of nursing schools, the English-language proficiency of the nursing educators varies greatly. The main issues with the teaching methods lie in over-translation, cramming, and limited interaction between the students and the teachers. Despite relatively inadequate English-language proficiency among Chinese nursing students, their interest can be strengthened greatly if international exchanges are available and promoted. Bilingual textbooks are more suitable in China's national context because of pricing and relevance. Although immersive bilingual teaching is the ideal, it is more feasible to begin with infiltrative bilingual teaching and move progressively towards increased English-language penetration. Future directions for improving bilingual teaching include training teaching faculty members, strengthening international exchanges, providing better bilingual study atmospheres, and gradually implementing bilingual textbooks. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

  13. English Language Proficiency and Test Performance: An Evaluation of Bilingual Students with the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sotelo-Dynega, Marlene; Ortiz, Samuel O.; Flanagan, Dawn P.; Chaplin, William F.

    2013-01-01

    In this article, we report the findings of an exploratory empirical study that investigated the relationship between English Language Proficiency (ELP) on performance on the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities-Third Edition (WJ III) when administered in English to bilingual students of varying levels of ELP. Sixty-one second-grade…

  14. The Effect of Script Similarity on Executive Control in Bilinguals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emily L Coderre

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The need for executive control (EC during bilingual language processing is thought to enhance these abilities, conferring a ‘bilingual advantage’ on EC tasks. Recently, the reliability and robustness of the bilingual advantage has been questioned, with many variables reportedly affecting the size and presence of the bilingual advantage. This study investigates one further variable that may affect bilingual EC abilities: the similarity of a bilingual’s two languages. We hypothesize that bilinguals whose two languages have a larger degree of orthographic overlap will require greater EC to manage their languages compared to bilinguals who use two languages with less overlap. We tested three groups of bilinguals with language pairs ranging from high- to low-similarity (German-English (GE, Polish-English (PE, and Arabic-English (AE, respectively and a group of English monolinguals on a Stroop and Simon task. Two components of the bilingual advantage were investigated: an interference advantage, such that bilinguals have smaller interference effects than monolinguals; and a global RT advantage, such that bilinguals are faster overall than monolinguals. Between bilingual groups, these effects were expected to be modulated by script similarity. AE bilinguals showed the smallest Stroop interference effects, but the longest overall RTs in both tasks. These seemingly contradictory results are explained by the presence of cross-linguistic interference in the Stroop task. We conclude that similar-script bilinguals demonstrated more effective domain-general EC than different-script bilinguals, since high orthographic overlap creates more cross-linguistic activation and increases the daily demands on cognitive control. The role of individual variation is also discussed. These results suggest that script similarity is an important variable to consider in investigations of bilingual executive control abilities.

  15. Task Irrelevant External Cues Can Influence Language Selection in Voluntary Object Naming: Evidence from Hindi-English Bilinguals.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Divya Bhatia

    Full Text Available We examined if external cues such as other agents' actions can influence the choice of language during voluntary and cued object naming in bilinguals in three experiments. Hindi-English bilinguals first saw a cartoon waving at a color patch. They were then asked to either name a picture in the language of their choice (voluntary block or to name in the instructed language (cued block. The colors waved at by the cartoon were also the colors used as language cues (Hindi or English. We compared the influence of the cartoon's choice of color on naming when speakers had to indicate their choice explicitly before naming (Experiment 1 as opposed to when they named directly on seeing the pictures (Experiment 2 and 3. Results showed that participants chose the language indicated by the cartoon greater number of times (Experiment 1 and 3. Speakers also switched significantly to the language primed by the cartoon greater number of times (Experiment 1 and 2. These results suggest that choices leading to voluntary action, as in the case of object naming can be influenced significantly by external non-linguistic cues. Importantly, these symbolic influences can work even when other agents are merely indicating their choices and are not interlocutors in bilingual communication.

  16. Cognitive Development in Bilingual and Monolingual Lower-Class Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myers, Barbara; Goldstein, David

    1979-01-01

    The cognitive development of lower-class English-speaking monolingual and English-Spanish speaking bilingual children in kindergarten, third, and sixth grades was compared by means of standard verbal and nonverbal measures. The verbal ability of bilingual children was assessed in both English and Spanish. Their scores in both languages were low.…

  17. Lexical diversity and omission errors as predictors of language ability in the narratives of sequential Spanish-English bilinguals: a cross-language comparison.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobson, Peggy F; Walden, Patrick R

    2013-08-01

    This study explored the utility of language sample analysis for evaluating language ability in school-age Spanish-English sequential bilingual children. Specifically, the relative potential of lexical diversity and word/morpheme omission as predictors of typical or atypical language status was evaluated. Narrative samples were obtained from 48 bilingual children in both of their languages using the suggested narrative retell protocol and coding conventions as per Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT; Miller & Iglesias, 2008) software. An additional lexical diversity measure, VocD, was also calculated. A series of logistical hierarchical regressions explored the utility of the number of different words, VocD statistic, and word and morpheme omissions in each language for predicting language status. Omission errors turned out to be the best predictors of bilingual language impairment at all ages, and this held true across languages. Although lexical diversity measures did not predict typical or atypical language status, the measures were significantly related to oral language proficiency in English and Spanish. The results underscore the significance of omission errors in bilingual language impairment while simultaneously revealing the limitations of lexical diversity measures as indicators of impairment. The relationship between lexical diversity and oral language proficiency highlights the importance of considering relative language proficiency in bilingual assessment.

  18. Dialogic Strategies in Read-Alouds of English-Language Information Books in a Second-Grade Bilingual Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pappas, Christine C.; Varelas, Maria; Patton, Sofia Kokkino; Ye, Li; Ortiz, Ibett

    2012-01-01

    This article shows how various dialogic discourse strategies were used in read-alouds of English science information books in a 2nd-grade bilingual classroom. Using a variety of discursive strategies, Ibett encouraged her Spanish-speaking students to provide explanations and reasoning related to science ideas. Similarly, she used intertextual…

  19. Literacy Skills among Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students and Students with Cochlear Implants in Bilingual/bicultural Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dammeyer, Jesper

    2014-01-01

    Research has shown that many deaf students do not develop age-appropriate reading and writing abilities. This study evaluates the literacy skills of deaf students, hard of hearing students, and students with cochlear implants in bilingual/bicultural schools in Denmark. The results show that 45 per cent of the students did not have any reading and…

  20. The influence of bilingualism on statistical word learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poepsel, Timothy J; Weiss, Daniel J

    2016-07-01

    Statistical learning is a fundamental component of language acquisition, yet to date, relatively few studies have examined whether these abilities differ in bilinguals. In the present study, we examine this issue by comparing English monolinguals with Chinese-English and English-Spanish bilinguals in a cross-situational statistical learning (CSSL) task. In Experiment 1, we assessed the ability of both monolinguals and bilinguals on a basic CSSL task that contained only one-to-one mappings. In Experiment 2, learners were asked to form both one-to-one and two-to-one mappings, and were tested at three points during familiarization. Overall, monolinguals and bilinguals did not differ in their learning of one-to-one mappings. However, bilinguals more quickly acquired two-to-one mappings, while also exhibiting greater proficiency than monolinguals. We conclude that the fundamental SL mechanism may not be affected by language experience, in accord with previous studies. However, when the input contains greater variability, bilinguals may be more prone to detecting the presence of multiple structures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Discrepancies between bilinguals' performance on the Spanish and English versions of the WAIS Digit Span task: Cross-cultural implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López, Enrique; Steiner, Alexander J; Hardy, David J; IsHak, Waguih W; Anderson, W Brantley

    2016-01-01

    This study explored within-subjects differences in the performance of 40 bilingual participants on the English and Spanish versions of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Digit Span task. To test the linguistic hypothesis that individuals would perform worse in Spanish because of its syllabic demand, we compared the number of syllables correctly recalled by each participant for every correct trial. Our analysis of the correct number of syllables remembered per trial showed that participants performed significantly better (i.e., recalling more syllables) in Spanish than in English on the total score. Findings suggest the Spanish version of the Digit Span (total score) was significantly more difficult than the English version utilizing traditional scoring methods. Moreover, the Forward Trial, rather than the Backward Trial, was more likely to show group differences between both language versions. Additionally, the Spanish trials of the Digit Span were correlated with language comprehension and verbal episodic memory measures, whereas the English trials of the Digit Span were correlated with confrontational naming and verbal fluency tasks. The results suggest that more research is necessary to further investigate other cognitive factors, rather than just syllabic demand, that might contribute to performance and outcome differences on the WAIS Digit Span in Spanish-English bilinguals.

  2. Conceptual scoring of receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in simultaneous and sequential bilingual children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gross, Megan; Buac, Milijana; Kaushanskaya, Margarita

    2014-11-01

    The authors examined the effects of conceptual scoring on the performance of simultaneous and sequential bilinguals on standardized receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in English and Spanish. Participants included 40 English-speaking monolingual children, 39 simultaneous Spanish-English bilingual children, and 19 sequential bilingual children, ages 5-7. The children completed standardized receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in English and also in Spanish for those who were bilingual. After the standardized administration, bilingual children were given the opportunity to respond to missed items in their other language to obtain a conceptual score. Controlling for group differences in socioeconomic status (SES), both simultaneous and sequential bilingual children scored significantly below monolingual children on single-language measures of English receptive and expressive vocabulary. Conceptual scoring removed the significant difference between monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children in the receptive modality but not in the expressive modality; differences remained between monolingual and sequential bilingual children in both modalities. However, in both bilingual groups, conceptual scoring increased the proportion of children with vocabulary scores within the average range. Conceptual scoring does not fully ameliorate the bias inherent in single-language standardized vocabulary measures for bilingual children, but the procedures employed here may assist in ruling out vocabulary deficits, particularly in typically developing simultaneous bilingual children.

  3. A Case Study on Teaching Business Courses in English or Bilingualism with Guangwai as an Example

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Wenzhong; Deng, Xuping; Li, Jingyi

    2014-01-01

    Teaching courses in a foreign language was formally promoted by Ministry of Education in China in 2001. Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (Guangwai) as a top 3 Chinese foreign language university has taken the lead in teaching business courses in English instruction or bilingual languages. The paper summarizes and analyzes Guangwai's…

  4. Novel word retention in bilingual and monolingual speakers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pui Fong eKan

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The goal of this research was to examine word retention in bilinguals and monolinguals. Long-term word retention is an essential part of vocabulary learning. Previous studies have documented that bilinguals outperform monolinguals in terms of retrieving newly-exposed words. Yet, little is known about whether or to what extent bilinguals are different from monolinguals in word retention. Participants were 30 English-speaking monolingual adults and 30 bilingual adults who speak Spanish as a home language and learned English as a second language during childhood. In a previous study (Kan, Sadagopan, Janich, & Andrade, 2014, the participants were exposed to the target novel words in English, Spanish, and Cantonese. In this current study, word retention was measured a week after the fast mapping task. No exposures were given during the one-week interval. Results showed that bilinguals and monolinguals retain a similar number of words. However, participants produced more words in English than in either Spanish or Cantonese. Correlation analyses revealed that language knowledge plays a role in the relationships between fast mapping and word retention. Specifically, within- and across-language relationships between bilinguals’ fast mapping and word retention were found in Spanish and English, by contrast, within-language relationships between monolinguals’ fast mapping and word retention were found in English and across-language relationships between their fast mapping and word retention performance in English and Cantonese. Similarly, bilinguals differed from monolinguals in the relationships among the word retention scores in three languages. Significant correlations were found among bilinguals’ retention scores. However, no such correlations were found among monolinguals’ retention scores. The overall findings suggest that bilinguals’ language experience and language knowledge most likely contribute to how they learn and retain new words.

  5. National Workplace Literacy Program. Garment-Related Bilingual (English and Chinese) Broadcast Lessons. Book 1 and 2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Ha Yin

    A compilation of transcripts of 100 bilingual English/Chinese broadcast lessons for workers in the garment industry is presented. The lessons are part of the New York Chinatown Manpower Project's Workplace Literacy Program. With the support of the Sino Radio Broadcast Corporation, the lessons are broadcast daily in the morning and again after the…

  6. The Literature Review on the Bilingualism in China from a Sociolinguistic View

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    康硕

    2015-01-01

    Against the background of globalization,sociolinguists have long been dediated in the study of bilingualism.The Chinese-English bilingualism is demonstrated through a literature review,and analyzed from a sociolinguistic view in this paper.It explores an umber of published articles,analyzes the bilingual education abd the phenomenon of Chinese-English bilingualism in China on the basis of literature review.

  7. The Literature Review on the Bilingualism in China from a Sociolinguistic View

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    康硕

    2015-01-01

    Against the background of globalization, sociolinguists have long been dedicated in the study of bilingualism.The Chinese-English bilingualism is demonstrated through a literature review,and analyzed from a sociolinguistic view in this paper.It explores a number of published articles,analyzes the bilingual education abd the phenomenon of Chinese-English bilingualism in China on the basis of literature review.

  8. Testing the Factorial Invariance of the English and Filipino Versions of the Inventory of School Motivation with Bilingual Students in the Philippines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganotice, Fraide A., Jr.; Bernardo, Allan B. I.; King, Ronnel B.

    2012-01-01

    The study explored the invariance of Filipino and English versions of the Inventory of School Motivation (ISM) for Filipino-English bilingual students. There was invariance in the factor structure and factor loadings across the two language versions. Between-network construct validation showed consistent associations between ISM-mastery goals and…

  9. Effects of Working Memory Capacity in Processing Wh-Extractions: Eye-Movement Evidence from Chinese-English Bilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Huixia; Rossi, Sonja; Li, Juan; Liu, Huanhuan; Chen, Ran; Chen, Baoguo

    2017-01-01

    By using the eye-tracking method, the present study explores whether working memory capacity assessed via the second language (L2) reading span (L2WMC) as well as the operational span task (OSPAN) affects the processing of subject-extraction and object-extraction in Chinese-English bilinguals. Results showed that L2WMC has no effects on the…

  10. Impact of Bilingual Education Programs on Limited English Proficient Students and Their Peers : Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Texas

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chin, A.; Meltem Daysal, N.; Imberman, S.A.

    2012-01-01

    Abstract: Texas requires a school district to offer bilingual education when its enrollment of limited English proficient (LEP) students in a particular elementary grade and language is twenty or higher. Using school panel data, we find a significant increase in the probability that a district

  11. Performance on Auditory and Visual Tasks of Inhibition in English Monolingual and Spanish-English Bilingual Adults: Do Bilinguals Have a Cognitive Advantage?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desjardins, Jamie L.; Fernandez, Francisco

    2018-01-01

    Purpose: Bilingual individuals have been shown to be more proficient on visual tasks of inhibition compared with their monolingual counterparts. However, the bilingual advantage has not been evidenced in all studies, and very little is known regarding how bilingualism influences inhibitory control in the perception of auditory information. The…

  12. Bilingual Teaching Research and Practice of Complex Function Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Lixin

    2011-01-01

    Mathematics bilingual teaching is assisted in Chinese with English teaching, and gradually enables students to independently use English to learn, study, reflect and exchange Mathematics. In order to better carry out mathematics teaching, department of mathematics in Dezhou University forms discussion groups and launches bilingual teaching…

  13. The role of language familiarity in bilingual stuttering assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Amanda Savio; Robb, Michael P; Ormond, Tika; Blomgren, Michael

    2014-10-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of English-speaking speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to evaluate stuttering behaviour in two Spanish-English bilingual adults who stutter (AWS1 and AWS2). The English-speaking SLPs were asked to judge the frequency, severity, type, duration, and physical concomitants of stuttering in both languages of the two AWS. The combined results from the English-speaking SLPs were then compared to the judgements of three Spanish-English bilingual SLPs. Results indicated that English-speaking SLPs (1) judged stuttering frequency to be greater in Spanish than English for AWS1, and equal in Spanish and English for AWS2, (2) were more accurate at evaluating individual moments of stuttering for the English samples compared to the Spanish samples, (3) identified fewer and less severe stuttering behaviours than the bilingual SLPs in both languages, and (4) were accurate judges of overall stuttering severity in both languages. The results correspond to past research examining the accuracy of stuttering evaluations in unfamiliar languages. Possible explanations for the findings, clinical implications, and future research directions are discussed.

  14. Exceeding Boundaries: Chinese Children's Playful Use of Languages in Their Literacy Practices in a Mandarin-English Bilingual Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yan; Guo, Yan

    2017-01-01

    Chinese children of immigrant families are often perceived as good at memorization and rote learning or as polite, obedient, and passive students lacking creativity and criticality. Guided by Multiple Literacies Theory and translanguaging, this study explores how Chinese children in a Mandarin-English bilingual program skillfully navigate…

  15. Becoming Global Citizens through Bilingualism: English Learning in the Lives of University Students in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yangguang Chen

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The ongoing globalisation has led to a tremendous expansion of the English language. With China striving to become part of the world economy since the late 1970's, there has been a great emphasis placed on the education of young people to become a world citizen with fluent English. “Being a global citizen” is having strong interests in global issues, cultivating the understanding and appreciation of diverse values, and enhancing country's competitiveness. All this however needs to be realized through communication in English, the world language. Improving communicative competence among Chinese learners of English depends on how English is learnt in the FL classroom and how it gets practiced outside the classroom. Data drawn from English corners, English clubs and English church all show that those informal learning settings have a complentary role to play especially when the formal English classroom is found having various deficits. Data also confirm that informal settings offer the opportunity to close the gap between L1 and L2 learning processes, and nurtutre learners' communicative competence through social intercourse and intercultural exchanges. Moreover, EFL learning is inherently intercultural, which facilitate cross cultural perspectives through bilingualism and bridges over the indigenous cultural traditions and the western democratic values.

  16. Relationship between the Onset Age of Bilingualism and Development of Cognitive Control among Nigerians

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    Yasir Bdaiwi Jasim Al-Shujairi

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available An increasing body of studies suggests that bilingual persons are better than monolinguals on a variety of cognitive measures. Thus, the present study investigates the relationship between the onset age of bilingual and the development of cognitive control among Nigerians. 10 bilingual students studying at University Putra Malaysia have been selected to participate in this study.  They are divided into two groups: 5 early and 5 late bilinguals. The data are collected using online English proficiency test and E-prime software as instruments. Both groups are examined for English proficiency and performance on a flanker task. The result demonstrates that early bilinguals are more proficient in English than late bilinguals. Moreover, early bilingual performs better than late bilingual on flanker task. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that being early active bilinguals tend to have greater advantages in cognitive control and higher language proficiency. Keywords: onset age, bilingualism, and cognitive control

  17. Bilinguals Have Different Hemispheric Lateralization in Visual Word Processing from Monolinguals

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    Sze-Man Lam

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Previous bilingual studies showed reduced hemispheric asymmetry in visual tasks such as face perception in bilinguals compared with monolinguals, suggesting experience in reading one or two languages could be a modulating factor. Here we examined whether difference in hemispheric asymmetry in visual tasks can also be observed in bilinguals who have different language backgrounds. We compared the behavior of three language groups in a tachistoscopic English word sequential matching task: English monolinguals (or alphabetic monolinguals, A-Ms, bilinguals with an alphabetic-L1 and English-L2 (alphabetic-alphabetic bilinguals, AA-Bs, and bilinguals with Chinese-L1 and English-L2 (logographic-alphabetic bilinguals, LA-Bs. The results showed that AA-Bs had a stronger right visual field/ left hemispheric (LH advantage than A-Ms and LA-Bs, suggesting that different language learning experiences can influence how visual words are processed in the brain. In addition, we showed that this effect could be accounted for by a computational model that implements a theory of hemispheric asymmetry in perception (i.e., the Double Filtering by Frequency theory; Ivry & Robertson, 1998; the modeling data suggested that this difference may be due to both the difference in participants' vocabulary size and the difference in word-to-sound mapping between alphabetic and logographic languages.

  18. National Workplace Literacy Program. Garment-Related Bilingual (English & Chinese) T.V. Broadcast Lessons. Book I: Episodes 1-15.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chinatown Manpower Project, Inc., New York, NY.

    This publication contains a series of 15 garment-related bilingual (English and Chinese) television broadcast lessons produced by the National Workplace Literacy Program of Chinatown Manpower Project, Inc. (Other partners were the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees and the Greater Blouse, Skirt and Undergarment Association in…

  19. Neuroanatomical profiles of bilingual children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Archila-Suerte, Pilar; Woods, Elizabeth A; Chiarello, Christine; Hernandez, Arturo E

    2018-02-26

    The goal of the present study was to examine differences in cortical thickness, cortical surface area, and subcortical volume between bilingual children who are highly proficient in two languages (i.e., English and Spanish) and bilingual children who are mainly proficient in one of the languages (i.e., Spanish). All children (N = 49) learned Spanish as a native language (L1) at home and English as a second language (L2) at school. Proficiency of both languages was assessed using the standardized Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery. Five-minute high-resolution anatomical scans were acquired with a 3-Tesla scanner. The degree of discrepancy between L1 and L2 proficiency was used to classify the children into two groups: children with balanced proficiency and children with unbalanced proficiency. The groups were comparable on language history, parental education, and other variables except English proficiency. Values of cortical thickness and surface area of the transverse STG, IFG-pars opercularis, and MFG, as well as subcortical volume of the caudate and putamen, were extracted from FreeSurfer. Results showed that children with balanced bilingualism had thinner cortices of the left STG, left IFG, left MFG and a larger bilateral putamen, whereas unbalanced bilinguals showed thicker cortices of the same regions and a smaller putamen. Additionally, unbalanced bilinguals with stronger foreign accents in the L2 showed reduced surface areas of the MFG and STS bilaterally. The results suggest that balanced/unbalanced bilingualism is reflected in different neuroanatomical characteristics that arise from biological and/or environmental factors. Published 2018. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

  20. THE QUALITY OF ENGLISH TRANSLATION VERSION OF BILINGUAL BOOKS FOR PHYSICS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Djatmika .

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available This article discusses the quality of English translation of the course books of Physics, Economics, and History for Junior High School students in Indonesia. The research which becomes the base for the article is qualitative, conducted on five English version texts of bilingual books for Junior High School students in Indonesia. It selected one chapter of each book and analyzed the quality of its text structure as well as its text texture. The data were in the forms of discourse units and analyzed on the quality of the text structure and aspects of grammar quality such as the grammatical construction of the clauses and the lexical choices of the texts. In addition, it obtained data related to the readability of the texts from twenty students who were selected randomly. The results show that all of the English texts have good quality in their text structure. However, the grammar and choice of words show a number of weaknesses in each text. Text improvement should consider English grammatical rules and systems and Indonesian language interference for English grammatical constructions, word choice and technical terms.

  1. Recalling Arabic and English Prefixed and Suffixed Verbs among Arabic-English Bilingual Speakers: An Experimental Study in Relation to Working Memory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiyar Othman

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The current study focuses on how prefixes and suffixes in Arabic and English impact one’s working memory capacity to recall verbs.  Further, it deals with whether or not Arabic-English bilingual speakers recall Arabic and English prefixed and suffixed verbs differently. To investigate this, the study was conducted in the form of two experiments on a group of 10 graduate students. The first experiment was on Arabic prefixed and suffixed verbs, whereas the second experiment was conducted similarly on English. The study concluded that suffixed Arabic verbs were recalled more than the prefixed ones, whereas in English the result was contrary where the participants could recall prefixed verbs more than the suffixed ones. This shows that L2 (Second Language does not differ from L1 (First Language in the effort exerted to recall words. Rather, the findings may suggest that it is easier to recall words in the second language, which might be due to the intensive instruction received in the second language. The study also discovered that several other factors played important roles in making the participants recall the items such as word-length effect, frequency and recency of the words.

  2. BEST: Bilingual environmental science training: Kindergarten level

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-03-01

    This booklet is one of a series of bilingual guides to environmental-science learning activities for students to do at home. Lesson objectives, materials required, procedure, vocabulary, and subjects integrated into the lesson are described in English for each lesson. A bilingual glossary, alphabetized by English entries, with Spanish equivalents in both English and Spanish, follows the lesson descriptions, and is itself followed by a bibliography of English-language references. This booklet includes descriptions of six lessons covering the senses of touch and sight, the sense of smell, how to distinguish living and non-living things, cell structures, the skeletal system, and the significance of food groups. 8 figs.

  3. 熟练和非熟练中英双语者不同认知控制成分的比较%A Comparison of Different Cognitive Control Components between Non-proficient and Proficient Chinese-English Bilinguals

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    范小月; 王瑞明; 吴际; 林哲婷

    2012-01-01

    A large number of studies have demonstrated the bilinguals' advantage in cognitive control, and some researchers have explored the components of cognitive control. However, there are four gaps. ( 1 ) Most studies only examined one or two components of cognitive control. Few studies clearly defined cognitive control and systematically compared these components between non-proficient bilinguals and proficient bilinguals. (2) Compared with non-proficient bilinguals, do proficient bilinguals 'also have advantages in some components of cognitive control? ( 3 ) Is the influence of bilingualism on some components of cognitive control in bilingual children consistent with that in bilingual adults? (4) Are existing results suitable for Chinese-English bilinguals? The present study aims at answering these questions. Thirty non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals and thirty proficient Chinese-English bilinguals were asked to administer the "faces task". All the participants were adults. Before the task, they finished the Raven Intelligence Test, culture, ethnic background and social economic status (SES) survey to eliminate the influence of some irrelevant variables. In the face task, the colored eyes could be looking either straight ahead or towards one of the two boxes, creating the straight eyes task and the gaze shift task. The participants should press the key on the same side as the box containing the asterisk if the eyes turned green and the opposite side if the eyes turned red. Inhibitory control was assessed by the difference in RT between trials in which the eyes looked towards the target and those in which the eyes looked away from the target in the gaze shift task. The results showed that the non-proficient Chinese-English bilinguals produced a larger cost than the proficient Chinese-English bilinguals, t(57) = 2. 107, p = . 040. Cognitive flexibility was assessed by the difference between mixed and single block presentations. The results showed that the non

  4. Exploring epistemological beliefs of bilingual Filipino preservice teachers in the Filipino and English languages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernardo, Allan B I

    2008-03-01

    In this study, the author investigated the epistemological beliefs of 864 bilingual Filipino preservice teachers using Filipino and English versions of the Schommer Epistemological Questionnaire (M. Schommer, 1998). The author conducted confirmatory factor analyses to determine the dimensions and structure of the epistemological beliefs. The results revealed two factors: Simple Learning and Structured Learning. The same factors were found using the Filipino and English versions of the questionnaire. The author discusses the results in terms of how they contribute to the growing evidence regarding the possible problems with particular multidimensional theories and quantitative measures of epistemological beliefs. The results also indicate how the specific epistemological beliefs of the Filipino preservice teachers may reflect features of the Philippine educational system and its tensions regarding pedagogy.

  5. Bilingual and Monolingual Children Prefer Native-Accented Speakers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andre L. eSouza

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Adults and young children prefer to affiliate with some individuals rather than others. Studies have shown that monolingual children show in-group biases for individuals who speak their native language without a foreign accent (Kinzler, Dupoux, & Spelke, 2007. Some studies have suggested that bilingual children are less influenced than monolinguals by language variety when attributing personality traits to different speakers (Anisfeld & Lambert, 1964, which could indicate that bilinguals have fewer in-group biases and perhaps greater social flexibility. However, no previous studies have compared monolingual and bilingual children’s reactions to speakers with unfamiliar foreign accents. In the present study, we investigated the social preferences of 5-year-old English and French monolinguals and English-French bilinguals. Contrary to our predictions, both monolingual and bilingual preschoolers preferred to be friends with native-accented speakers over speakers who spoke their dominant language with an unfamiliar foreign accent. This result suggests that both monolingual and bilingual children have strong preferences for in-group members who use a familiar language variety, and that bilingualism does not lead to generalized social flexibility.

  6. Bilingual and monolingual children prefer native-accented speakers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souza, André L; Byers-Heinlein, Krista; Poulin-Dubois, Diane

    2013-01-01

    Adults and young children prefer to affiliate with some individuals rather than others. Studies have shown that monolingual children show in-group biases for individuals who speak their native language without a foreign accent (Kinzler et al., 2007). Some studies have suggested that bilingual children are less influenced than monolinguals by language variety when attributing personality traits to different speakers (Anisfeld and Lambert, 1964), which could indicate that bilinguals have fewer in-group biases and perhaps greater social flexibility. However, no previous studies have compared monolingual and bilingual children's reactions to speakers with unfamiliar foreign accents. In the present study, we investigated the social preferences of 5-year-old English and French monolinguals and English-French bilinguals. Contrary to our predictions, both monolingual and bilingual preschoolers preferred to be friends with native-accented speakers over speakers who spoke their dominant language with an unfamiliar foreign accent. This result suggests that both monolingual and bilingual children have strong preferences for in-group members who use a familiar language variety, and that bilingualism does not lead to generalized social flexibility.

  7. Effects of primary and secondary morphological family size in monolingual and bilingual word processing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mulder, K.; Dijkstra, A.F.J.; Schreuder, R.; Baayen, Harald

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated primary and secondary morphological family size effects in monolingual and bilingual processing, combining experimentation with computational modeling. Family size effects were investigated in an English lexical decision task for Dutch-English bilinguals and English

  8. What Can Errors Tell Us about Differences between Monolingual and Bilingual Vocabulary Learning?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaushanskaya, Margarita

    2018-01-01

    Error patterns in vocabulary learning data were used as a window into the mechanisms that underlie vocabulary learning performance in bilinguals vs. monolinguals. English--Spanish bilinguals (n = 18) and English-speaking monolinguals (n = 18) were taught novel vocabulary items in association with English translations. At testing, participants…

  9. Novel Morpheme Learning in Monolingual and Bilingual Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gross, Megan; Sheena, Enanna; Roman, Rachel

    2017-01-01

    Purpose The purpose of the present study was to examine the utility of a novel morpheme learning task for indexing typical language abilities in children characterized by diverse language backgrounds. Method Three groups of 5- to 6-year-old children were tested: monolingual speakers of English, native speakers of Spanish who also spoke English (Spanish-L1 bilinguals), and native speakers of English who also spoke Spanish (English-L1 bilinguals). All children were taught a new derivational morpheme /ku/ marking part–whole distinction in conjunction with English nouns. Retention was measured via a receptive task, and sensitivity and reaction time (RT) data were collected. Results All three groups of children learned the novel morpheme successfully and were able to generalize its use to untaught nouns. Furthermore, language characteristics (degree of exposure and levels of performance on standardized measures) did not contribute to bilingual children's learning outcomes. Conclusion Together, the findings indicate that this particular version of the novel morpheme learning task may be resistant to influences associated with language background and suggest potential usefulness of the task to clinical practice. PMID:28399578

  10. Bilingualism, executive control, and age at diagnosis among people with early-stage Alzheimer's disease in Wales.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clare, Linda; Whitaker, Christopher J; Craik, Fergus I M; Bialystok, Ellen; Martyr, Anthony; Martin-Forbes, Pamela A; Bastable, Alexandra J M; Pye, Kirstie L; Quinn, Catherine; Thomas, Enlli M; Gathercole, Virginia C Mueller; Hindle, John V

    2016-09-01

    The observation of a bilingual advantage in executive control tasks involving inhibition and management of response conflict suggests that being bilingual might contribute to increased cognitive reserve. In support of this, recent evidence indicates that bilinguals develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) later than monolinguals, and may retain an advantage in performance on executive control tasks. We compared age at the time of receiving an AD diagnosis in bilingual Welsh/English speakers (n = 37) and monolingual English speakers (n = 49), and assessed the performance of bilinguals (n = 24) and monolinguals (n = 49) on a range of executive control tasks. There was a non-significant difference in age at the time of diagnosis, with bilinguals being on average 3 years older than monolinguals, but bilinguals were also significantly more cognitively impaired at the time of diagnosis. There were no significant differences between monolinguals and bilinguals in performance on executive function tests, but bilinguals appeared to show relative strengths in the domain of inhibition and response conflict. Bilingual Welsh/English speakers with AD do not show a clear advantage in executive function over monolingual English speakers, but may retain some benefits in inhibition and management of response conflict. There may be a delay in onset of AD in Welsh/English bilinguals, but if so, it is smaller than that found in some other clinical populations. In this Welsh sample, bilinguals with AD came to the attention of services later than monolinguals, and reasons for this pattern could be explored further. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

  11. How Do Siblings Shape the Language Environment in Bilingual Families?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obied, Vicky Macleroy

    2009-01-01

    This article investigates the home literacy practices of Portuguese-English bilingual children raised in Portugal. The ethnographic research was inspired by experience with bilingual families, whose children were all of school age, so acquisition of literacy in English as the non-school language had surfaced as an issue. The research opens up new…

  12. Variation among heritage speakers: Sequential vs. simultaneous bilinguals

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    Teresa Lee

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available This study examines the differences in the grammatical knowledge of two types of heritage speakers of Korean. Early simultaneous bilinguals are exposed to both English and the heritage language from birth, whereas early sequential bilinguals are exposed to the heritage language first and then to English upon schooling. A listening comprehension task involving relative clauses was conducted with 51 beginning-level Korean heritage speakers. The results showed that the early sequential bilinguals exhibited much more accurate knowledge than the early simultaneous bilinguals, who lacked rudimentary knowledge of Korean relative clauses. Drawing on the findings of adult and child Korean L1 data on the acquisition of relative clauses, the performance of each group is discussed with respect to attrition and incomplete acquisition of the heritage language.

  13. Language, Culture and Identity: A Sociolinguistic Study of Bilingual ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper explores the dynamics of bilingual speech in the Lagos Island speech community in Central Lagos. Against the background of the unique social motivations for bilingual behaviour in this cosmopolitan community, this study explores the various sociolinguistic acts utilized by the Yoruba-English bilinguals in the ...

  14. Cognate costs in bilingual speech production: Evidence from language switching

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    Mirjam Broersma

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available This study investigates cross-language lexical competition in the bilingual mental lexicon. It provides evidence for the occurrence of inhibition as well as the commonly reported facilitation during the production of cognates (words with similar phonological form and meaning in two languages in a mixed picture naming task by highly proficient Welsh-English bilinguals. Previous studies have typically found cognate facilitation. It has previously been proposed (with respect to non-cognates that cross-language inhibition is limited to low-proficient bilinguals; therefore, we tested highly proficient, early bilinguals. In a mixed naming experiment (i.e., picture naming with language switching, 48 highly proficient, early Welsh-English bilinguals named pictures in Welsh and English, including cognate and non-cognate targets. Participants were English-dominant, Welsh-dominant, or had equal language dominance. The results showed evidence for cognate inhibition in to ways. First, both facilitation and inhibition were found on the cognate trials themselves, compared to non-cognate controls, modulated by the participants’ language dominance. The English-dominant group showed cognate inhibition when naming in Welsh (and no difference between cognates and controls when naming in English, and the Welsh-dominant and equal dominance groups generally showed cognate facilitation. Second, cognate inhibition was found as a behavioral adaptation effect, with slower naming for non-cognate filler words in trials after cognates than after non-cognate controls. This effect was consistent across all language dominance groups and both target languages, suggesting that cognate production involved cognitive control even if this was not measurable in the cognate trials themselves. Finally, the results replicated patterns of symmetrical switch costs, as commonly reported for balanced bilinguals. We propose that cognate processing might be affected by two different

  15. The timing and magnitude of Stroop interference and facilitation in monolinguals and bilinguals.

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    Coderre, Emily L; VAN Heuven, Walter J B; Conklin, Kathy

    2013-04-01

    Executive control abilities and lexical access speed in Stroop performance were investigated in English monolinguals and two groups of bilinguals (English-Chinese and Chinese-English) in their first (L1) and second (L2) languages. Predictions were based on a bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, implicating cognitive control ability as the critical factor determining Stroop interference; and two bilingual lexical disadvantage hypotheses, focusing on lexical access speed. Importantly, each hypothesis predicts different response patterns in a Stroop task manipulating stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). There was evidence for a bilingual cognitive advantage, although this effect was sensitive to a number of variables including proficiency, language immersion, and script. In lexical access speed, no differences occurred between monolinguals and bilinguals in their native languages, but there was evidence for a delay in L2 processing speed relative to the L1. Overall, the data highlight the multitude of factors affecting executive control and lexical access speed in bilinguals.

  16. Differences in the Association between Segment and Language: Early Bilinguals Pattern with Monolinguals and Are Less Accurate than Late Bilinguals

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    Blanco, Cynthia P.; Bannard, Colin; Smiljanic, Rajka

    2016-01-01

    Early bilinguals often show as much sensitivity to L2-specific contrasts as monolingual speakers of the L2, but most work on cross-language speech perception has focused on isolated segments, and typically only on neighboring vowels or stop contrasts. In tasks that include sounds in context, listeners’ success is more variable, so segment discrimination in isolation may not adequately represent the phonetic detail in stored representations. The current study explores the relationship between language experience and sensitivity to segmental cues in context by comparing the categorization patterns of monolingual English listeners and early and late Spanish–English bilinguals. Participants categorized nonce words containing different classes of English- and Spanish-specific sounds as being more English-like or more Spanish-like; target segments included phonemic cues, cues for which there is no analogous sound in the other language, or phonetic cues, cues for which English and Spanish share the category but for which each language varies in its phonetic implementation. Listeners’ language categorization accuracy and reaction times were analyzed. Our results reveal a largely uniform categorization pattern across listener groups: Spanish cues were categorized more accurately than English cues, and phonemic cues were easier for listeners to categorize than phonetic cues. There were no differences in the sensitivity of monolinguals and early bilinguals to language-specific cues, suggesting that the early bilinguals’ exposure to Spanish did not fundamentally change their representations of English phonology. However, neither did the early bilinguals show more sensitivity than the monolinguals to Spanish sounds. The late bilinguals however, were significantly more accurate than either of the other groups. These findings indicate that listeners with varying exposure to English and Spanish are able to use language-specific cues in a nonce-word language categorization

  17. Contribution of Bilingualism in Language Teaching

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    Sipra, Muhammad Aslam

    2013-01-01

    This study is an investigation into the contribution of the use of bilingualism as an aid in learning/teaching English as a foreign language and bilingualism in EFL classroom does not reduce students' communicative abilities but in effect can assist in teaching and learning process. The study employed a qualitative, interpretive research design…

  18. Partial Immersion Program for Saudi Bilinguals

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    Alsulami, Sumayyah Qaed

    2017-01-01

    English is taught as a foreign language in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Although the government tries gradually to integrate teaching English in all grades: secondary, intermediate and elementary, learning English is still limited and need more developing. This essay is a brief review about bilingualism in Saudi education. This essay will be divided…

  19. English Learners: Reaching the Highest Level of English Literacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, Gilbert C., Ed.

    This collection of papers examines the critical literacy development of English learners, focusing on English reading instruction in an immersion setting, English language development, and cultural issues pertaining to English learners in and out of the classroom. The 16 papers include the following: (1) "Reading and the Bilingual Student: Fact…

  20. Bilingualism Alters Children's Frontal Lobe Functioning for Attentional Control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arredondo, Maria M.; Hu, Xiao-Su; Satterfield, Teresa; Kovelman, Ioulia

    2017-01-01

    Bilingualism is a typical linguistic experience, yet relatively little is known about its impact on children's cognitive and brain development. Theories of bilingualism suggest early dual-language acquisition can improve children's cognitive abilities, specifically those relying on frontal lobe functioning. While behavioral findings present much conflicting evidence, little is known about its effects on children's frontal lobe development. Using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), the findings suggest that Spanish-English bilingual children (n=13, ages 7-13) had greater activation in left prefrontal cortex during a non-verbal attentional control task relative to age-matched English monolinguals. In contrast, monolinguals (n=14) showed greater right prefrontal activation than bilinguals. The present findings suggest early bilingualism yields significant changes to the functional organization of children's prefrontal cortex for attentional control and carry implications for understanding how early life experiences impact cognition and brain development. PMID:26743118

  1. The Relationship between Applied Linguistic Research and Language Policy for Bilingual Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, David Cassels

    2010-01-01

    Currently, restrictive-language policies seem to threaten bilingual education throughout the USA. Anti-bilingual education initiatives have passed easily in California, Arizona, and Massachusetts, while one was closely defeated in Colorado, and federal education policy has re-invigorated the focus on English education for English language…

  2. Bilingualism yields language-specific plasticity in left hemisphere's circuitry for learning to read in young children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jasińska, K K; Berens, M S; Kovelman, I; Petitto, L A

    2017-04-01

    How does bilingual exposure impact children's neural circuitry for learning to read? Theories of bilingualism suggests that exposure to two languages may yield a functional and neuroanatomical adaptation to support the learning of two languages (Klein et al., 2014). To test the hypothesis that this neural adaptation may vary as a function of structural and orthographic characteristics of bilinguals' two languages, we compared Spanish-English and French-English bilingual children, and English monolingual children, using functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy neuroimaging (fNIRS, ages 6-10, N =26). Spanish offers consistent sound-to-print correspondences ("phonologically transparent" or "shallow"); such correspondences are more opaque in French and even more opaque in English (which has both transparent and "phonologically opaque" or "deep" correspondences). Consistent with our hypothesis, both French- and Spanish-English bilinguals showed hyperactivation in left posterior temporal regions associated with direct sound-to-print phonological analyses and hypoactivation in left frontal regions associated with assembled phonology analyses. Spanish, but not French, bilinguals showed a similar effect when reading Irregular words. The findings inform theories of bilingual and cross-linguistic literacy acquisition by suggesting that structural characteristics of bilinguals' two languages and their orthographies have a significant impact on children's neuro-cognitive architecture for learning to read. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  3. Drafting. A Bilingual Text = Dibujo Mecanico. Un Texto Bilingue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Los Angeles Unified School District, CA. Div. of Career and Continuing Education.

    This bilingual instructional text, one in a series of six texts covering various vocational and technical topics, provides secondary level English and Spanish instruction in drafting. Addressed in the individual units are the following topics: safety, drafting tools and techniques, sketching, geometric construction, working drawings, sectioning,…

  4. Influence of Current Input-Output and Age of First Exposure on Phonological Acquisition in Early Bilingual Spanish-English-Speaking Kindergarteners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruiz-Felter, Roxanna; Cooperson, Solaman J.; Bedore, Lisa M.; Peña, Elizabeth D.

    2016-01-01

    Background: Although some investigations of phonological development have found that segmental accuracy is comparable in monolingual children and their bilingual peers, there is evidence that language use affects segmental accuracy in both languages. Aims: To investigate the influence of age of first exposure to English and the amount of current…

  5. Bilingualism: A Bridge to Cosmopolitanism?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mora, Raúl A.; Golovátina-Mora, Polina

    2011-01-01

    The literature in English education has discussed at length the proposed goals of English as a tool for international communication, diversity, and the mutual sharing of cultures. In Colombia, different policies have aimed at making "bilingualism" a policy and educational priority that wants to help Colombian students turn these goals…

  6. Language Skills of Bidialectal and Bilingual Children: Considering a Strengths-Based Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee-James, Ryan; Washington, Julie A.

    2018-01-01

    This article examines the language and cognitive skills of bidialectal and bilingual children, focusing on African American English bidialectal speakers and Spanish-English bilingual speakers. It contributes to the discussion by considering two themes in the extant literature: (1) linguistic and cognitive strengths can be found in speaking two…

  7. Predictors of English Health Literacy among U.S. Hispanic Immigrants: The importance of language, bilingualism and sociolinguistic environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hund, Lauren; Soto Mas, Francisco

    2016-01-01

    In the United States, data confirm that Spanish-speaking immigrants are particularly affected by the negative health outcomes associated with low health literacy. Although the literature points to variables such as age, educational background and language, only a few studies have investigated the factors that may influence health literacy in this group. Similarly, the role that bilingualism and/or multilingualism play in health literacy assessment continues to be an issue in need of further research. The purpose of this study was to examine the predictors of English health literacy among adult Hispanic immigrants whose self-reported primary language is Spanish, but who live and function in a bilingual community. It also explored issues related to the language of the instrument. An analysis of data collected through a randomized controlled study was conducted. Results identified English proficiency as the strongest predictor of health literacy (p sociolinguistic environment affect health literacy in language minority adults; proposes language approaches that may be more appropriate for measuring health literacy in these populations; and recommends further place-based research to determine whether the connection between language proficiency and health is generalizable to border communities. PMID:27127416

  8. Predictors of English Health Literacy among U.S. Hispanic Immigrants: The importance of language, bilingualism and sociolinguistic environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobson, Holly E; Hund, Lauren; Soto Mas, Francisco

    In the United States, data confirm that Spanish-speaking immigrants are particularly affected by the negative health outcomes associated with low health literacy. Although the literature points to variables such as age, educational background and language, only a few studies have investigated the factors that may influence health literacy in this group. Similarly, the role that bilingualism and/or multilingualism play in health literacy assessment continues to be an issue in need of further research. The purpose of this study was to examine the predictors of English health literacy among adult Hispanic immigrants whose self-reported primary language is Spanish, but who live and function in a bilingual community. It also explored issues related to the language of the instrument. An analysis of data collected through a randomized controlled study was conducted. Results identified English proficiency as the strongest predictor of health literacy (p sociolinguistic environment affect health literacy in language minority adults; proposes language approaches that may be more appropriate for measuring health literacy in these populations; and recommends further place-based research to determine whether the connection between language proficiency and health is generalizable to border communities.

  9. When learning a second language does not mean losing the first: bilingual language development in low-income, Spanish-speaking children attending bilingual preschool.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winsler, A; Díaz, R M; Espinosa, L; Rodríguez, J L

    1999-01-01

    This article discusses two investigations which explored the bilingual language development outcomes of comparable groups of low-income, Spanish-speaking, Mexican American children who either did or did not attended a bilingual (Spanish/English) preschool. Study 1 is a replication of a study by Rodríguez, Díaz, Duran, and Espinosa, involving a new sample of 26 children who attended bilingual preschool for one year and 20 control children who remained at home. Study 2 represents a 1-year, longitudinal follow-up of Rodríguez et al.'s, sample of children during and after the children spent another year at home or in the preschool. In both investigations, standardized, objective measures of three components of children's language proficiency (productive language, receptive language, and language complexity) in English and Spanish were obtained at the beginning and end of the academic year. Contrary to fears that have been expressed by some that early exposure to English would lead to children's native language loss, the results of both studies offered no evidence of Spanish proficiency loss for children attending bilingual preschool. Children who attended bilingual preschool, compared to those who remained at home, showed significant and parallel gains in Spanish language development as well as significant and greater increases in English language proficiency over time. Results are discussed in terms of the need for more systematic research to be conducted in this area to inform policy and practice in the early education and development of language-minority children.

  10. The language and social background questionnaire: Assessing degree of bilingualism in a diverse population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, John A E; Mak, Lorinda; Keyvani Chahi, Aram; Bialystok, Ellen

    2018-02-01

    Research examining the cognitive consequences of bilingualism has expanded rapidly in recent years and has revealed effects on aspects of cognition across the lifespan. However, these effects are difficult to find in studies investigating young adults. One problem is that there is no standard definition of bilingualism or means of evaluating degree of bilingualism in individual participants, making it difficult to directly compare the results of different studies. Here, we describe an instrument developed to assess degree of bilingualism for young adults who live in diverse communities in which English is the official language. We demonstrate the reliability and validity of the instrument in analyses based on 408 participants. The relevant factors for describing degree of bilingualism are: (1) the extent of non-English language proficiency and use at home, and (2) non-English language use socially. We then use the bilingualism scores obtained from the instrument to demonstrate their association with: (1) performance on executive function tasks, and (2) previous classifications of participants into categories of monolinguals and bilinguals.

  11. The development of determiners in the context of French-English bilingualism: a study of cross-linguistic influence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hervé, Coralie; Serratrice, Ludovica

    2018-05-01

    This paper reports the preliminary results of a study examining the role of structural overlap, language exposure, and language use on cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in bilingual first language acquisition. We focus on the longitudinal development of determiners in a corpus of two French-English children between the ages of 2;4 and 3;7. The results display bi-directional CLI in the rate of development, i.e., accelerated development in English and a minor delay in French. Unidirectional CLI from English to French was instead observed in the significantly higher rate of ungrammatical determiner omissions in plural and generic contexts than in singular specific contexts in French. These findings suggest that other language-internal mechanisms may be at play. They also lend support to the role of expressive abilities on the magnitude of this phenomenon.

  12. English Acquisition in Puerto Rico: Teachers' Insights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eisenstein Ebsworth, Miriam; Ebsworth, Timothy John; Cai, Chencen

    2018-01-01

    Acquiring English in Puerto Rico involves the perceived advantages of bilingualism in contact with socio-political and economic forces that encourage and constrain the development of a population that is bilingual and biliterate in Spanish and English. Using a mixed design we report the perspectives of 86 experienced English teachers on the…

  13. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE (ASL AND BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE (BSL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zora JACHOVA

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available In the communication of deaf people between them­selves and hearing people there are three ba­sic as­pects of interaction: gesture, finger signs and writing. The gesture is a conditionally agreed manner of communication with the help of the hands followed by face and body mimic. The ges­ture and the move­ments pre-exist the speech and they had the purpose to mark something, and later to emphasize the speech expression.Stokoe was the first linguist that realised that the signs are not a whole that can not be analysed. He analysed signs in insignificant parts that he called “chemeres”, and many linguists today call them pho­nemes. He created three main phoneme catego­ries: hand position, location and movement.Sign languages as spoken languages have back­ground from the distant past. They developed par­allel with the development of spoken language and undertook many historical changes. Therefore, to­day they do not represent a replacement of the spoken language, but are languages themselves in the real sense of the word.Although the structures of the English language used in USA and in Great Britain is the same, still their sign languages-ASL and BSL are different.

  14. Spanish-English Speech Perception in Children and Adults: Developmental Trends

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brice, Alejandro E.; Gorman, Brenda K.; Leung, Cynthia B.

    2013-01-01

    This study explored the developmental trends and phonetic category formation in bilingual children and adults. Participants included 30 fluent Spanish-English bilingual children, aged 8-11, and bilingual adults, aged 18-40. All completed gating tasks that incorporated code-mixed Spanish-English stimuli. There were significant differences in…

  15. Assessing bilingual Chinese-English young children in Malaysia using language sample measures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ooi, Carmen C-W; Wong, Anita M-Y

    2012-12-01

    One reason why specific language impairment (SLI) is grossly under-identified in Malaysia is the absence of locally- developed norm-referenced language assessment tools for its multilingual and multicultural population. Spontaneous language samples provide quantitative information for language assessment, and useful descriptive information on child language development in complex language and cultural environments. This research consisted of two studies and investigated the use of measures obtained from English conversational samples among bilingual Chinese-English Malaysian preschoolers. The research found that the language sample measures were sensitive to developmental changes in this population and could identify SLI. The first study examined the relationship between age and mean length of utterance (MLU(w)), lexical diversity (D), and the index of productive syntax (IPSyn) among 52 typically-developing (TD) children aged between 3;4-6;9. Analyses showed a significant linear relationship between age and D (r = .450), the IPsyn (r = .441), and MLU(w) (r = .318). The second study compared the same measures obtained from 10 children with SLI, aged between 3;8-5;11, and their age-matched controls. The children with SLI had significantly shorter MLU(w) and lower IPSyn scores than the TD children. These findings suggest that utterance length and syntax production can be potential clinical markers of SLI in Chinese-English Malaysian children.

  16. Attitudes towards English in Ghana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kari Dako

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The paper considers official and individual attitudes towards bilingualism in English and a Ghanaian language. We ask whether bilingualism in English and Ghanaian languages is a social handicap, without merit, or an important indicator of ethnic identity. Ghana has about 50 non-mutually intelligible languages, yet there are no statistics on who speaks what language(s where in the country. We consider attitudes to English against the current Ghanaian language policy in education as practised in the school system. Our data reveal that parents believe early exposure to English enhances academic performance; English is therefore becoming the language of the home.

  17. Cognitive Flexibility in Drawings of Bilingual Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adi-Japha, Esther; Berberich-Artzi, Jennie; Libnawi, Afaf

    2010-01-01

    A. Karmiloff-Smith's (1990) task of drawing a nonexistent object is considered to be a measure of cognitive flexibility. The notion of earlier emergence of cognitive flexibility in bilingual children motivated the current researchers to request 4- and 5-year-old English-Hebrew and Arabic-Hebrew bilingual children and their monolingual peers to…

  18. Language choice in bimodal bilingual development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diane eLillo-Martin

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Bilingual children develop sensitivity to the language used by their interlocutors at an early age, reflected in differential use of each language by the child depending on their interlocutor. Factors such as discourse context and relative language dominance in the community may mediate the degree of language differentiation in preschool age children.Bimodal bilingual children, acquiring both a sign language and a spoken language, have an even more complex situation. Their Deaf parents vary considerably in access to the spoken language. Furthermore, in addition to code-mixing and code-switching, they use code-blending – expressions in both speech and sign simultaneously – an option uniquely available to bimodal bilinguals. Code-blending is analogous to code-switching sociolinguistically, but is also a way to communicate without suppressing one language. For adult bimodal bilinguals, complete suppression of the non-selected language is cognitively demanding. We expect that bimodal bilingual children also find suppression difficult, and use blending rather than suppression in some contexts. We also expect relative community language dominance to be a factor in children’s language choices.This study analyzes longitudinal spontaneous production data from four bimodal bilingual children and their Deaf and hearing interlocutors. Even at the earliest observations, the children produced more signed utterances with Deaf interlocutors and more speech with hearing interlocutors. However, while three of the four children produced >75% speech alone in speech target sessions, they produced <25% sign alone in sign target sessions. All four produced bimodal utterances in both, but more frequently in the sign sessions, potentially because they find suppression of the dominant language more difficult.Our results indicate that these children are sensitive to the language used by their interlocutors, while showing considerable influence from the dominant

  19. Phonological awareness and short-term memory in hearing and deaf individuals of different communication backgrounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koo, Daniel; Crain, Kelly; LaSasso, Carol; Eden, Guinevere F

    2008-12-01

    Previous work in deaf populations on phonological coding and working memory, two skills thought to play an important role in the acquisition of written language skills, have focused primarily on signers or did not clearly identify the subjects' native language and communication mode. In the present study, we examined the effect of sensory experience, early language experience, and communication mode on the phonological awareness skills and serial recall of linguistic items in deaf and hearing individuals of different communicative and linguistic backgrounds: hearing nonsigning controls, hearing users of ASL, deaf users of ASL, deaf oral users of English, and deaf users of cued speech. Since many current measures of phonological awareness skills are inappropriate for deaf populations on account of the verbal demands in the stimuli or response, we devised a nonverbal phonological measure that addresses this limitation. The Phoneme Detection Test revealed that deaf cuers and oral users, but not deaf signers, performed as well as their hearing peers when detecting phonemes not transparent in the orthography. The second focus of the study examined short-term memory skills and found that in response to the traditional digit span as well as an experimental visual version, digit-span performance was similar across the three deaf groups, yet deaf subjects' retrieval was lower than that of hearing subjects. Our results support the claim (Bavelier et al., 2006) that lexical items processed in the visual-spatial modality are not as well retained as information processed in the auditory channel. Together these findings show that the relationship between working memory, phonological coding, and reading may not be as tightly interwoven in deaf students as would have been predicted from work conducted in hearing students.

  20. An Understanding of the Concept and Conditions of Bilingualism: A Study in an EFL Setting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Patricia Lastra R.

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a study carried out at a private school that implemented a bilingual program more than a decade ago. The main aim of the project was to find out how the school community understands the concept of bilingualism and the conditions required to fulfill the goals of a bilingual curriculum at the school. Data were collected through surveys and focus groups made up of different members of the school community. The results showed that bilingualism is associated with a high intensification of English classes and the necessity of having English-speaking employees. Results also depict some theoretical issues about bilingualism and important conditions for implementing a bilingual program.

  1. Materiales en Marcha Para El Esfuerzo Bilingue--Bicultural (Materials on the March for the Promotion of Bilingualism/Biculturalism), March 1973.

    Science.gov (United States)

    San Diego City Schools, CA.

    This newsletter is designed to promote the concept of bilingual-bicultural education. Included in this issue are articles on "Bilingual Education: Acceptance and Allocation,""A World History Reference,""History Teachers, Take Heart,""Social Studies Materials in Spanish," and "Pride of Aztlan." Articles appear in Spanish and English. Included is a…

  2. French-Canadian translation and validation of four questionnaires assessing hearing impairment and handicap.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vincent, Claude; Gagné, Jean-Pierre; Leroux, Tony; Clothier, Audrey; Larivière, Marianne; Dumont, Frédéric S; Gendron, Martine

    2017-04-01

    Questionnaires evaluating hearing impairment are available in English but there is a need for French standardised questionnaires for researchers as well as for audiologists and other clinicians. The objective of this study is to describe the translation and validation of four questionnaires that assess different aspects of hearing impairment and handicap among elders with hearing loss, by comparing the main score and psychometric evaluation of original and French-Canadian (FC) versions of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Scale II (WHO-DAS II), the Screening Test for Hearing Problems (STHP), the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) and the Measure of Audiologic Rehabilitation Self-Efficacy for Hearing Aids (MARS-HA). Vallerand method: translation and back-translation by two translators, revision by a committee of experts and pre-tested with five bilingual older participants. Participants (n = 29) were 65 years of age or older including 21 with hearing aids. The psychometric properties (internal consistency, temporal stability after four weeks) indicate good reliability for most of the translated questionnaires and their subscales, especially the WHO-DAS II. The translations in FC of two hearing loss and two hearing aid questionnaires were validated. It is recommended to pursue the demonstration for temporal stability for the STHP.

  3. Language Mediated Concept Activation in Bilingual Memory Facilitates Cognitive Flexibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anatoliy V. Kharkhurin

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This is the first attempt of empirical investigation of language mediated concept activation (LMCA in bilingual memory as a cognitive mechanism facilitating divergent thinking. Russian–English bilingual and Russian monolingual college students were tested on a battery of tests including among others Abbreviated Torrance Tests for Adults assessing divergent thinking traits and translingual priming (TLP test assessing the LMCA. The latter was designed as a lexical decision priming test, in which a prime and a target were not related in Russian (language of testing, but were related through their translation equivalents in English (spoken only by bilinguals. Bilinguals outperformed their monolingual counterparts on divergent thinking trait of cognitive flexibility, and bilinguals’ performance on this trait could be explained by their TLP effect. Age of second language acquisition and proficiency in this language were found to relate to the TLP effect, and therefore were proposed to influence the directionality and strength of connections in bilingual memory.

  4. Critical Thinking through Writing: Expressing Scientific Thought and Process in a Deaf Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manjarrez, Leslie

    Within Deaf classrooms there is often a disconnect between academic areas and writing curriculums that develop in both common and academic language, where often classrooms focus solely on writing as a skill rather than as a method for producing language through an academic area. This work focuses on the development of academic language in ASL and English print of science. The curriculum is written to be implemented as a bilingual academic curriculum to support Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in various self contained classroom settings. Lessons are conducted in three Units, A B and C. Unit A focuses on research, thought and writing of preparatory materials in small groups. Unit B is comprised of procedural lessons on conducting x experiments and the evaluation of those experiments through mathematics. Unit C is a group of lessons that ties together Units A and B through writing and peer teaching as a method of concluding the work and presenting information in an effective manner. The success of the project was evaluated on the basis of student work, rubrics, and final works from the students. The results showed promise in aspects of Critical Thinking, writing development, and expression of new concepts in both ASL and English.

  5. Executive Functions and Inhibitory Control in Multilingual Children: Evidence from Second-Language Learners, Bilinguals, and Trilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poarch, Gregory J.; van Hell, Janet G.

    2012-01-01

    In two experiments, we examined inhibitory control processes in three groups of bilinguals and trilinguals that differed in nonnative language proficiency and language learning background. German 5- to 8-year-old second-language learners of English, German-English bilinguals, German-English-Language X trilinguals, and 6- to 8-year-old German…

  6. Effects of Academic and Non-Academic Instructional Approaches on Preschool English Language Learners' Classroom Engagement and English Language Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Markova, Ivana

    2017-01-01

    This research compared the relative impact of different preschool activities on the development of bilingual students' English-language skills. The study investigated whether bilingual preschool children would engage more, and use more of their second language (English), during free-play (non-academic) versus teacher-structured (academic)…

  7. Analysis on the Difficulties Faced by a Bilingual Child in Reading and Writing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rizki Hardiyanti

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Bilingual child ability in two languages is become popular issue in the comparison of those two languages. In this paper, the Indonesian bilingual child has parent, school and course using English actively, then his environment using Bahasa Indonesia. This research was conducted to measure ability and difficulties faced by bilingual child in reading and writing in two languages Bahasa Indonesia- English. This journal applied a qualitative research design. Qualitative research is stated as naturalistic study that has the natural setting, as the direct source of data and the researcher is the key instrument  (Bogdan and Biklen, 1992. To specify the design in this journal, this qualitative method was used to analyze a specific person of Bilingual Child. The data were taken from observation, interview, video recording of the child’s reading the English and Bahasa Indonesia textbook story and written test of the child’s writing the English and Bahasa Indonesia summary of textbook story. In both English and Bahasa Indonesia, the reading difficulties appear related to pronunciation, intonation, expression and word stress and the writing difficulties appear related to relevance, organization, vocabulary and grammar.

  8. Graphic Arts. A Bilingual Text = Artes Graficas. Un Texto Bilingue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Los Angeles Unified School District, CA. Div. of Career and Continuing Education.

    This bilingual instructional text, one in a series of six texts covering various vocational and technical topics, provides secondary level English and Spanish instruction in graphic arts. Addressed in the individual sections are basic graphic arts (composition, stone and press work, offset printing, silk screen, and photography) and allied graphic…

  9. Development and validation of a smartphone-based digits-in-noise hearing test in South African English.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potgieter, Jenni-Marí; Swanepoel, De Wet; Myburgh, Hermanus Carel; Hopper, Thomas Christopher; Smits, Cas

    2015-07-01

    The objective of this study was to develop and validate a smartphone-based digits-in-noise hearing test for South African English. Single digits (0-9) were recorded and spoken by a first language English female speaker. Level corrections were applied to create a set of homogeneous digits with steep speech recognition functions. A smartphone application was created to utilize 120 digit-triplets in noise as test material. An adaptive test procedure determined the speech reception threshold (SRT). Experiments were performed to determine headphones effects on the SRT and to establish normative data. Participants consisted of 40 normal-hearing subjects with thresholds ≤15 dB across the frequency spectrum (250-8000 Hz) and 186 subjects with normal-hearing in both ears, or normal-hearing in the better ear. The results show steep speech recognition functions with a slope of 20%/dB for digit-triplets presented in noise using the smartphone application. The results of five headphone types indicate that the smartphone-based hearing test is reliable and can be conducted using standard Android smartphone headphones or clinical headphones. A digits-in-noise hearing test was developed and validated for South Africa. The mean SRT and speech recognition functions correspond to previous developed telephone-based digits-in-noise tests.

  10. Motivations For Code-Switching Among Igboenglish Bilinguals: A ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Studies have shown that code-switching is not a manifestation of mental confusion but a rule-governed behaviour among bilinguals which is motivated by various socio-psychological as well as linguistic factors. It has been observed that code-switching is more predominant among Igbo-English bilinguals compared to any ...

  11. Bilateral Cochlear Implants: Maximizing Expected Outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallis, Kate E; Blum, Nathan J; Waryasz, Stephanie A; Augustyn, Marilyn

    Sonia is a 4 years 1 month-year-old girl with Waardenburg syndrome and bilateral sensorineural hearing loss who had bilateral cochlear implants at 2 years 7 months years of age. She is referred to Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics by her speech/language pathologist because of concerns that her language skills are not progressing as expected after the cochlear implant. At the time of the implant, she communicated using approximately 20 signs and 1 spoken word (mama). At the time of the evaluation (18 months after the implant) she had approximately 70 spoken words (English and Spanish) and innumerable signs that she used to communicate. She could follow 1-step directions in English but had more difficulty after 2-step directions.Sonia was born in Puerto Rico at 40 weeks gestation after an uncomplicated pregnancy. She failed her newborn hearing test and was given hearing aids that did not seem to help.At age 2 years, Sonia, her mother, and younger sister moved to the United States where she was diagnosed with bilateral severe-to-profound hearing loss. Genetic testing led to a diagnosis of Waardenburg syndrome (group of genetic conditions that can cause hearing loss and changes in coloring [pigmentation] of the hair, skin, and eyes). She received bilateral cochlear implants 6 months later.Sonia's mother is primarily Spanish-speaking and mostly communicates with her in Spanish or with gestures but has recently begun to learn American Sign Language (ASL). In a preschool program at a specialized school for the deaf, Sonia is learning both English and ASL. Sonia seems to prefer to use ASL to communicate.Sonia receives speech and language therapy (SLT) 3 times per week (90 minutes total) individually in school and once per week within a group. She is also receiving outpatient SLT once per week. Therapy sessions are completed in English, with the aid of an ASL interpreter. Sonia's language scores remain low, with her receptive skills in the first percentile, and her

  12. English speech acquisition in 3- to 5-year-old children learning Russian and English.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gildersleeve-Neumann, Christina E; Wright, Kira L

    2010-10-01

    English speech acquisition in Russian-English (RE) bilingual children was investigated, exploring the effects of Russian phonetic and phonological properties on English single-word productions. Russian has more complex consonants and clusters and a smaller vowel inventory than English. One hundred thirty-seven single-word samples were phonetically transcribed from 14 RE and 28 English-only (E) children, ages 3;3 (years;months) to 5;7. Language and age differences were compared descriptively for phonetic inventories. Multivariate analyses compared phoneme accuracy and error rates between the two language groups. RE children produced Russian-influenced phones in English, including palatalized consonants and trills, and demonstrated significantly higher rates of trill substitution, final devoicing, and vowel errors than E children, suggesting Russian language effects on English. RE and E children did not differ in their overall production complexity, with similar final consonant deletion and cluster reduction error rates, similar phonetic inventories by age, and similar levels of phonetic complexity. Both older language groups were more accurate than the younger language groups. We observed effects of Russian on English speech acquisition; however, there were similarities between the RE and E children that have not been reported in previous studies of speech acquisition in bilingual children. These findings underscore the importance of knowing the phonological properties of both languages of a bilingual child in assessment.

  13. Problems in Bilingual Lexicography: Romance and English

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiezell, Richard John

    1975-01-01

    A bilingual dictionary must be more accurate in definitions than a monolingual. This paper touches on problems of transference between languages, linguistic "cannibalism," and lexical versus connotative meaning. (CK)

  14. The Role of Fathers in Language Maintenance and Language Attrition: The Case of Korean-English Late Bilinguals in New Zealand

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Sun Hee Ok; Starks, Donna

    2010-01-01

    The father's role in children's L1 maintenance and L2 learning is a relatively unexplored area. This study considers the L1 and L2 proficiency of 30 Korean-English late bilinguals who immigrated to New Zealand during their adolescence and how their L1 and L2 proficiency is influenced by the language use of family members. Data were collected…

  15. Differences between Spanish monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual children in their calculation of entailment-based scalar implicatures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristen Syrett

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we extend investigations of the possible effects of cross-linguistic influence at the pragmatics-syntax interface (Hulk & Müller 2000; Müller & Hulk 2001; Serratrice, Sorace & Paoli 2004, by presenting two experiments designed to probe how Spanish monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual preschool-age children approach the ‘some, but not all’ 'scalar implicature '(SI associated with 'algunos '(‘some’. We compare 'algunos 'and 'unos '(also a ‘some’ indefinite, but one that is not context-linked and does not induce an SI, and 'algunos 'and 'todos '(the universal quantifier ‘every/all’. The performance of the children is compared to fluent adult Spanish heritage speakers. Experiment 1 is a variation of Noveck’s (2001 statement evaluation task, also replicated by Guasti et al'. '(2005. Experiment 2 is a forced-choice picture selection task. Results demonstrate that adults were the only group to consistently calculate the SI associated with 'algunos '– a finding that was expected to some extent, given that our tasks were stripped of the contextual support that could benefit children’s pragmatic reasoning. While bilingual and monolingual children displayed comparable performance across tasks, bilinguals in Experiment 2 appeared to experience difficulty with judgments related to 'todos '– a pattern we attribute (in light of independent findings to the cognitive overload in the task, not the lexical entry of this quantifier. We conclude that young monolingual and bilingual children confront the same challenges when called upon to deploy pragmatic skills in a discourse context. This article is part of the special collection:Acquisition of Quantification

  16. BEST: Bilingual environmental science training, Grades 3--4

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-03-01

    This booklet is one of a series of bilingual guides to environmental-science learning activities for students to do at home. Lesson objectives, materials required, procedure, vocabulary, and subjects integrated into the lesson are described in English for each lesson. A bilingual glossary, alphabetized by English entries, with Spanish equivalents and definitions in both English and Spanish, follows the lesson descriptions, and is itself followed by a bibliography of English-language references with annotations in English. This booklet includes descriptions of ten lessons that cover the following topics: the identification of primary and secondary colors in the environment; recognizing the basic food tastes; the variety of colors that can be made by crushing plant parts; the variety of animal life present in common soil; animal tracks; evidence of plant and animal life in the local environment; recycling, reducing, and composting as alternative means of garbage disposal; waste associated with packaging; paper- recycling principles; and how organic waste can be composted into usable soil. 2 figs.

  17. Predictors of Processing-Based Task Performance in Bilingual and Monolingual Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buac, Milijana; Gross, Megan; Kaushanskaya, Margarita

    2016-01-01

    In the present study we examined performance of bilingual Spanish-English-speaking and monolingual English-speaking school-age children on a range of processing-based measures within the framework of Baddeley’s working memory model. The processing-based measures included measures of short-term memory, measures of working memory, and a novel word-learning task. Results revealed that monolinguals outperformed bilinguals on the short-term memory tasks but not the working memory and novel word-learning tasks. Further, children’s vocabulary skills and socioeconomic status (SES) were more predictive of processing-based task performance in the bilingual group than the monolingual group. Together, these findings indicate that processing-based tasks that engage verbal working memory rather than short-term memory may be better-suited for diagnostic purposes with bilingual children. However, even verbal working memory measures are sensitive to bilingual children’s language-specific knowledge and demographic characteristics, and therefore may have limited clinical utility. PMID:27179914

  18. Families and Educators Supporting Bilingualism in Early Childhood

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez, M. Victoria

    2015-01-01

    This article explores the strategies that three Latino families in the U.S. employed in raising their children bilingually in Spanish and English. It also looks at their rationale for bilingualism as well as the challenges the parents failed to anticipate in implementing their strategies. The data were gleaned from comparative case studies over a…

  19. Specifying the Needs of a "Bilingual" Developmentally Disabled Population: Issues and Case Studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenlee, Mel

    Linguistic and cognitive assessment of children whose home language is not English involves a number of complex issues: minority labeling, the relationship between cognition and bilingualism, "normal" data on bilingual development, and monolingual versus bilingual environment for children experiencing delay. This paper concentrates on reviewing…

  20. Listening to Graduates of a K-12 Bilingual Program: Language Ideologies and Literacy Practices of Former Bilingual Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dworin, Joel

    2011-01-01

    This study investigated the language and literacy practices of five graduates of a Spanish-English K-12 dual language immersion program through semistructured interviews to understand the residual impact of thirteen years in a Spanish-English bilingual school program. Drawing from sociocultural theory, the interviews also sought to provide an…

  1. Non-Native English Varieties: Thainess in English Narratives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singhasak, Piyahathai; Methitham, Phongsakorn

    2016-01-01

    This study aims at examining Thainess as a writing strategy used in non-literary texts written by non-professional bilingual writers. These writers are advanced language learners who are pursuing their Master's degree in English. Seven English narratives of their language learning experiences were analyzed based on Kachruvian's framework of…

  2. Examining Bilingual Children's Gender Ideologies through Critical Discourse Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinez-Roldan, Carmen M.

    2005-01-01

    This article presents a case study of young bilingual students' discussions of literature in a second-grade Spanish/English bilingual classroom in the US. Sociocultural, critical, and Chicana feminist perspectives informed an analysis of the ways the children worked at understanding, marking, and resisting gender boundaries. This critical…

  3. Identity Constructions in Bilingual Advertising: A Critical-Cognitive Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Songqing

    2017-01-01

    Does English always play an important role in constructing identities within the multimodal ad? This question has wide-ranging implications for the study of identity constructions in bilingual advertising in particular, and for bilingualism and multilingualism generally. This article presents a critical-cognitive approach that is an evidence-based…

  4. Executive functions and inhibitory control in multilingual children: Evidence from second-language learners, bilinguals, and trilinguals

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Poarch, G.J.; Hell, J.G. van

    2012-01-01

    In two experiments, we examined inhibitory control processes in three groups of bilinguals and trilinguals that differed in nonnative language proficiency and language learning background. German 5- to 8-year-old second-language learners of English, German–English bilinguals, German–English–Language

  5. Physiological Indices of Bilingualism: Oral–Motor Coordination and Speech Rate in Bengali–English Speakers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakraborty, Rahul; Goffman, Lisa; Smith, Anne

    2009-01-01

    Purpose To examine how age of immersion and proficiency in a 2nd language influence speech movement variability and speaking rate in both a 1st language and a 2nd language. Method A group of 21 Bengali–English bilingual speakers participated. Lip and jaw movements were recorded. For all 21 speakers, lip movement variability was assessed based on productions of Bengali (L1; 1st language) and English (L2; 2nd language) sentences. For analyses related to the influence of L2 proficiency on speech production processes, participants were sorted into low- (n = 7) and high-proficiency (n = 7) groups. Lip movement variability and speech rate were evaluated for both of these groups across L1 and L2 sentences. Results Surprisingly, adult bilingual speakers produced equally consistent speech movement patterns in their production of L1 and L2. When groups were sorted according to proficiency, highly proficient speakers were marginally more variable in their L1. In addition, there were some phoneme-specific effects, most markedly that segments not shared by both languages were treated differently in production. Consistent with previous studies, movement durations were longer for less proficient speakers in both L1 and L2. Interpretation In contrast to those of child learners, the speech motor systems of adult L2 speakers show a high degree of consistency. Such lack of variability presumably contributes to protracted difficulties with acquiring nativelike pronunciation in L2. The proficiency results suggest bidirectional interactions across L1 and L2, which is consistent with hypotheses regarding interference and the sharing of phonological space. A slower speech rate in less proficient speakers implies that there are increased task demands on speech production processes. PMID:18367680

  6. English Speech Acquisition in 3- to 5-Year-Old Children Learning Russian and English

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gildersleeve-Neumann, Christina E.; Wright, Kira L.

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: English speech acquisition in Russian-English (RE) bilingual children was investigated, exploring the effects of Russian phonetic and phonological properties on English single-word productions. Russian has more complex consonants and clusters and a smaller vowel inventory than English. Method: One hundred thirty-seven single-word samples…

  7. Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students' Through-the-Air English Skills: A Review of Formal Assessments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, Jessica G.; Gardner, Ralph, III; Rizzi, Gleides Lopes

    2013-01-01

    Strong correlations exist between signed and/or spoken English and the literacy skills of deaf and hard of hearing students. Assessments that are both valid and reliable are key for researchers and practitioners investigating the signed and/or spoken English skills of signing populations. The authors conducted a literature review to explore which…

  8. BEST: Bilingual environmental science training: Grades 1--2

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-03-01

    This booklet is one of a series of bilingual guides to environmental-science learning activities for students to do at home. Lesson objectives, materials required, procedure, vocabulary, and subjects integrated into the lesson are described in English for each lesson. A bilingual glossary, alphabetized by English entries, with Spanish equivalents and definitions in both English and Spanish, follows the lesson descriptions, and is itself followed by a bibliography of English-language references. This booklet includes descriptions of ten lessons covering surface tension in water, the life cycle of plants, the protective function of the skeletal system, functions and behavior of the circulatory system and how to measure its activities, structure and functions of the digestive system, simple food chains, how that many foods come from different plant parts, importance of a good diet, distinguishing living and non-living things, and the benefits of composting. 8 figs.

  9. The Role of Oral Language Skills in Reading and Listening Comprehension of Text: A Comparison of Monolingual (L1) and Bilingual (L2) Speakers of English Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babayigit, Selma

    2014-01-01

    The study examined the role of oral language skills in reading comprehension and listening comprehension levels of 125 monolingual (L1) and bilingual (L2) English-speaking learners (M = 121.5 months, SD = 4.65) in England. All testing was conducted in English. The L1 learners outperformed their L2 peers on the measures of oral language and text…

  10. Assessing Health Literacy in Deaf American Sign Language Users

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKee, Michael M.; Paasche-Orlow, Michael; Winters, Paul C.; Fiscella, Kevin; Zazove, Philip; Sen, Ananda; Pearson, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    Communication and language barriers isolate Deaf American Sign Language (ASL) users from mass media, healthcare messages, and health care communication, which when coupled with social marginalization, places them at a high risk for inadequate health literacy. Our objectives were to translate, adapt, and develop an accessible health literacy instrument in ASL and to assess the prevalence and correlates of inadequate health literacy among Deaf ASL users and hearing English speakers using a cross-sectional design. A total of 405 participants (166 Deaf and 239 hearing) were enrolled in the study. The Newest Vital Sign was adapted, translated, and developed into an ASL version of the NVS (ASL-NVS). Forty-eight percent of Deaf participants had inadequate health literacy, and Deaf individuals were 6.9 times more likely than hearing participants to have inadequate health literacy. The new ASL-NVS, available on a self-administered computer platform, demonstrated good correlation with reading literacy. The prevalence of Deaf ASL users with inadequate health literacy is substantial, warranting further interventions and research. PMID:26513036

  11. Relationship between the linguistic environments and early bilingual language development of hearing children in deaf-parented families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanto, Laura; Huttunen, Kerttu; Laakso, Marja-Leena

    2013-04-01

    We explored variation in the linguistic environments of hearing children of Deaf parents and how it was associated with their early bilingual language development. For that purpose we followed up the children's productive vocabulary (measured with the MCDI; MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory) and syntactic complexity (measured with the MLU10; mean length of the 10 longest utterances the child produced during videorecorded play sessions) in both Finnish Sign Language and spoken Finnish between the ages of 12 and 30 months. Additionally, we developed new methodology for describing the linguistic environments of the children (N = 10). Large variation was uncovered in both the amount and type of language input and language acquisition among the children. Language exposure and increases in productive vocabulary and syntactic complexity were interconnected. Language acquisition was found to be more dependent on the amount of exposure in sign language than in spoken language. This was judged to be related to the status of sign language as a minority language. The results are discussed in terms of parents' language choices, family dynamics in Deaf-parented families and optimal conditions for bilingual development.

  12. Three treatments for bilingual children with primary language impairment: Examining cross-linguistic and cross-domain effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ebert, Kerry Danahy; Kohnert, Kathryn; Pham, Giang; Disher, Jill Rentmeester; Payesteh, Bita

    2014-01-01

    Purpose This study examines the absolute and relative effects of three different treatment programs for school-aged bilingual children with primary or specific language impairment (PLI). It serves to expand the evidence base on which service providers can base treatment decisions. It also explores hypothesized relations between languages and cognition in bilinguals with PLI. Method Fifty-nine school-aged Spanish-English bilingual children with PLI were assigned to receive nonlinguistic cognitive processing, English, bilingual (Spanish-English), or deferred treatment. Participants in each of the three active treatments received treatment administered by nationally certified speech-language pathologists. Pre- and post-treatment assessments measured change in nonlinguistic cognitive processing, English, and Spanish skills, and analyses examined change within and across both treatment groups and skill domains. Results All active treatment groups made significant pre- to post-treatment improvement on multiple outcome measures. There were fewer significant changes in Spanish than in English across groups. Between group comparisons indicate that the active treatment groups generally outperformed the deferred treatment control, reaching statistical significance for two tasks. Conclusions Results provide insight into cross-language transfer in bilingual children and advance understanding of the general PLI profile with respect to relationships between basic cognitive processing and higher level language skills. PMID:23900032

  13. Hearing Impairment and Incident Dementia: Findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, Hilary R; Cadar, Dorina; Herbert, Annie; Orrell, Martin; Steptoe, Andrew

    2017-09-01

    To determine whether hearing loss is associated with incident physician-diagnosed dementia in a representative sample. Retrospective cohort study. English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Adults aged 50 and older. Cross-sectional associations between self-reported (n = 7,865) and objective hearing measures (n = 6,902) and dementia were examined using multinomial-logistic regression. The longitudinal association between self-reported hearing at Wave 2 (2004/05) and cumulative physician-diagnosed dementia up to Wave 7 (2014/15) was modelled using Cox proportional hazards regression. After adjustment for potential confounders, in cross-sectional analysis, participants who had self-reported or objective moderate and poor hearing were more likely to have a dementia diagnosis than those with normal hearing (self-reported: odds ratio OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.1-2.4 moderate hearing; OR = 2.6, 95% CI = 1.7-3.9 poor hearing, objective: OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.0-2.8 moderate hearing; OR = 4.4, 95% CI = 1.9-9.9 poor hearing). Longitudinally, the hazard of developing dementia was 1.4 (95% CI = 1.0-1.9) times as high in individuals who reported moderate hearing and 1.6 (95% CI = 1.1-2.0) times as high in those who reported poor hearing. Older adults with hearing loss are at greater risk of dementia than those with normal hearing. These findings are consistent with the rationale that correction of hearing loss could help delay the onset of dementia, or that hearing loss itself could serve as a risk indicator for cognitive decline. © 2017, The Authors. The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The American Geriatrics Society.

  14. Cross-Language Activation in Children's Speech Production: Evidence from Second Language Learners, Bilinguals, and Trilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poarch, Gregory J.; van Hell, Janet G.

    2012-01-01

    In five experiments, we examined cross-language activation during speech production in various groups of bilinguals and trilinguals who differed in nonnative language proficiency, language learning background, and age. In Experiments 1, 2, 3, and 5, German 5- to 8-year-old second language learners of English, German-English bilinguals,…

  15. Production and processing asymmetries in the acquisition of tense morphology by sequential bilingual children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chondrogianni, Vicky; Marinis, Theodoros

    2011-01-01

    This study investigates the production and online processing of English tense morphemes by sequential bilingual (L2) Turkish-speaking children with more than three years of exposure to English. Thirty-nine six- to nine-year-old L2 children and twenty-eight typically developing age-matched monolin......This study investigates the production and online processing of English tense morphemes by sequential bilingual (L2) Turkish-speaking children with more than three years of exposure to English. Thirty-nine six- to nine-year-old L2 children and twenty-eight typically developing age...

  16. Predictors of English Health Literacy among U.S. Hispanic Immigrants: The importance of language, bilingualism and sociolinguistic environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Holly E. Jacobson

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available In the United States, data confirm that Spanish-speaking immigrants are particularly affected by the negative health outcomes associated with low health literacy. Although the literature points to variables such as age, educational background and language, only a few studies have investigated the factors that may influence health literacy in this group. Similarly, the role that bilingualism and/or multilingualism play in health literacy assessment continues to be an issue in need of further research. The purpose of this study was to examine the predictors of English health literacy among adult Hispanic immigrants whose self-reported primary language is Spanish, but who live and function in a bilingual community. It also explored issues related to the language of the instrument. An analysis of data collected through a randomized controlled study was conducted. Results identified English proficiency as the strongest predictor of health literacy (p < 0.001. The results further point to the importance of primary and secondary language in the assessment of heath literacy level. This study raises many questions in need of further investigation to clarify how language proficiency and sociolinguistic environment affect health literacy in language minority adults; proposes language approaches that may be more appropriate for measuring health literacy in these populations; and recommends further place-based research to determine whether the connection between language proficiency and health is generalizable to border communities.

  17. DEEP LEARNING MODEL FOR BILINGUAL SENTIMENT CLASSIFICATION OF SHORT TEXTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. B. Abdullin

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Sentiment analysis of short texts such as Twitter messages and comments in news portals is challenging due to the lack of contextual information. We propose a deep neural network model that uses bilingual word embeddings to effectively solve sentiment classification problem for a given pair of languages. We apply our approach to two corpora of two different language pairs: English-Russian and Russian-Kazakh. We show how to train a classifier in one language and predict in another. Our approach achieves 73% accuracy for English and 74% accuracy for Russian. For Kazakh sentiment analysis, we propose a baseline method, that achieves 60% accuracy; and a method to learn bilingual embeddings from a large unlabeled corpus using a bilingual word pairs.

  18. Transitions and translations from Afrikaans to English in schools of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Jean Farmer. Centre for Teaching and Learning, Stellenbosch University, 7600 Stellenbosch, South Africa .... This study examines the linguistic resources and language choices of learners in a specific school, ... Afrikaans-dominant bilingualism, to either English-dominant bilingualism or (in extreme cases) to. English ...

  19. Colonial Bilingual Heritage and Post-Colonial Myths in Cameroon's ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Thus, the study traces and shows that an uncritical support of the existing school bilingualism, a aspect of the general political objective of national unity and integration, hinges on a fictitious collective post-colonial dream about using the bilingual heritage of French and English, and the cultures that lie behind them, ...

  20. Language and modeling word problems in mathematics among bilinguals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernardo, Allan B I

    2005-09-01

    The study was conducted to determine whether the language of math word problems would affect how Filipino-English bilingual problem solvers would model the structure of these word problems. Modeling the problem structure was studied using the problem-completion paradigm, which involves presenting problems without the question. The paradigm assumes that problem solvers can infer the appropriate question of a word problem if they correctly grasp its problem structure. Arithmetic word problems in Filipino and English were given to bilingual students, some of whom had Filipino as a first language and others who had English as a first language. The problem-completion data and solution data showed similar results. The language of the problem had no effect on problem-structure modeling. The results were discussed in relation to a more circumscribed view about the role of language in word problem solving among bilinguals. In particular, the results of the present study showed that linguistic factors do not affect the more mathematically abstract components of word problem solving, although they may affect the other components such as those related to reading comprehension and understanding.

  1. Perceived Requirements of MIS Curriculum Implementation in Bilingual Developing Countries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kabeil, Magdy M.

    2005-01-01

    This paper addresses additional requirements associated with implementing a standard curriculum of Management Information Systems (MIS) in bilingual developing countries where both students and workplace users speak English as a second language. In such countries, MIS graduates are required to develop bilingual computer applications and to…

  2. Silencing Bilingualism: A Day in a Life of a Bilingual Practitioner

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robertson, Leena H.; Drury, Rose; Cable, Carrie

    2014-01-01

    Based on sociocultural theories of learning, this paper draws on findings from a research project "a day in a life of a bilingual practitioner". It explores how two multilingual practitioners in English early years settings supported the learning of young 3-4 year-old children, and their parents and teachers. The paper challenges the…

  3. Semantic and pragmatic factors influencing deaf and hearing students' comprehension of english sentences containing numeral quantifiers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Ronald R; Berent, Gerald P

    2011-01-01

    This research contrasted deaf and hearing students' interpretive knowledge of English sentences containing numeral quantifier phrases and indefinite noun phrases. A multiple-interpretation picture task methodology was used to assess 305 participants' judgments of the compatibility of sentence meanings with depicted discourse contexts. Participants' performance was assessed on the basis of hearing level (deaf, hearing) and grade level (middle school, high school, college). The deaf students were predicted to have differential access to specific sentence interpretations in accordance with the relative derivational complexity of the targeted sentence types. Hypotheses based on the pressures of derivational economy on acquisition were largely supported. The results also revealed that the deaf participants tended to overactivate pragmatic processes that yielded principled, though non-target, sentence interpretations. Collectively, the results not only contribute to the understanding of English acquisition under conditions of restricted access to spoken language input, they also suggest that pragmatic factors may play a broad role in influencing, and compromising, deaf students' reading comprehension and written expression.

  4. BEST: Bilingual environmental science training: Grades 5--6

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-03-01

    This booklet is one of a series of bilingual guides to environmental-science learning activities for students to do at home. Lesson objectives, materials required, procedure, vocabulary, and subjects integrated into the lesson are described in English. A bilingual glossary, alphabetized by English entries, with Spanish equivalents and definitions in both English and Spanish, follows the lesson descriptions, and is itself followed by a bibliography of English-language references. This booklet includes descriptions of ten lessons that cover the following topics: safe and unsafe conditions for chemical combinations; growth rates and environmental needs of plants; photosynthesis and effects of ozone-layer depletion; the circulatory system, the importance of exercise to the heart, and selected circulatory diseases; the nervous system; specific nutritional values of the different food groups; significance of including, reducing, or eliminating certain foods for a healthy diet; effects of some common chemicals on plant growth and animal life; plants` and animals` natural habitats; and dangers of non-biodegradable garbage.

  5. A Progress Evaluation of Four Bilingual Children's Television Shows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein, Stephen P.; And Others

    An evaluation of a bilingual education TV series was conducted involving 6-year-old English speaking, Spanish speaking, and bilingual children at four sites. Children were assigned to control and experimental groups with the latter group seeing four 30 minute shows. A pretest-posttest design was employed with the pretest serving as the covariate…

  6. Bilingual poetry: expanding the cognitive and cultural dimensions of children’s learning

    OpenAIRE

    Kenner, Charmian; Al-Azami, Salman; Gregory, Eve E.; Ruby, Mahera

    2008-01-01

    Stories and poetry have long been considered a resource for the language and literacy development of bilingual children, particularly if they can work with texts in both mother tongue and English. This paper demonstrates that bilingual learning is also beneficial for second and third generation children whose English is often stronger than their mother tongue. Presenting data from an action research project in East London primary schools, we show how children investigated metaphor and cultura...

  7. Planning Abilities in Bilingual and Monolingual Children: Role of Verbal Mediation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gangopadhyay, Ishanti; McDonald, Margarethe; Ellis Weismer, Susan; Kaushanskaya, Margarita

    2018-01-01

    We examined the role of verbal mediation in planning performance of English-Spanish-speaking bilingual children and monolingual English-speaking children, between the ages of 9 and 12 years. To measure planning, children were administered the Tower of London (ToL) task. In a dual-task paradigm, children completed ToL problems under three conditions: with no secondary task (baseline), with articulatory suppression, and with non-verbal motor suppression. Analyses revealed generally shorter planning times for bilinguals than monolinguals but both groups performed similarly on number of moves and execution times. Additionally, bilingual children were more efficient at planning throughout the duration of the task while monolingual children showed significant gains with more practice. Children's planning times under articulatory suppression were significantly shorter than under motor suppression as well as the baseline condition, and there was no difference in planning times between monolingual and bilingual children during articulatory suppression. These results demonstrate that bilingualism influences performance on a complex EF measure like planning, and that these effects are not related to verbal mediation.

  8. Bilingualism increases neural response consistency and attentional control: evidence for sensory and cognitive coupling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krizman, Jennifer; Skoe, Erika; Marian, Viorica; Kraus, Nina

    2014-01-01

    Auditory processing is presumed to be influenced by cognitive processes - including attentional control - in a top-down manner. In bilinguals, activation of both languages during daily communication hones inhibitory skills, which subsequently bolster attentional control. We hypothesize that the heightened attentional demands of bilingual communication strengthens connections between cognitive (i.e., attentional control) and auditory processing, leading to greater across-trial consistency in the auditory evoked response (i.e., neural consistency) in bilinguals. To assess this, we collected passively-elicited auditory evoked responses to the syllable [da] in adolescent Spanish-English bilinguals and English monolinguals and separately obtained measures of attentional control and language ability. Bilinguals demonstrated enhanced attentional control and more consistent brainstem and cortical responses. In bilinguals, but not monolinguals, brainstem consistency tracked with language proficiency and attentional control. We interpret these enhancements in neural consistency as the outcome of strengthened attentional control that emerged from experience communicating in two languages. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Exploring Bilingual Pedagogies in Dual Language Preschool Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gort, Mileidis; Pontier, Ryan W.

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we present an analysis of the language practices of four Spanish/English dual language (DL) preschool teachers, focusing on the ways in which the teachers mediate bilingual interactions with students and distribute Spanish and English across different classroom discourse functions. Findings reveal teachers' flexible and strategic…

  10. Is bilingualism associated with a lower risk of dementia in community-living older adults? Cross-sectional and prospective analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeung, Caleb M; St John, Philip D; Menec, Verena; Tyas, Suzanne L

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this study was to determine whether bilingualism is associated with dementia in cross-sectional or prospective analyses of older adults. In 1991, 1616 community-living older adults were assessed and were followed 5 years later. Measures included age, sex, education, subjective memory loss (SML), and the modified Mini-mental State Examination (3MS). Dementia was determined by clinical examination in those who scored below the cut point on the 3MS. Language status was categorized based upon self-report into 3 groups: English as a first language (monolingual English, bilingual English) and English as a Second Language (ESL). The ESL category had lower education, lower 3MS scores, more SML, and were more likely to be diagnosed with cognitive impairment, no dementia at both time 1 and time 2 compared with those speaking English as a first language. There was no association between being bilingual (ESL and bilingual English vs. monolingual) and having dementia at time 1 in bivariate or multivariate analyses. In those who were cognitively intact at time 1, there was no association between being bilingual and having dementia at time 2 in bivariate or multivariate analyses. We did not find any association between speaking >1 language and dementia.

  11. Minimalism and Bilingualism: How and Why Bilingualism Could Benefit Children with SLI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roeper, Thomas

    2012-01-01

    We begin with the hypothesis that all people are "bilingual" because every language contains ingredients from several grammars, just as English exhibits both an Anglo-Saxon and a Latinate vocabulary system. We argue that the dominant grammar is defined by productivity and recursion in particular. Although current evidence is sparse, in principle,…

  12. Executive functions and inhibitory control in multilingual children: evidence from second-language learners, bilinguals, and trilinguals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poarch, Gregory J; van Hell, Janet G

    2012-12-01

    In two experiments, we examined inhibitory control processes in three groups of bilinguals and trilinguals that differed in nonnative language proficiency and language learning background. German 5- to 8-year-old second-language learners of English, German-English bilinguals, German-English-Language X trilinguals, and 6- to 8-year-old German monolinguals performed the Simon task and the Attentional Networks Task (ANT). Language proficiencies and socioeconomic status were controlled. We found that the Simon effect advantage, reported in earlier research for bilingual children and adults over monolinguals, differed across groups, with bilinguals and trilinguals showing enhanced conflict resolution over monolinguals and marginally so over second-language learners. In the ANT, bilinguals and trilinguals displayed enhanced conflict resolution over second-language learners. This extends earlier research to child second-language learners and trilinguals, who were in the process of becoming proficient in an additional language, while corroborating earlier findings demonstrating enhanced executive control in bilinguals assumed to be caused by continuous inhibitory control processes necessary in competition resolution between two (or possibly more) languages. The results are interpreted against the backdrop of the developing language systems of the children, both for early second-language learners and for early bilinguals and trilinguals. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Language control in bilinguals: Intention to speak vs. execution of speech.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reverberi, Carlo; Kuhlen, Anna; Abutalebi, Jubin; Greulich, R Stefan; Costa, Albert; Seyed-Allaei, Shima; Haynes, John-Dylan

    2015-05-01

    Bilinguals require a high degree of cognitive control to select the language intended for speaking and inhibit the unintended. Previous neuroimaging studies have not teased apart brain regions for generating the intention to use a given language, and those for speaking in that language. Separating these two phases can clarify at what stage competition between languages occurs. In this fMRI study German-English bilinguals were first cued to use German or English. After a delay, they named a picture in the cued language. During the intention phase, the precuneus, right superior lateral parietal lobule, and middle temporal gyrus were more activated when participants had to update the currently active language. During language execution activation was higher for English compared to German in brain areas associated with cognitive control, most notably the anterior cingulate and the caudate. Our results suggest two different systems enabling cognitive control during bilingual language production. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Vocabulary Instruction and Mexican-American Bilingual Students: How Two High School Teachers Integrate Multiple Strategies to Build Word Consciousness in English Language Arts Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ajayi, Lasisi

    2015-01-01

    Despite the significance of vocabulary knowledge to student learning, limited studies have examined English language arts (ELA) teachers' skills and practices that may be effective for building word consciousness in high school Mexican-American bilingual students. The research objective of the present study is to examine how two high school ELA…

  15. Balanced bilingualism and early age of second language acquisition as the underlying mechanisms of a bilingual executive control advantage: why variations in bilingual experiences matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yow, W Quin; Li, Xiaoqian

    2015-01-01

    Recent studies revealed inconsistent evidences of a bilingual advantage in executive processing. One potential source of explanation is the multifaceted experience of the bilinguals in these studies. This study seeks to test whether bilinguals who engage in language selection more frequently would perform better in executive control tasks than those bilinguals who engage in language selection less frequently. We examined the influence of the degree of bilingualism (i.e., language proficiency, frequency of use of two languages, and age of second language acquisition) on executive functioning in bilingual young adults using a comprehensive battery of executive control tasks. Seventy-two 18- to 25-years-old English-Mandarin bilinguals performed four computerized executive function (EF) tasks (Stroop, Eriksen flanker, number-letter switching, and n-back task) that measure the EF components: inhibition, mental-set shifting, and information updating and monitoring. Results from multiple regression analyses, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping supported the positive association between age of second language acquisition and the interference cost in the Stroop task. Most importantly, we found a significant effect of balanced bilingualism (balanced usage of and balanced proficiency in two languages) on the Stroop and number-letter task (mixing cost only), indicating that a more balanced use and a more balanced level of proficiency in two languages resulted in better executive control skills in the adult bilinguals. We did not find any significant effect of bilingualism on flanker or n-back task. These findings provided important insights to the underlying mechanisms of the bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, demonstrating that regular experience with extensive practice in controlling attention to their two language systems results in better performance in related EFs such as inhibiting prepotent responses and global set-shifting.

  16. Balanced bilingualism and early age of second language acquisition as the underlying mechanisms of a bilingual executive control advantage: Why variations in bilingual experiences matter.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W. Quin eYow

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Recent studies revealed inconsistent evidences of a bilingual advantage in executive processing. One potential source of explanation is the multifaceted experience of the bilinguals in these studies. This study seeks to test whether bilinguals who engage in language selection more frequently would perform better in executive control tasks than those bilinguals who engage in language selection less frequently. We examined the influence of the degree of bilingualism (i.e., language proficiency, frequency of use of two languages, and age of second language acquisition on executive functioning in bilingual young adults using a comprehensive battery of executive control tasks. Seventy-two 18- to 25-year-old English-Mandarin bilinguals performed four computerized executive function tasks (Stroop, Eriksen flanker, number-letter switching and n-back task that measure the executive function components: inhibition, mental-set shifting, and information updating and monitoring. Results from multiple regression analyses, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping supported the positive association between age of second language acquisition and the interference cost in the Stroop task. Most importantly, we found a significant effect of balanced bilingualism (balanced usage of and balanced proficiency in two languages on the Stroop and number-letter task (mixing cost only, indicating that a more balanced use and a more balanced level of proficiency in two languages resulted in better executive control skills in the adult bilinguals. We did not find any significant effect of bilingualism on flanker or n-back task. These findings provided important insights to the underlying mechanisms of the bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, demonstrating that regular experience with extensive practice in controlling attention to their two language systems results in better performance in related executive functions such as inhibiting prepotent responses and global

  17. Beliefs about Bilingualism, Bilingual Education, and Dual Language Development of Early Childhood Preservice Teachers Raised in a Prop 227 Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garrity, Sarah; Aquino-Sterling, Cristian R.; Van Liew, Charles; Day, Ashley

    2018-01-01

    Despite the well-documented benefits of bilingualism, current educational practices in the United States reflect the deeply held belief that because the United States is an English speaking country, English should be the language of instruction. This belief was codified into law in California via the 1998 passage of Proposition 227, which banned…

  18. Attitudes towards English in Ghana | Dako | Legon Journal of the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The paper considers official and individual attitudes towards bilingualism in English and a Ghanaian language. We ask whether bilingualism in English and Ghanaian languages is a social handicap, without merit, or an important indicator of ethnic identity. Ghana has about 50 non-mutually intelligible languages, yet there ...

  19. Stuttering on function words in bilingual children who stutter: A preliminary study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gkalitsiou, Zoi; Byrd, Courtney T; Bedore, Lisa M; Taliancich-Klinger, Casey L

    2017-01-01

    Evidence suggests young monolingual children who stutter (CWS) are more disfluent on function than content words, particularly when produced in the initial utterance position. The purpose of the present preliminary study was to investigate whether young bilingual CWS present with this same pattern. The narrative and conversational samples of four bilingual Spanish- and English-speaking CWS were analysed. All four bilingual participants produced significantly more stuttering on function words compared to content words, irrespective of their position in the utterance, in their Spanish narrative and conversational speech samples. Three of the four participants also demonstrated more stuttering on function compared to content words in their narrative speech samples in English, but only one participant produced more stuttering on function than content words in her English conversational sample. These preliminary findings are discussed relative to linguistic planning and language proficiency and their potential contribution to stuttered speech.

  20. Detection of bilingual plagiarism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frank Zamora R.

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available In this paper a computational algorithm for text alignment in the task of automatically detecting bilingual plagiarism is proposed. The method of detecting bilingual plagiarism uses machine translation services, in order to have the documents in question a base language, and apply techniques of monolingual plagiarism. The algorithm was tested with The corpus belonging to the International Competition Plagiarism 2013, with the objective of evaluating the step of detecting monolingual plagiarism. Besides it’s experimented with the collection of texts EUROPARL, a collection of documents pertaining to the meeting the European Parliament, specifically it´s to English and Spanish documents.

  1. Knowledge of Some Derivational Processes in Two Samples of Bilingual Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marckworth, M. Lois

    1978-01-01

    A report on a study concerning the bilingual child in a monolingual community. It investigates the acquisition of a set of English derivational morphemes by bilingual children and the effect of external factors, such as school, exposure time, age and home, in the children's language experience. (AMH)

  2. Language and mathematical problem solving among bilinguals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernardo, Allan B I

    2002-05-01

    Does using a bilingual's 1st or 2nd language have an effect on problem solving in semantically rich domains like school mathematics? The author conducted a study to determine whether Filipino-English bilingual students' understanding and solving of word problems in arithmetic differed when the problems were in the students' 1st and 2nd languages. Two groups participated-students whose 1st language was Filipino and students whose 1st language was English-and easy and difficult arithmetic problems were used. The author used a recall paradigm to assess how students understood the word problems and coded the solution accuracy to assess problem solving. The results indicated a 1st-language advantage; that is, the students were better able to understand and solve problems in their 1st language, whether the 1st language was English or Filipino. Moreover, the advantage was more marked with the easy problems. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

  3. L1 and L2 Picture Naming in Mandarin-English Bilinguals: A Test of Bilingual Dual Coding Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jared, Debra; Poh, Rebecca Pei Yun; Paivio, Allan

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the nature of bilinguals' conceptual representations and the links from these representations to words in L1 and L2. Specifically, we tested an assumption of the Bilingual Dual Coding Theory that conceptual representations include image representations, and that learning two languages in separate contexts can result in…

  4. Bilingual children with primary language impairment: 3 months after treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pham, Giang; Ebert, Kerry Danahy; Kohnert, Kathryn

    2015-01-01

    Evidence on the treatment effectiveness for bilingual children with primary language impairment (PLI) is needed to advance both theory and clinical practice. Of key interest is whether treatment effects are maintained following the completion of short-term intense treatments. To investigate change in select language and cognitive skills in Spanish-English bilingual children with PLI 3 months after children have completed one of three experimental treatment conditions. There are two main study aims. First, to determine if skills in Spanish, English and cognitive processing decline, improve or are maintained after treatment has been completed. Second, to determine if differential rates of change are a function of the type of treatment children received. Participants were 48 children, aged 5:6-11:3, who spoke Spanish and English and were diagnosed with moderate to severe PLI. Participants received 6 weeks of treatment focused on English only (EO), bilingual skills in Spanish and English (BI) or nonlinguistic cognitive processing (NCP). Treatment effects reported in a previous study were determined by comparing pre- and post-treatment performance on a variety of language and cognitive measures. Here we re-administered each measure 3 months after completion of the experimental treatments. Hierarchical linear models were calculated for each measure using pre-, post- and follow-up testing scores to estimate change trajectories and compare outcomes between treatment conditions. Participants in all three treatment conditions either maintained skills or showed improvement even after treatment was discontinued for 3 months. Main findings included (1) comparable, positive rates of change on all English language outcomes for EO and BI conditions; (2) maintenance of Spanish language skills, and (3) modest improvements in NCP following the discontinuation of treatment. This study is the first to examine longer-term treatment effects for bilingual school-age children with PLI

  5. Bilingual children with primary language impairment: 3 months after treatment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pham, Giang; Ebert, Kerry Danahy; Kohnert, Kathryn

    2018-01-01

    Background Evidence on the treatment effectiveness for bilingual children with primary language impairment (PLI) is needed to advance both theory and clinical practice. Of key interest is whether treatment effects are maintained following the completion of short-term intense treatments. Aims To investigate change in select language and cognitive skills in Spanish–English bilingual children with PLI 3 months after children have completed one of three experimental treatment conditions. There are two main study aims. First, to determine if skills in Spanish, English and cognitive processing decline, improve or are maintained after treatment has been completed. Second, to determine if differential rates of change are a function of the type of treatment children received. Methods & Procedures Participants were 48 children, aged 5:6–11:3, who spoke Spanish and English and were diagnosed with moderate to severe PLI. Participants received 6 weeks of treatment focused on English only (EO), bilingual skills in Spanish and English (BI) or nonlinguistic cognitive processing (NCP). Treatment effects reported in a previous study were determined by comparing pre- and post-treatment performance on a variety of language and cognitive measures. Here we re-administered each measure 3 months after completion of the experimental treatments. Hierarchical linear models were calculated for each measure using pre-, post- and follow-up testing scores to estimate change trajectories and compare outcomes between treatment conditions. Outcomes & Results Participants in all three treatment conditions either maintained skills or showed improvement even after treatment was discontinued for 3 months. Main findings included (1) comparable, positive rates of change on all English language outcomes for EO and BI conditions; (2) maintenance of Spanish language skills, and (3) modest improvements in NCP following the discontinuation of treatment. Conclusions & Implications This study is the first

  6. Conceptual Scoring and Classification Accuracy of Vocabulary Testing in Bilingual Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anaya, Jissel B.; Peña, Elizabeth D.; Bedore, Lisa M.

    2018-01-01

    Purpose: This study examined the effects of single-language and conceptual scoring on the vocabulary performance of bilingual children with and without specific language impairment. We assessed classification accuracy across 3 scoring methods. Method: Participants included Spanish-English bilingual children (N = 247) aged 5;1 (years;months) to…

  7. Short-Term Memory Stages in Sign vs. Speech: The Source of the Serial Span Discrepancy

    OpenAIRE

    Hall, Matthew L.

    2011-01-01

    Speakers generally outperform signers when asked to recall a list of unrelated verbal items. This phenomenon is well established, but its source has remained unclear. In this study, we evaluate the relative contribution of the three main processing stages of short-term memory – perception, encoding, and recall – in this effect. The present study factorially manipulates whether American Sign Language (ASL) or English was used for perception, memory encoding, and recall in hearing ASL-English b...

  8. Short-term memory stages in sign vs. speech: The source of the serial span discrepancy

    OpenAIRE

    Hall, Matthew L.; Bavelier, Daphné

    2011-01-01

    Speakers generally outperform signers when asked to recall a list of unrelated verbal items. This phenomenon is well established, but its source has remained unclear. In this study, we evaluate the relative contribution of the three main processing stages of short-term memory – perception, encoding, and recall – in this effect. The present study factorially manipulates whether American Sign Language (ASL) or English is used for perception, memory encoding, and recall in hearing ASL-English bi...

  9. Rapid naming, phonological memory and reading fluency in Brazilian bilingual students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fleury, Fernanda Oppenheimer; Avila, Clara Regina Brandão de

    2015-01-01

    To characterize the performance of Brazilian students exposed to two languages in reading fluency, phonological memory, and rapid naming, according to grade level, and to investigate correlations between these variables. Sixty students took part in this study (50% female), enrolled in the third to the fifth grades of two elementary schools of the city of São Paulo. They constituted two groups - bilingual group: 30 Brazilian children whose mother tongue and language spoken at home was Brazilian Portuguese and who were daily exposed to English at school for a period not shorter than three years; monolingual group: 30 students, from a monolingual Brazilian elementary school, who were paired by gender, age, and grade level with the bilingual students. Foreign children, children with complaint or indication of speech and language disorder, or who had been retained were excluded. A rapid automatized naming, pseudoword repetition, and oral reading tests were administered. The bilingual children were assessed in both languages and their performances were compared among themselves and with the monolingual group, which was only assessed in Brazilian Portuguese. The bilingual group showed better performance in English, rapid naming, and pseudoword repetition tasks, whereas Brazilian Portuguese, in reading fluency. A higher number of correlations were found in Brazilian Portuguese. The results suggest that the acquisition of a second language may positively influence the abilities of rapid naming, reading rate, and accuracy. Brazilian bilingual students performed better in tasks of phonological memory in English and Brazilian Portuguese performed better in reading fluency. Different correlation patterns were found between the rapid naming, accuracy, and reading rate, in the bilingual group analysis, in both languages.

  10. El Material Suplementario En Los Diccionarios Bilingues Espanol-Ingles Mas Representativos De Los Siglos XX y XXI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischer Dorantes, Erica

    2010-01-01

    This work is one of the first attempts to make a detailed and comparative analysis of the supplementary material of several bilingual English-Spanish dictionaries from the 20th and 21st centuries. It examines the historical development of prefaces and appendices in the most representative bilingual English-Spanish dictionaries that have…

  11. Analysing Afrikaans-English bilingual children's conversational code ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    It has been observed that children mix languages more often if they have been exposed to mixed speech, especially if they are in bilingual company. Very little research, however, exists on the code switching (CS) of children brought up in multilingual contexts. The study discussed in this paper investigates the grammatical ...

  12. What Dictionary to Use? A Closer Look at the "Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary," the "Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English" and the "Longman Lexicon of Contempory English."

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, A. M.

    1983-01-01

    Three dictionaries are compared for their usefulness to teachers of English as a foreign language, teachers in training, students, and other users of English as a foreign language. The issue of monolingual versus bilingual dictionary format is discussed, and a previous analysis of the two bilingual dictionaries is summarized. Pronunciation…

  13. "Cultivando Confianza": A Bilingual Community of Practice Negotiates Restrictive Language Policies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newcomer, Sarah N.; Puzio, Kelly

    2016-01-01

    Drawing from an ethnographic study of how one school community negotiates English-only policy in Arizona, we investigated how a bilingual community of practice was established at one school. Integral to establishing this bilingual community was the mobilization of Spanish-speaking families in the school's daily life and operation. This…

  14. Bilingualism, Cultural Transmutation, and Fields of Coexistence: California's Spanish Language Legacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, Sara

    2006-01-01

    This is an historical analysis of English Only programs in California and their impact on bilingualism as a natural acquisition process. Factors that propagate bilingualism such as a continual flow of Spanish speaking immigrants, and social, economic and ethnic isolation, are delineated for theorizing about key aspects of multilingualism, the…

  15. Cognitive Representation of Colour in Bilinguals: The Case of Greek Blues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Athanasopoulos, Panos

    2009-01-01

    A number of recent studies demonstrate that bilinguals with languages that differ in grammatical and lexical categories may shift their cognitive representation of those categories towards that of monolingual speakers of their second language. The current paper extended that investigation to the domain of colour in Greek-English bilinguals with…

  16. The mirthless world of the bilingual dictionary

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Otto Hietsch

    1980-12-01

    Full Text Available A Critical Look at Two German­English Examples, and A Glossary. Officers, without a word of German, were billeted on fam­ ilies, and the town swarmed witb G.I.s. Lucia, whose English was always considered so good, had great difficulty in under­ standing what they said. She had a bewildered feeling of not being able - in the language sense - to 'hear' the phrases used. 'It beats the crap outa me,' she heard one say. She could not find the key-word in her English-German dictionary. Nor many other words they used. Ethel Mannin, Bavarian Story (London: Arrow Books, 1964, pp.143f. (abridged. Lucia's plight in 1945, and that of untold other non-native speakers before and after, is a common one.In the three decades and a half since then, some very good bilingual dictionaries in the pocket-size, desk and encyclopaedic ranges have been published. Yet, in spite of the praises that have been sung about such publications, most of them fail to do justice both to the richness of the spoken language on either side, and to the many ways , and means by which that richness can, and should, be matched level for level. Such a discovery is as inevi­ table as it is disconcerting.These general dictionaries, both in what they offer and in what they withhold, are, all in all, a sadly distorted reflection of living speech: far too frequently their renderings merely approximate to the usage of native speakers.

  17. Expressive Vocabulary Development in Children from Bilingual and Monolingual Homes: A Longitudinal Study from Two to Four Years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoff, Erika; Rumiche, Rosario; Burridge, Andrea; Ribot, Krystal M; Welsh, Stephanie N

    2014-10-01

    The early course of language development among children from bilingual homes varies in ways that are not well described and as a result of influences that are not well understood. Here, we describe trajectories of relative change in expressive vocabulary from 22 to 48 months and vocabulary achievement at 48 months in two groups of children from bilingual homes (children with one and children with two native Spanish-speaking parents [ n s = 15 and 11]) and in an SES-equivalent group of children from monolingual English homes ( n = 31). The two groups from bilingual homes differed in their mean levels of English and Spanish skills, in their developmental trajectories during this period, and in the relation between language use at home and their vocabulary development. Children with two native Spanish-speaking parents showed steepest gains in total vocabulary and were more nearly balanced bilinguals at 48 months. Children with one native Spanish- and one native English-speaking parent showed trajectories of relative decline in Spanish vocabulary. At 48 months, mean levels of English skill among the bilingual children were comparable to monolingual norms, but children with two native Spanish-speaking parents had lower English scores than the SES-equivalent monolingual group. Use of English at home was a significant positive predictor of English vocabulary scores only among children with a native English-speaking parent. These findings argue that efforts to optimize school readiness among children from immigrant families should facilitate their access to native speakers of the community language, and efforts to support heritage language maintenance should include encouraging heritage language use by native speakers in the home.

  18. STUDI KASUS PEMBELAJARAN MIPA BILINGUAL DI TIGA SMA RSBI DI JAWA TENGAH

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gusti Astika

    2013-01-01

    RSBI in Central Java in their bilingual classes in terms of its proportion to Indonesian,grammaticalness, and complexity. It used a descriptive method and the data were collectedthrough direct observations of eight science classes and interviews with the science teachers and the school principals. The teacher talk and interview sessions were audio recorded, transcribed, and analysed qualitatively to provide answers to the research questions. The results indicate that the science teachers at the schools did not have sufficient mastery of English for bilingual classes, which affected the students’ attitudes to the bilingual program. The interviews with the teachers and school principals also revealed problems with teachers’ motivation to improve their English in spite of the supports provided by the school management.

  19. Multilingualism (but not always bilingualism) delays the onset of Alzheimer disease: evidence from a bilingual community.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chertkow, Howard; Whitehead, Victor; Phillips, Natalie; Wolfson, Christina; Atherton, Julie; Bergman, Howard

    2010-01-01

    A recent paper by Bialystok et al in Neuropsychologia (vol. 45, pgs. 459 to 464) suggested that early bilingualism produced a statistically significant 4.1-year delay in onset of memory loss symptoms in older individuals with Alzheimer disease, possibly reflecting an increase in the cognitive reserve of these individuals. That study focused on multilingual elderly patients of whom 90% were immigrants. Our memory clinic, in Montreal Canada, has the advantage of having a large set of individuals who are either multilingual immigrants to Canada, or who are nonimmigrants but raised in both official languages of Canada--French and English. We thus attempted to replicate the above findings using a larger cohort in a different setting. We examined age at diagnosis of Alzheimer disease and age at symptom onset for all unilingual versus multilingual participants, and then for those who were nonimmigrant English/French bilinguals. Overall, we found a small but significant protective effect of more than 2 languages spoken, but we found no significant benefit in bilinguals overall in relation to age at diagnosis or age at symptom onset. However, in the immigrant group, the results mirrored those of Bialystok et al with 2 or more languages delaying the diagnosis of Alzheimer disease by almost 5 years. A trend toward the same effect was also seen in nonimmigrants whose first language was French. In contrast, in nonimmigrants whose first language was English, no such effect was found. These results are discussed in relation to the earlier findings and the theory of cognitive reserve.

  20. The contribution of phonological awareness and receptive and expressive english to the reading ability of deaf students with varying degrees of exposure to accurate english.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luetke-Stahlman, Barbara; Nielsen, Diane Corcoran

    2003-01-01

    This study was planned with the knowledge that the tasks of reading require the same acquisition of skills, whether a child is hearing or deaf, monolingual, or bilingual. Reading and language research literature was reviewed. Subjects were 31 deaf students (7.9-17.9 years of age) who attended one of three U.S. programs. Performance on 15 language and literacy measures was analyzed. Results were that students who scored highest on a passage-comprehension measure also were more able (a) to provide synonyms, antonyms, and analogies of read words and phrases, (b) to read more listed words, and (c) to substitute one phoneme more correctly for another to create new words than were readers with lower scores. Two groups of students also were compared: a Longer Exposure to English Group (n = 22) who used Signing Exact English (SEE) for 5 years or more and a Shorter Exposure Group (n = 8) exposed to SEE for less than 2 years. A correlational analysis revealed that there were no significant relationships among 14 background variables with the exception of "age of identification of hearing loss," a variable then covaried in subsequent analysis of covariance. Students in the Longer Exposure Group scored higher on all measures. Significant differences were found between groups for short-term memory, receptive and expressive English, and five phonological subtests. Mini-case studies and the performance of eight students in the Longer Exposure Group who scored lowest on the comprehension measure also are discussed.

  1. Differential Language Functioning of Monolinguals and Bilinguals on Positive-Negative Emotional Expression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kheirzadeh, Shiela; Hajiabed, Mohammadreza

    2016-01-01

    The present interdisciplinary research investigates the differential emotional expression between Persian monolinguals and Persian-English bilinguals. In other words, the article was an attempt to answer the questions whether bilinguals and monolinguals differ in the expression of positive and negative emotions elicited through sad and happy…

  2. Bilingualism as Conceptualized and Bilingualism as Lived: A Critical Examination of the Monolingual Socialization of a Child with Autism in a Bilingual Family

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Betty

    2016-01-01

    This is an ethnographic and discourse analytic case study of a bilingual, minority-language family of a six-year-old child with autism whose family members were committed to speaking English with him. Drawing on "family language policy," the study examines the tensions between the family members' stated beliefs, management efforts, and…

  3. MOTIVATIONS FOR CODE-SWITCHING AMONG IGBO- ENGLISH ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    user

    predominant among Igbo-English bilinguals compared to any other linguistic group in ... Abiara m na your house yesterday but o nweghi onye m meetiri. 'I came to ..... Low Level of Competence in Igbo: A balanced bilingual is one who has ...

  4. Sign"geist": Promoting Bilingualism through the Linguistic Landscape of School Signage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dressler, Roswita

    2015-01-01

    This study is an examination of signage and sign-making practices in one elementary (Kindergarten to sixth grade) public school which offers a German Bilingual Program (GBP) for the development of German-English bilingualism. Schools are public spaces in which the visible language choice on signs reveals the circulating discourses around language…

  5. Bilingual Phonological Awareness: Multilevel Construct Validation among Spanish-Speaking Kindergarteners in Transitional Bilingual Education Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Branum-Martin, Lee; Mehta, Paras D.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Carlson, Coleen D.; Ortiz, Alba; Carlo, Maria; Francis, David J.

    2006-01-01

    The construct validity of English and Spanish phonological awareness (PA) tasks was examined with a sample of 812 kindergarten children from 71 transitional bilingual education program classrooms located in 3 different types of geographic regions in California and Texas. Tasks of PA, including blending nonwords, segmenting words, and phoneme…

  6. Challenging Spanish: ways for nurses to become bilingual.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oderkirk, W

    1999-01-01

    A desire to provide culturally competent care to an increasing population of non-English-speakers may lead some nurses to consider learning another language as a way to minimize cross-cultural communication barriers. Nurses wishing to learn a second language may be surprised at the variety of ways to acquire bilingual skills, particularly in Spanish, the most common foreign language encountered in the United States. Reasons to learn Spanish are discussed and ways to do so are reviewed. Learning Spanish or another language can enrich the nurse-patient relationship, enhance nurses' self-esteem, and advance nurses' employment opportunities. Bilingual proficiency in English and Spanish (or another language) should be regarded as an authentic clinical skill supporting nurses' cultural and clinical competencies.

  7. The Influence of Semantic Constraints on Bilingual Word Recognition during Sentence Reading

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Assche, Eva; Drieghe, Denis; Duyck, Wouter; Welvaert, Marijke; Hartsuiker, Robert J.

    2011-01-01

    The present study investigates how semantic constraint of a sentence context modulates language-non-selective activation in bilingual visual word recognition. We recorded Dutch-English bilinguals' eye movements while they read cognates and controls in low and high semantically constraining sentences in their second language. Early and late…

  8. Current Conditions of Bilingual Teacher Preparation Programs in Public Universities in USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johannessen, B. Gloria Guzman; Thorsos, Nilsa; Dickinson, Gail

    2016-01-01

    This study addresses public universities' policies and practices in the USA (United States of America) with a focus on public bilingual teacher preparation in Spanish-English programs (initial credential licensure and Masters of Education programs with, or without, endorsements). We questioned: "What do bilingual programs look like in public…

  9. Cognitive flexibility in drawings of bilingual children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adi-Japha, Esther; Berberich-Artzi, Jennie; Libnawi, Afaf

    2010-01-01

    A. Karmiloff-Smith's (1990) task of drawing a nonexistent object is considered to be a measure of cognitive flexibility. The notion of earlier emergence of cognitive flexibility in bilingual children motivated the current researchers to request 4- and 5-year-old English-Hebrew and Arabic-Hebrew bilingual children and their monolingual peers to draw a flower and a house that do not exist (N=80). Bilinguals exhibited a significantly higher rate of interrepresentational flexibility in their drawings (e.g., "a giraffe flower,"a chair-house," found in 28 of 54 drawings), whereas the level of complex intrarepresentational change was similar across groups. Interrepresentational drawings were previously reported only for children older than 7 years. The specific mechanisms by which bilinguals' language experience may lead to interrepresentational flexibility are discussed. © 2010 The Authors. Child Development © 2010 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

  10. Can bilingual two-year-olds code-switch?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lanza, E

    1992-10-01

    Sociolinguists have investigated language mixing as code-switching in the speech of bilingual children three years old and older. Language mixing by bilingual two-year-olds, however, has generally been interpreted in the child language literature as a sign of the child's lack of language differentiation. The present study applies perspectives from sociolinguistics to investigate the language mixing of a bilingual two-year-old acquiring Norwegian and English simultaneously in Norway. Monthly recordings of the child's spontaneous speech in interactions with her parents were made from the age of 2;0 to 2;7. An investigation into the formal aspects of the child's mixing and the context of the mixing reveals that she does differentiate her language use in contextually sensitive ways, hence that she can code-switch. This investigation stresses the need to examine more carefully the roles of dominance and context in the language mixing of young bilingual children.

  11. Accessibility of the Nondominant Language in Picture Naming: A Counterintuitive Effect of Dementia on Bilingual Language Production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gollan, Tamar H.; Salmon, David P.; Montoya, Rosa I.; da Pena, Eileen

    2010-01-01

    The current study tested the assumption that bilinguals with dementia regress to using primarily the dominant language. Spanish-English bilinguals with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD; n = 29), and matched bilingual controls (n = 42) named Boston Naming Test pictures in their dominant and nondominant languages. Surprisingly, differences between…

  12. Emergent Literacy Performance across Two Languages: Assessing Four-Year-Old Bilingual Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westerveld, Marleen F.

    2014-01-01

    There are few emergent literacy assessments available for bilingual children. This study investigated the usefulness of a screening battery of oral language and print-related measures as an assessment tool for bilingual Samoan-English speaking children. A total of 18 children were recruited from three Samoan language immersion kindergartens (Aoga…

  13. Perspectives on the "Silent Period" for Emergent Bilinguals in England

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bligh, Caroline; Drury, Rose

    2015-01-01

    This article draws together the research findings from two ethnographic studies as a means to problematize the "silent period" as experienced by young bilingual learners in two English speaking early-years settings in England. Most teachers and senior early-years practitioners in England are monolingual English speakers. The children…

  14. Cognitive Effects of Bilingualism: Digging Deeper for the Contributions of Language Dominance, Linguistic Knowledge, Socio-Economic Status and Cognitive Abilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mueller Gathercole, Virginia C.; Thomas, Enlli Mon; Jones, Leah; Guasch, Nestor Vinas; Young, Nia; Hughes, Emma K.

    2010-01-01

    This study explores the extent to which a bilingual advantage can be observed for executive function tasks in children of varying levels of language dominance, and examines the contributions of general cognitive knowledge, linguistic abilities, language use and socio-economic level to performance. Welsh-English bilingual and English monolingual…

  15. 'And' or 'or': General use coordination in ASL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathryn Davidson

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available In American Sign Language (ASL, conjunction (‘and’ and disjunction (‘or’ are often conveyed by the same general use coordinator (transcribed as “COORD”. So the sequence of signs MARY WANT TEA COORD COFFEE can be interpreted as ‘Mary wants tea or coffee’ or ‘Mary wants tea and coffee’ depending on contextual, prosodic, or other lexical cues. This paper takes the first steps in describing the syntax and semantics of two general use coordinators in ASL, finding that they have a similar syntactic distribution to English coordinators and and or. Semantically, arguments are made against an ambiguity approach to account for the conjunctive and disjunctive readings; instead, I propose a Hamblin-style alternative semantics where the disjunctive and conjunctive force comes from external quantification over a set of alternatives. The pragmatic consequences of using only a prosodic distinction between disjunction from conjunction is examined via a felicity judgement study of scalar implicatures. Results indicate decreased scalar implicatures when COORD is used as disjunction, supporting the semantic analysis and suggesting that the contrast of lexical items in the scale plays an important role in its pragmatics. Extensions to other languages with potential general use coordination are discussed. http://dx.doi.org/10.3765/sp.6.4 BibTeX info

  16. Raising Bilingual Children: A Qualitative Study of Parental Attitudes, Beliefs, and Intended Behaviors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Michael; Shetgiri, Rashmi; Barina, Alexis; Tillitski, John; Flores, Glenn

    2015-01-01

    We examined parental preferences in raising Spanish/English bilingual children. We identified factors influencing their decisions, and the strategies used to promote bilingualism. Focus groups were conducted with Spanish-primary-language parents of children 3 to 7 years old. These groups were audiotaped and transcribed. Three reviewers…

  17. Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Fifth Edition. Bilingual Education & Bilingualism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Colin

    2011-01-01

    The fifth edition of this bestselling book provides a comprehensive introduction to bilingualism and bilingual education. In a compact and clear style, its 19 chapters cover all the crucial issues in bilingualism at individual, group and national levels. These include: (1) defining who is bilingual and multilingual; (2) testing language abilities…

  18. Language Planning for the 21st Century: Revisiting Bilingual Language Policy for Deaf Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knoors, Harry; Marschark, Marc

    2012-01-01

    For over 25 years in some countries and more recently in others, bilingual education involving sign language and the written/spoken vernacular has been considered an essential educational intervention for deaf children. With the recent growth in universal newborn hearing screening and technological advances such as digital hearing aids and…

  19. Bilinguals' Existing Languages Benefit Vocabulary Learning in a Third Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartolotti, James; Marian, Viorica

    2017-03-01

    Learning a new language involves substantial vocabulary acquisition. Learners can accelerate this process by relying on words with native-language overlap, such as cognates. For bilingual third language learners, it is necessary to determine how their two existing languages interact during novel language learning. A scaffolding account predicts transfer from either language for individual words, whereas an accumulation account predicts cumulative transfer from both languages. To compare these accounts, twenty English-German bilingual adults were taught an artificial language containing 48 novel written words that varied orthogonally in English and German wordlikeness (neighborhood size and orthotactic probability). Wordlikeness in each language improved word production accuracy, and similarity to one language provided the same benefit as dual-language overlap. In addition, participants' memory for novel words was affected by the statistical distributions of letters in the novel language. Results indicate that bilinguals utilize both languages during third language acquisition, supporting a scaffolding learning model.

  20. Researching English in the Philippines: Bibliographical Resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bautista, Ma. Lourdes S.

    2004-01-01

    The academic literature on issues related to the Philippine English language and literature is substantial. This bibliography surveys relevant work on such related fields as the sociology of language and language planning, Bilingualism, bilingual education, and languages in education, language attitudes, code-switching and code-mixing, Philippine…

  1. Development and preliminary evaluation of a pediatric Spanish-English speech perception task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calandruccio, Lauren; Gomez, Bianca; Buss, Emily; Leibold, Lori J

    2014-06-01

    The purpose of this study was to develop a task to evaluate children's English and Spanish speech perception abilities in either noise or competing speech maskers. Eight bilingual Spanish-English and 8 age-matched monolingual English children (ages 4.9-16.4 years) were tested. A forced-choice, picture-pointing paradigm was selected for adaptively estimating masked speech reception thresholds. Speech stimuli were spoken by simultaneous bilingual Spanish-English talkers. The target stimuli were 30 disyllabic English and Spanish words, familiar to 5-year-olds and easily illustrated. Competing stimuli included either 2-talker English or 2-talker Spanish speech (corresponding to target language) and spectrally matched noise. For both groups of children, regardless of test language, performance was significantly worse for the 2-talker than for the noise masker condition. No difference in performance was found between bilingual and monolingual children. Bilingual children performed significantly better in English than in Spanish in competing speech. For all listening conditions, performance improved with increasing age. Results indicated that the stimuli and task were appropriate for speech recognition testing in both languages, providing a more conventional measure of speech-in-noise perception as well as a measure of complex listening. Further research is needed to determine performance for Spanish-dominant listeners and to evaluate the feasibility of implementation into routine clinical use.

  2. "Forked Tongue: The Politics of Bilingual Education," by Rosalie Pedalino Porter. Book Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amabisca, Anastasia Aimee

    1994-01-01

    Based on personal experience rather than empirical evidence, "Forked Tongue" presents a biased view that could damage the future of bilingual education in the United States. The book considers bilingual education a threat because it prolongs the learning of English and promotes the maintenance of other "un-American" languages…

  3. Second Language Socialization in a Bilingual Chat Room: Global and Local Considerations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wan Shun Eva Lam

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper considers how global practices of English on the Internet intersect with local practices of English in the territorial or national sphere in constructing the language experiences of immigrant learners. Using a multi-contextual approach to language socialization, this paper examines the social and discursive practices in a Chinese/English bilingual chat room and how this Internet chat room provides an additional context of language socialization for two teenage Chinese immigrants in the US. Analysis of discourse, interview, and observational data reveals that a mixed-code variety of English is adopted and developed among the focal youth and their peers around the globe to construct their relationships as bilingual speakers of English and Cantonese. This language variety served to create a collective ethnic identity for these young people and allowed the girls to assume a new identity in speaking English that doesn't follow the social categories of English-speaking Americans versus Cantonese-speaking Chinese in their local American context. This paper makes the case for studying how people navigate across contexts of socialization in the locality of the nation-state and the virtual environments of the Internet to articulate new ways of using English.

  4. How Does L1 and L2 Exposure Impact L1 Performance in Bilingual Children? Evidence from Polish-English Migrants to the United Kingdom

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ewa Haman

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Most studies on bilingual language development focus on children’s second language (L2. Here, we investigated first language (L1 development of Polish-English early migrant bilinguals in four domains: vocabulary, grammar, phonological processing, and discourse. We first compared Polish language skills between bilinguals and their Polish non-migrant monolingual peers, and then investigated the influence of the cumulative exposure to L1 and L2 on bilinguals’ performance. We then examined whether high exposure to L1 could possibly minimize the gap between monolinguals and bilinguals. We analyzed data from 233 typically developing children (88 bilingual and 145 monolingual aged 4;0 to 7;5 (years;months on six language measures in Polish: receptive vocabulary, productive vocabulary, receptive grammar, productive grammar (sentence repetition, phonological processing (non-word repetition, and discourse abilities (narration. Information about language exposure was obtained via parental questionnaires. For each language task, we analyzed the data from the subsample of bilinguals who had completed all the tasks in question and from monolinguals matched one-on-one to the bilingual group on age, SES (measured by years of mother’s education, gender, non-verbal IQ, and short-term memory. The bilingual children scored lower than monolinguals in all language domains, except discourse. The group differences were more pronounced on the productive tasks (vocabulary, grammar, and phonological processing and moderate on the receptive tasks (vocabulary and grammar. L1 exposure correlated positively with the vocabulary size and phonological processing. Grammar scores were not related to the levels of L1 exposure, but were predicted by general cognitive abilities. L2 exposure negatively influenced productive grammar in L1, suggesting possible L2 transfer effects on L1 grammatical performance. Children’s narrative skills benefitted from exposure to two languages

  5. 34 CFR 429.1 - What is the Bilingual Vocational Materials, Methods, and Techniques Program?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... techniques for bilingual vocational training for individuals with limited English proficiency. (Authority..., and Techniques Program? 429.1 Section 429.1 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of... MATERIALS, METHODS, AND TECHNIQUES PROGRAM General § 429.1 What is the Bilingual Vocational Materials...

  6. Retrieval of bilingual autobiographical memories: effects of cue language and cue imageability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mortensen, Linda; Berntsen, Dorthe; Bohn, Ocke-Schwen

    2015-01-01

    An important issue in theories of bilingual autobiographical memory is whether linguistically encoded memories are represented in language-specific stores or in a common language-independent store. Previous research has found that autobiographical memory retrieval is facilitated when the language of the cue is the same as the language of encoding, consistent with language-specific memory stores. The present study examined whether this language congruency effect is influenced by cue imageability. Danish-English bilinguals retrieved autobiographical memories in response to Danish and English high- or low-imageability cues. Retrieval latencies were shorter to Danish than English cues and shorter to high- than low-imageability cues. Importantly, the cue language effect was stronger for low-than high-imageability cues. To examine the relationship between cue language and the language of internal retrieval, participants identified the language in which the memories were internally retrieved. More memories were retrieved when the cue language was the same as the internal language than when the cue was in the other language, and more memories were identified as being internally retrieved in Danish than English, regardless of the cue language. These results provide further evidence for language congruency effects in bilingual memory and suggest that this effect is influenced by cue imageability.

  7. Lexical storage and retrieval in bilinguals

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dijkstra, A.F.J.; Hout, R.W.N.M. van; Hulk, A.; Kuiken, F.; Towell, R.

    2003-01-01

    A review of recent studies on the recognition of isolated words by bilinguals shows that this process is automatic and profoundly language non-selective. For example, upon the presentation of an ambiguous word form such as LIST, which exists in both English and Dutch (where it means "cream"), the

  8. Down two steps: Are bilinguals delayed in the acquisition of recursively embedded PPs?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Pérez-Leroux

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The present study examines whether bilingual children are delayed in the ability to produce complex DPs. We elicited production of DPs containing two PP modifiers, in two conditions designed to tease apart the acquisition of an embedding rule from the acquisition of the recursivity of an embedding rule. In the recursive condition, one modifier PP was itself modified by an additional PP. In the non-recursive condition, both PPs sequentially modified the main noun. Participants were 71 English monolingual children and 35 bilinguals between the ages of four and six. The evidence suggested an overall difference between groups, however further analysis revealed that bilinguals differed from monolinguals only insofar as the onset of PP embedding. No specific additional bilingual delay arose from the recursive condition. This suggests that recursive embedding is a resilient domain in language acquisition and supports proposals that link morphosyntactic delays in bilingual children to domains of grammar that are heavily reliant on lexical learning, which would include learning the first instance of PP embedding. --- Original in English.   --- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12957/matraga.2017.28781

  9. The auditory attention status in Iranian bilingual and monolingual people

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nayiere Mansoori

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aim: Bilingualism, as one of the discussing issues of psychology and linguistics, can influence the speech processing. Of several tests for assessing auditory processing, dichotic digit test has been designed to study divided auditory attention. Our study was performed to compare the auditory attention between Iranian bilingual and monolingual young adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 60 students including 30 Turkish-Persian bilinguals and 30 Persian monolinguals aged between 18 to 30 years in both genders. Dichotic digit test was performed on young individuals with normal peripheral hearing and right hand preference. Results: No significant correlation was found between the results of dichotic digit test of monolinguals and bilinguals (p=0.195, and also between the results of right and left ears in monolingual (p=0.460 and bilingual (p=0.054 groups. The mean score of women was significantly more than men (p=0.031. Conclusion: There was no significant difference between bilinguals and monolinguals in divided auditory attention; and it seems that acquisition of second language in lower ages has no noticeable effect on this type of auditory attention.

  10. The relationship between language proficiency and attentional control in Cantonese-English bilingual children: Evidence from Simon, Simon switching, and working memory tasks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chi-Shing eTse

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available By administering Simon, Simon switching, and operation-span working memory tasks to Cantonese-English bilingual children who varied in their first-language (L1, Cantonese and second-language (L2, English proficiencies, as quantified by standardized vocabulary test performance, the current study examined the effects of L1 and L2 proficiency on attentional control performance. Apart from mean performance, we conducted ex-Gaussian analyses to capture the modal and positive-tail components of participants’ reaction time distributions in the Simon task. Bilinguals’ L2 proficiency was associated with higher scores in the operation span task, and a shift of reaction time distributions in incongruent trials, relative to congruent trials (Simon effect in µ, and the tail size of reaction time distributions (τ regardless of trial types. Bilinguals’ L1 proficiency, which was strongly associated with participants’ age, showed similar results, except that it was not associated with the Simon effect in µ. In contrast, neither bilinguals’ L1 nor L2 proficiency modulated the global switch cost or local switch cost in the Simon switching task. After taking into account potential cognitive maturation by partialling out the participants’ age, only (a scores in the working memory task and (b RT in incongruent trials and (c Simon effect in µ in the Simon task could still be predicted by bilinguals’ L2 proficiency. Overall, the current findings suggest that bilingual children’s L2 proficiency was associated with their conflict resolution and working memory capacity, but not goal maintenance or task-set switching, when they performed the cognitive tasks that demanded attentional control. This was not entirely consistent with the findings of college-age bilinguals reported in previous studies.

  11. Playful Dialogues of a Bilingual Child in Everyday Conversations: Foundations of Early Literacy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soto Huerta, Mary Esther; Riojas-Cortez, Mari

    2014-01-01

    Many young children of Mexican heritage enter U.S. schools with knowledge of two language systems and emergent biliterate abilities. Bilingualism in young children may go unnoticed when instructional practices favor English. This case study describes how Lucía's bilingualism and emergent biliteracy parallel competencies essential to literacy…

  12. Senales de Trafico. Ingles-Espanol = Traffic Signs. English-Spanish [and] English-Spanish Road Signs for American Tourists.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grosse, Philip

    Two English/Spanish bilingual glossaries define words and phrases found on traffic signs. The first is an extensive alphabetical checklist of sign messages, listed in English with translations in Spanish. Some basic traffic and speed limit rules are included. The second volume, in Spanish-to-English form, is a pocket version designed for American…

  13. A Bilingual Approach: Education for Understanding. Leadership Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Southwest Intergroup Relations Council, Inc., Austin, TX.

    The story of the bilingual education program in the United Consolidated School District (UCSD) of Webb County, Texas, began with testimony given by witnesses at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' San Antonio hearing (December 9-14, 1968). This testimony dealt with the devasting effect of common educational practices upon Mexican American…

  14. Bilingualism does not alter cognitive decline or dementia risk among Spanish-speaking immigrants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zahodne, Laura B; Schofield, Peter W; Farrell, Meagan T; Stern, Yaakov; Manly, Jennifer J

    2014-03-01

    Clinic-based studies suggest that dementia is diagnosed at older ages in bilinguals compared with monolinguals. The current study sought to test this hypothesis in a large, prospective, community-based study of initially nondemented Hispanic immigrants living in a Spanish-speaking enclave of northern Manhattan. Participants included 1,067 participants in the Washington/Hamilton Heights Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP) who were tested in Spanish and followed at 18-24 month intervals for up to 23 years. Spanish-English bilingualism was estimated via both self-report and an objective measure of English reading level. Multilevel models for change estimated the independent effects of bilingualism on cognitive decline in 4 domains: episodic memory, language, executive function, and speed. Over the course of the study, 282 participants developed dementia. Cox regression was used to estimate the independent effect of bilingualism on dementia conversion. Covariates included country of origin, gender, education, time spent in the United States, recruitment cohort, and age at enrollment. Independent of the covariates, bilingualism was associated with better memory and executive function at baseline. However, bilingualism was not independently associated with rates of cognitive decline or dementia conversion. Results were similar whether bilingualism was measured via self-report or an objective test of reading level. This study does not support a protective effect of bilingualism on age-related cognitive decline or the development of dementia. In this sample of Hispanic immigrants, bilingualism is related to higher initial scores on cognitive tests and higher educational attainment and may not represent a unique source of cognitive reserve. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  15. Differential bilingual laterality: mythical monster found in Wales.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, Judith; Workman, Lance; Mayer, Peter; Crowley, Kevin

    2002-11-01

    Paradis (1992) likens studies of bilingual laterality to reported sightings of the Loch Ness Monster, in that although some studies claim differential laterality much conflicting research evidence does not-and like the mythical Scottish monster, what reason have we to suspect that any such phenomenon might exist? This study reexamines differential bilingual laterality using four groups of English-Welsh bilinguals which differ in their age of acquisition and in their environment of acquisition. Using a split visual field paradigm we present evidence which, supports the notion of greater right hemisphere processing in a later learned language. Our findings also suggest the pattern of lateralization in bilinguals is strongly affected by the specific language environment during development such that the shift toward greater right hemisphere involvement for the later learned language will be more pronounced in individuals which are brought up in areas where that language is not regularly heard.

  16. Screening Bilingual Preschoolers for Language Difficulties: Utility of Teacher and Parent Reports

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pua, Emmanuel Peng Kiat; Lee, Mary Lay Choo; Rickard Liow, Susan J.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: The utility of parent and teacher reports for screening 3 types of bilingual preschoolers (English-first language [L1]/Mandarin-second language[L2], Mandarin-L1/English-L2, or Malay-L1/English-L2) for language difficulty was investigated in Singapore with reference to measures of reliability, validity, sensitivity, and specificity in an…

  17. Bilingual Language Switching: Production vs. Recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mosca, Michela; de Bot, Kees

    2017-01-01

    This study aims at assessing how bilinguals select words in the appropriate language in production and recognition while minimizing interference from the non-appropriate language. Two prominent models are considered which assume that when one language is in use, the other is suppressed. The Inhibitory Control (IC) model suggests that, in both production and recognition, the amount of inhibition on the non-target language is greater for the stronger compared to the weaker language. In contrast, the Bilingual Interactive Activation (BIA) model proposes that, in language recognition, the amount of inhibition on the weaker language is stronger than otherwise. To investigate whether bilingual language production and recognition can be accounted for by a single model of bilingual processing, we tested a group of native speakers of Dutch (L1), advanced speakers of English (L2) in a bilingual recognition and production task. Specifically, language switching costs were measured while participants performed a lexical decision (recognition) and a picture naming (production) task involving language switching. Results suggest that while in language recognition the amount of inhibition applied to the non-appropriate language increases along with its dominance as predicted by the IC model, in production the amount of inhibition applied to the non-relevant language is not related to language dominance, but rather it may be modulated by speakers' unconscious strategies to foster the weaker language. This difference indicates that bilingual language recognition and production might rely on different processing mechanisms and cannot be accounted within one of the existing models of bilingual language processing. PMID:28638361

  18. Surmounting the Tower of Babel: Monolingual and bilingual 2-year-olds' understanding of the nature of foreign language words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byers-Heinlein, Krista; Chen, Ke Heng; Xu, Fei

    2014-03-01

    Languages function as independent and distinct conventional systems, and so each language uses different words to label the same objects. This study investigated whether 2-year-old children recognize that speakers of their native language and speakers of a foreign language do not share the same knowledge. Two groups of children unfamiliar with Mandarin were tested: monolingual English-learning children (n=24) and bilingual children learning English and another language (n=24). An English speaker taught children the novel label fep. On English mutual exclusivity trials, the speaker asked for the referent of a novel label (wug) in the presence of the fep and a novel object. Both monolingual and bilingual children disambiguated the reference of the novel word using a mutual exclusivity strategy, choosing the novel object rather than the fep. On similar trials with a Mandarin speaker, children were asked to find the referent of a novel Mandarin label kuò. Monolinguals again chose the novel object rather than the object with the English label fep, even though the Mandarin speaker had no access to conventional English words. Bilinguals did not respond systematically to the Mandarin speaker, suggesting that they had enhanced understanding of the Mandarin speaker's ignorance of English words. The results indicate that monolingual children initially expect words to be conventionally shared across all speakers-native and foreign. Early bilingual experience facilitates children's discovery of the nature of foreign language words. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Phoneme Error Pattern by Heritage Speakers of Spanish on an English Word Recognition Test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Lu-Feng

    2017-04-01

    Heritage speakers acquire their native language from home use in their early childhood. As the native language is typically a minority language in the society, these individuals receive their formal education in the majority language and eventually develop greater competency with the majority than their native language. To date, there have not been specific research attempts to understand word recognition by heritage speakers. It is not clear if and to what degree we may infer from evidence based on bilingual listeners in general. This preliminary study investigated how heritage speakers of Spanish perform on an English word recognition test and analyzed their phoneme errors. A prospective, cross-sectional, observational design was employed. Twelve normal-hearing adult Spanish heritage speakers (four men, eight women, 20-38 yr old) participated in the study. Their language background was obtained through the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire. Nine English monolingual listeners (three men, six women, 20-41 yr old) were also included for comparison purposes. Listeners were presented with 200 Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 words in quiet. They repeated each word orally and in writing. Their responses were scored by word, word-initial consonant, vowel, and word-final consonant. Performance was compared between groups with Student's t test or analysis of variance. Group-specific error patterns were primarily descriptive, but intergroup comparisons were made using 95% or 99% confidence intervals for proportional data. The two groups of listeners yielded comparable scores when their responses were examined by word, vowel, and final consonant. However, heritage speakers of Spanish misidentified significantly more word-initial consonants and had significantly more difficulty with initial /p, b, h/ than their monolingual peers. The two groups yielded similar patterns for vowel and word-final consonants, but heritage speakers made significantly

  20. Orthographic learning and self-teaching in a bilingual and biliterate context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, Mila; Kahn-Horwitz, Janina; Share, David L

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this study was to examine self-teaching in the context of English as a foreign language literacy acquisition. Three groups comprising 88 sixth-grade children participated. The first group consisted of Russian-Hebrew-speaking bilinguals who had acquired basic reading skills in Russian as their first language (L1) and literacy and who were literate in Hebrew as a second language. The second group consisted of Russian-Hebrew-speaking bilinguals who had not learned to read in their native Russian but had acquired Hebrew as their first literate language. The third group consisted of Hebrew-speaking monolingual children who were literate in Hebrew. This design facilitated examining the effect of biliteracy and bilingualism on basic English reading skills. We hypothesized that due to the proximity between the Russian and English orthographies as opposed to the Hebrew-English "distance," the Russian-Hebrew-speaking biliterate group who acquired basic reading and spelling skills in L1 Russian would have superior self-teaching in English as opposed to the two other groups. The standard two-session self-teaching paradigm was employed with naming (speed and accuracy) and orthographic choice as posttest measures of orthographic learning. Results showed that after 4 years of English instruction, all three groups showed evidence of self-teaching on naming speed and orthographic recognition. The Russian-Hebrew-speaking biliterate group, moreover, showed a partial advantage over the comparison groups for initial decoding of target pseudowords and clear-cut superiority for measures of later orthographic learning, thereby showing self-teaching while supporting the script dependence hypothesis. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Challenging Inquiry and Building Community: Analyzing ESL and Bilingual Teachers' Narratives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musanti, Sandra I.

    2017-01-01

    The study explores English as a second language (ESL) and bilingual teachers' narratives within a learning community as they collectively engage in reflecting on practices to more effectively support English learners. This longitudinal qualitative study integrates narrative inquiry approach and critical incident methodology. Participants were…

  2. Phonological skills as predictor of reading success: An investigation of emergent bilingual Northern Sotho/English learners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wilsenach, Carien

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The relationship between phonological skills and reading has not been studied extensively in the African languages spoken in South Africa. This study focuses on phonological skills and reading in emergent bilingual Northern Sotho/English learners. Fifty Grade 3 learners (all native speakers of Northern Sotho were tested on non-word repetition skills, syllable awareness, phonological working memory and reading. The learners fell into two groups: group 1 attended a school where English was the medium of instruction from the first grade, while group 2 attended a school where literacy instruction took place in Northern Sotho for the first three years of schooling. The results indicate that there is a significant correlation between phonological skills and reading in Northern Sotho. Furthermore, group 2 performed significantly better on all of the phonological measures (with the exception of phonological working memory and reading measures. The findings suggest that a complete lack of mother tongue instruction can influence phonological and literacy development negatively. The study also suggests that the absence of mother tongue literacy instruction causes stagnation in the development of phonological processing skills in the mother tongue.

  3. To electrify bilingualism: Electrophysiological insights into bilingual metaphor comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jankowiak, Katarzyna; Rataj, Karolina; Naskręcki, Ryszard

    2017-01-01

    Though metaphoric language comprehension has previously been investigated with event-related potentials, little attention has been devoted to extending this research from the monolingual to the bilingual context. In the current study, late proficient unbalanced Polish (L1)-English (L2) bilinguals performed a semantic decision task to novel metaphoric, conventional metaphoric, literal, and anomalous word pairs presented in L1 and L2. The results showed more pronounced P200 amplitudes to L2 than L1, which can be accounted for by differences in the subjective frequency of the native and non-native lexical items. Within the early N400 time window (300-400 ms), L2 word dyads evoked delayed and attenuated amplitudes relative to L1 word pairs, possibly indicating extended lexical search during foreign language processing, and weaker semantic interconnectivity for L2 compared to L1 words within the memory system. The effect of utterance type was observed within the late N400 time window (400-500 ms), with smallest amplitudes evoked by literal, followed by conventional metaphoric, novel metaphoric, and anomalous word dyads. Such findings are interpreted as reflecting more resource intensive cognitive mechanisms governing novel compared to conventional metaphor comprehension in both the native and non-native language. Within the late positivity time window (500-800 ms), Polish novel metaphors evoked reduced amplitudes relative to literal utterances. In English, on the other hand, this effect was observed for both novel and conventional metaphoric word dyads. This finding might indicate continued effort in information retrieval or access to the non-literal route during novel metaphor comprehension in L1, and during novel and conventional metaphor comprehension in L2. Altogether, the present results point to decreased automaticity of cognitive mechanisms engaged in non-native and non-dominant language processing, and suggest a decreased sensitivity to the levels of

  4. Script identification in printed bilingual documents

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    R. Narasimhan (Krishtel eMaging) 1461 1996 Oct 15 13:05:22

    and lower zones, together with the character density, is used to identify the script. ... our work, we assume bilingual documents which require script recognition at word level. ... Thus, all the reported studies accomplish script recognition either at the line level ... In this paper, we make an attempt to separate the English and.

  5. Degree of Bilingualism Predicts Age of Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease in Low-Education but Not in Highly Educated Hispanics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gollan, Tamar H.; Salmon, David P.; Montoya, Rosa I.; Galasko, Douglas R.

    2011-01-01

    The current study investigated the relationship between bilingual language proficiency and onset of probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) in 44 Spanish-English bilinguals at the UCSD Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Degree of bilingualism along a continuum was measured using Boston Naming Test (BNT) scores in each language. Higher degrees of…

  6. Language proficiency and health status: are bilingual immigrants healthier?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schachter, Ariela; Kimbro, Rachel T; Gorman, Bridget K

    2012-03-01

    Bilingual immigrants appear to have a health advantage, and identifying the mechanisms responsible for this is of increasing interest to scholars and policy makers in the United States. Utilizing the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS; n = 3,264), we investigate the associations between English and native-language proficiency and usage and self-rated health for Asian and Latino U.S. immigrants from China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Mexico, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. The findings demonstrate that across immigrant ethnic groups, being bilingual is associated with better self-rated physical and mental health relative to being proficient in only English or only a native language, and moreover, these associations are partially mediated by socioeconomic status and family support but not by acculturation, stress and discrimination, or health access and behaviors.

  7. “ALL IN ALL, I AM BILINGUAL” A STUDY OF BILINGUALISM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zeynep CANLI

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available he aim of the study is to investigate whether EFL instructors in a university preparatory school consider themselves bilingual, or not; and the reasons for the EFL instructors to consider themselves bilingual or not. For the purpose of the study, a qualitative research was carried out. Thirty EFL instructors participated in this study. The data were collected via an open-ended questionnaire. Analyzing the results indicated that most of the participants considered themselves bilingual. The results of the study emphasized the importance of awareness of being bilingual in order to empower EFL instructors, encourage them to use more L2 in the classroom, and raise their self-esteem as non native speakers of English. The findings help instructors to make them less concerned about the grammar and focus more on communication, and explain their students that they would be bilingual too. This study might be of pedagogical help and significance to teachers interested in bilingualism in EFL context.

  8. Health Information National Trends Survey in American Sign Language (HINTS-ASL): Protocol for the Cultural Adaptation and Linguistic Validation of a National Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kushalnagar, Poorna; Harris, Raychelle; Paludneviciene, Raylene; Hoglind, TraciAnn

    2017-09-13

    The Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) collects nationally representative data about the American's public use of health-related information. This survey is available in English and Spanish, but not in American Sign Language (ASL). Thus, the exclusion of ASL users from these national health information survey studies has led to a significant gap in knowledge of Internet usage for health information access in this underserved and understudied population. The objectives of this study are (1) to culturally adapt and linguistically translate the HINTS items to ASL (HINTS-ASL); and (2) to gather information about deaf people's health information seeking behaviors across technology-mediated platforms. We modified the standard procedures developed at the US National Center for Health Statistics Cognitive Survey Laboratory to culturally adapt and translate HINTS items to ASL. Cognitive interviews were conducted to assess clarity and delivery of these HINTS-ASL items. Final ASL video items were uploaded to a protected online survey website. The HINTS-ASL online survey has been administered to over 1350 deaf adults (ages 18 to 90 and up) who use ASL. Data collection is ongoing and includes deaf adult signers across the United States. Some items from HINTS item bank required cultural adaptation for use with deaf people who use accessible services or technology. A separate item bank for deaf-related experiences was created, reflecting deaf-specific technology such as sharing health-related ASL videos through social network sites and using video remote interpreting services in health settings. After data collection is complete, we will conduct a series of analyses on deaf people's health information seeking behaviors across technology-mediated platforms. HINTS-ASL is an accessible health information national trends survey, which includes a culturally appropriate set of items that are relevant to the experiences of deaf people who use ASL. The final HINTS-ASL

  9. "We communicated that way for a reason": language practices and language ideologies among hearing adults whose parents are deaf.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pizer, Ginger; Walters, Keith; Meier, Richard P

    2013-01-01

    Families with deaf parents and hearing children are often bilingual and bimodal, with both a spoken language and a signed one in regular use among family members. When interviewed, 13 American hearing adults with deaf parents reported widely varying language practices, sign language abilities, and social affiliations with Deaf and Hearing communities. Despite this variation, the interviewees' moral judgments of their own and others' communicative behavior suggest that these adults share a language ideology concerning the obligation of all family members to expend effort to overcome potential communication barriers. To our knowledge, such a language ideology is not similarly pervasive among spoken-language bilingual families, raising the question of whether there is something unique about family bimodal bilingualism that imposes different rights and responsibilities on family members than spoken-language family bilingualism does. This ideology unites an otherwise diverse group of interviewees, where each one preemptively denied being a "typical CODA [children of deaf adult]."

  10. Age of Bilingual Exposure Is Related to the Contribution of Phonological and Semantic Knowledge to Successful Reading Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jasinska, Kaja K.; Petitto, Laura-Ann

    2018-01-01

    Bilingual children's reading as a function of age of first bilingual language exposure (AoE) was examined. Bilingual (varied AoE) and monolingual children (N = 421) were compared in their English language and reading abilities (6-10 years) using phonological awareness, semantic knowledge, and reading tasks. Structural equation modeling was applied…

  11. Emergency Immigration Education Act Programs: Summer E.S.L. Welcome Plus Program for Students of Limited English Proficiency (LEP), Summer Bilingual Program, and Project Omega. OREA Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duque, Diana L.

    This report presents findings of the evaluation by the New York City public school system's Office of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment of three programs (Summer E.S.L. Welcome Plus, Summer Bilingual, and Project Omega) for immigrant students. The Summer E.S.L. (English as a Second Language) Welcome Plus program operated at 19 sites in New York…

  12. Coordinated Translanguaging Pedagogy as Distributed Cognition: A Case Study of Two Dual Language Bilingual Education Preschool Coteachers' Languaging Practices during Shared Book Readings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pontier, Ryan; Gort, Mileidis

    2016-01-01

    This study examined how a pair of Spanish/English dual language bilingual education (DLBE) preschool teachers enacted their bilingualism while working cohesively and simultaneously toward common instructional goals. We drew on classroom video data, field notes, and other relevant artifacts collected weekly during shared readings of English- and…

  13. Effects of Bilingual Tact Instruction for a Child with Communication Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    León, Alberto L.; Rosales, Rocío

    2018-01-01

    We evaluated the effects of tact training when instruction was presented in English only compared to tact training in a bilingual format (in English and the home language, Portuguese) for a participant diagnosed with a communication disorder. The participant's parents completed a questionnaire describing his exposure to both languages prior to the…

  14. Advertising to Italian English Bilinguals in Australia: Attitudes and Response to Language Selection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santello, Marco

    2015-01-01

    This article explores attitudes and response to language selection in advertising targeting Italian bilinguals who belong to a defined speech community. The research builds upon (i) research on multilingual advertising by investigating its attitudinal correlates, and (ii) studies on advertising to bilinguals through the verification of the…

  15. Association between pediatric asthma care quality and morbidity and English language proficiency in Ohio.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montgomery, Martha P; Allen, Elizabeth D; Thomas, Olivia; Robinson, Byron F; Clark, Donnie; Connelly, Ann; Mott, Joshua A; Conrey, Elizabeth

    2018-05-08

    Limited English proficiency can be a barrier to asthma care and is associated with poor outcomes. This study examines whether pediatric patients in Ohio with limited English proficiency experience lower asthma care quality or higher morbidity. We used electronic health records for asthma patients aged 2-17 years from a regional, urban, children's hospital in Ohio during 2011-2015. Community-level demographics were included from U.S. Census data. By using chi-square and t-tests, patients with limited English proficiency and bilingual English-speaking patients were compared with English-only patients. Five asthma outcomes-two quality and three morbidity measures-were modeled using generalized estimating equations. The study included 15 352 (84%) English-only patients, 1744 (10%) patients with limited English proficiency, and 1147 (6%) bilingual patients. Pulmonary function testing (quality measure) and multiple exacerbation visits (morbidity measure) did not differ by language group. Compared with English-only patients, bilingual patients had higher odds of ever having an exacerbation visit (morbidity measure) (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-1.6) but lower odds of admission to intensive care (morbidity measure) (aOR, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.2-0.7), while patients with limited English proficiency did not differ on either factor. Recommended follow-up after exacerbation (quality measure) was higher for limited English proficiency (aOR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.4-2.3) and bilingual (aOR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.3-2.1), compared with English-only patients. In this urban, pediatric population with reliable interpreter services, limited English proficiency was not associated with worse asthma care quality or morbidity.

  16. The Lemmatization of Loan Words in the isiNdebele–English ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    user

    English Dictionary and the selection of words for lemmatization are ... The IsiNdebele–English Dictionary is a bilingual, bi-directional dictionary, which is divided ... In the above examples, lemmas are in isiNdebele and English and each lemma.

  17. BILINGUALISM: MULTICULTURALISM HOLOPRAXIOLOGY OF THE VENEZUELAN DEAF

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Héctor Florencio Martínez Pérez

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The formation of the child has been made regularly and without many prejudices or tbacks,  until this had some physical characteristic or perceptual, who twisted his attention.  To those who were born with the inability to listen or hear properly, excluded in all respects. At the end of the 20th century, the deaf began to defend their identity and differed between Deafness (lack of hearing of deafness, with "S", which is a socio-anthropological perspective, which includes the use of sign language and the learning of reading and writing of the Spanish (bilingualism in their training. This research had as general objective to unveil bilingualism from an intercultural intersubjectivity of the deaf in Venezuela by applying a qualitative related paradigm with methodology fenomenologica-hermeneutica of Max Van Manen. The information collected observing and interviewing in depth (12 deaf students, parents or representatives (6, (3 researchers and educational specialists deaf and listeners (12. To analyze and triangulate information, obtained the following conclusions about the bilingual deaf: their physical and intellectual abilities are exactly the same to the listeners;  they can achieve the necessary qualification for any job; is required the language of signs so that you can put into practice the language; those who have the organizational capacity to develop oral language, it should not hinder him this opportunity, without detriment to the learning of the language of signs and the systematic training of the deaf teachers and deaf family, educational managers, political and employer of the deaf is essentially required.

  18. Schooling in American Sign Language: A Paradigm Shift from a Deficit Model to a Bilingual Model in Deaf Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Humphries, Tom

    2013-01-01

    Deaf people have long held the belief that American Sign Language (ASL) plays a significant role in the academic development of deaf children. Despite this, the education of deaf children has historically been exclusive of ASL and constructed as an English-only, deficit-based pedagogy. Newer research, however, finds a strong correlation between…

  19. Russian Bilingual Science Learning: Perspectives from Secondary Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemberger, Nancy; Vinogradova, Olga

    2002-01-01

    Describes one secondary Russian/English bilingual science teacher's practice and her literate students' experiences as they learn science and adapt to a new school. Discusses the notion of whether literacy skills in the native language are transferable to a second language. (Author/VWL)

  20. Education, bilingualism, and cognitive trajectories: Sacramento Area Latino Aging Study (SALSA).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mungas, Dan; Early, Dawnté R; Glymour, M Maria; Zeki Al Hazzouri, Adina; Haan, Mary N

    2018-01-01

    This study examined the influence of education, country where education occurred, and monolingual-bilingual (English/Spanish) language usage on late life cognitive trajectories in the Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging (SALSA), an epidemiological study of health and cognition in Hispanics, mostly of Mexican origin, age 60 and over (N = 1,499). SALSA followed a large cohort of older Latinos for up to 7 assessment waves from 1998 to 2007. Global cognition was assessed by using the Modified Mini Mental State Examination, and the Spanish English Verbal Learning Test was used to measure episodic memory. Education, country of origin, and language usage patterns were collected at the baseline assessment and used as predictors of longitudinal trajectories of cognition. Parallel process mixed effects models were used to examine effects of education and language variables on baseline cognition and rate of cognitive decline. Mixed effects longitudinal models showed that education had strong effects on baseline global cognition and verbal memory but was not related to decline over up to 9 years of longitudinal follow-up. Differences in education effects between subgroups educated in Mexico and in the United States were minor. Monolingual-bilingual language usage was not related to cognitive decline, and bilinguals did not significantly differ from monolingual English speakers on baseline cognitive scores. Hypotheses that higher education and bilingualism protect against late life cognitive decline were not supported and education effects on late-life cognitive trajectories did not substantially differ across U.S.- and Mexico-educated groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  1. Prosody and Spoken Word Recognition in Early and Late Spanish-English Bilingual Individuals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boutsen, Frank R.; Dvorak, Justin D.; Deweber, Derick D.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: This study was conducted to compare the influence of word properties on gated single-word recognition in monolingual and bilingual individuals under conditions of native and nonnative accent and to determine whether word-form prosody facilitates recognition in bilingual individuals. Method: Word recognition was assessed in monolingual and…

  2. Effect of Simultaneous Bilingualism on Speech Intelligibility across Different Masker Types, Modalities, and Signal-to-Noise Ratios in School-Age Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reetzke, Rachel; Lam, Boji Pak-Wing; Xie, Zilong; Sheng, Li; Chandrasekaran, Bharath

    2016-01-01

    Recognizing speech in adverse listening conditions is a significant cognitive, perceptual, and linguistic challenge, especially for children. Prior studies have yielded mixed results on the impact of bilingualism on speech perception in noise. Methodological variations across studies make it difficult to converge on a conclusion regarding the effect of bilingualism on speech-in-noise performance. Moreover, there is a dearth of speech-in-noise evidence for bilingual children who learn two languages simultaneously. The aim of the present study was to examine the extent to which various adverse listening conditions modulate differences in speech-in-noise performance between monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children. To that end, sentence recognition was assessed in twenty-four school-aged children (12 monolinguals; 12 simultaneous bilinguals, age of English acquisition ≤ 3 yrs.). We implemented a comprehensive speech-in-noise battery to examine recognition of English sentences across different modalities (audio-only, audiovisual), masker types (steady-state pink noise, two-talker babble), and a range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs; 0 to -16 dB). Results revealed no difference in performance between monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children across each combination of modality, masker, and SNR. Our findings suggest that when English age of acquisition and socioeconomic status is similar between groups, monolingual and bilingual children exhibit comparable speech-in-noise performance across a range of conditions analogous to everyday listening environments.

  3. Sounds of Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lott, Kimberly; Lott, Alan; Ence, Hannah

    2018-01-01

    Inquiry-based active learning in science is helpful to all students but especially to those who have a hearing loss. For many deaf or hard of hearing students, the English language may be their second language, with American Sign Language (ASL) being their primary language. Therefore, many of the accommodations for the deaf are similar to those…

  4. BILINGUALISM AMONG STUDENTS OF THE FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, SALATIGA, INDONESIA: A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne Indrayanti Timotius

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Although bilingualism is an interesting phenomenon these days, not many researchers explore bilingualism in Asia. Most research in a similar field, like that done by Yip and Matthews (2007, and Harding-Esch and Riley (2003, show that children become bilingual because their parents are from countries with different mother tongues. This is not necessarily true in Asian countries like Indonesia. In Indonesia, most of its citizens are bilingual, even though both parents are Indonesian. This happens because children are not only exposed to and taught one language from a young age. Many of them are exposed to at least two languages, which are Indonesian (the national language and lingua franca of Indonesia and their local language – which is different depending on which area of Indonesia they were born or grew up. In addition, it is highly possible that exposure to other languages, such as English, may add to their capability to speak more than just two languages and thus, they become multilingual. This phenomenon has piqued the interest of the writers to conduct a study on bilingualism in Indonesia. The aim of the study is to describe bilingualism/multilingualism among a group of students in Indonesia. The data is collected by distributing questionnaires to 240 participants who are students in the Faculty of Language and Literature (FLL, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga. The study reveals that there are three languages mostly spoken or used by the participants. They are Indonesian, English, and a regional language (mostly Javanese. Also, most of the students‘ first language is Indonesian. As for the second language, it is quite varied, including regional languages and English.

  5. A Morphological Analysis of English-Igbo Merged Verbs in Code ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study examines the influence of Igbo morphemes on English verb structure in code-mixed/switched utterances. There is overwhelming evidence that English and Igbo languages interfere with each other in informal conversations of the Igbo-English bilinguals. This calls for researches to ascertain the degree of English ...

  6. "Why in This Bilingual Classroom … Hablamos Más Español?" Language Choice by Bilingual Science Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevenson, Alma D.

    2015-01-01

    This qualitative sociolinguistic research study examines Latino/a students' use of language in a science classroom and laboratory. This study was conducted in a school in the southwestern United States that serves an economically depressed, predominantly Latino population. The object of study was a 5th-grade bilingual (Spanish/English) class. The…

  7. Translanguaging in a Latin@ Bilingual Community: Negotiations and Mediations in a Dual-Language Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garza, Armando; Langman, Juliet

    2014-01-01

    Considering a Latin@ fifth-grade dual-language classroom (Spanish/English) as a community of practice, this paper explores how a bilingual teacher and her bilingual students, as members of such community, utilize translanguaging (García, 2009) as a learning and teaching tool in social studies and science classes. In this particular classroom, the…

  8. Psychometric function for NU-6 word recognition in noise: effects of first language and dominant language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Lu-Feng; Zaki, Nancy A

    2014-01-01

    The present study attempted to establish psychometric function in individuals whose first language is not English. Psychometric function was obtained for one of the most commonly used clinical tests, the Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 (Tillman & Carhart 1966), so that findings could be directly applied to everyday clinical practice. Five groups of 14 normal-hearing, adult listeners differing in their first language and dominant language (English monolinguals, English- and Arabic-dominant Arabic-English bilinguals, and English- and Russian-dominant Russian-English bilinguals) participated. Both forms of the Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 test (8 lists of 50 monosyllabic English words) were presented. The lists were randomly assigned to eight signal-to-noise ratios (-3 to 18 dB in 3 dB steps). Listeners responded verbally and in writing. Psychometric functions were derived via logistic regression and described by two parameters: the 50% correct performance level (θ) and the slope (k). Both English-dominant bilingual groups obtained psychometric functions comparable with monolinguals. The θ and k of the functions for these three groups of participants were consistent with the literature. Compared with these three groups, non-English-dominant bilinguals' functions grew significantly more gradually (i.e., a significantly higher θ and a significantly lower k). No differences in either θ or k were found between bilinguals with the same dominant language but different first languages. Bilinguals reporting themselves to be dominant in English generate monolingual-like psychometric functions. By contrast, a different set of psychometric properties describes the function of bilinguals dominant in their first language. Because first language did not appear to be a significant factor in determining bilinguals' functions, it is concluded that English learning history and English proficiency are more important variables than first language for

  9. Food Service Course. Bilingual Vocational Instructional Materials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez-Cox, Guadalupe

    This course in food services, one of a series of bilingual English-Spanish vocational education courses, is designed to familiarize the student with the food service operation of a restaurant, cafeteria, fast-food operation, hospital, nursing home, industrial or educational facility, food caterer, or bakery. The student should become versatile in…

  10. Parallel Recovery in a Trilingual Speaker: The Use of the Bilingual Aphasia Test as a Diagnostic Complement to the Comprehensive Aphasia Test

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, David W.; Ruffle, Louise; Grogan, Alice; Ali, Nilufa; Ramsden, Sue; Schofield, Tom; Leff, Alex P.; Crinion, Jenny; Price, Cathy J.

    2011-01-01

    We illustrate the value of the Bilingual Aphasia Test in the diagnostic assessment of a trilingual speaker post-stroke living in England for whom English was a non-native language. The Comprehensive Aphasia Test is routinely used to assess patients in English, but only in combination with the Bilingual Aphasia Test is it possible and practical to…

  11. Young Adults' Perceptions and Use of Bilingualism as a Function of an Early Immersion Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pilotti, Maura; Gutierrez, Anna; Klein, Eric; Mahamame, Salif

    2015-01-01

    The main aim of the present study was to examine whether perceptions of bilingualism differed between two bilingual groups, those whose elementary education was shaped by a Spanish immersion program and those who had received an English-focused education. A structured interview was administered to gather information about self-perceived language…

  12. English Textbooks in Parallel-Language Tertiary Education

    OpenAIRE

    Pecorari, D.; Shaw, P.; Irvine, Aileen; Malmstrom, H.

    2011-01-01

    Tertiary education in many countries is increasingly bilingual, with English used in parallel with the national language, particularly as a reading language. This article describes the results of a survey of student attitudes toward, and reading practices regarding, English language textbooks. Over 1,000 students at three Swedish universities responded to a questionnaire asking about their experiences with English textbooks. Textbooks written in English were generally unpopular, and the perce...

  13. Core vocabulary in the narratives of bilingual children with and without language impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shivabasappa, Prarthana; Peña, Elizabeth D; Bedore, Lisa M

    2017-09-22

    Children with primary language impairment (PLI) demonstrate deficits in morphosyntax and vocabulary. We studied how these deficits may manifest in the core vocabulary use of bilingual children with PLI. Thirty bilingual children with and without PLI who were matched pairwise (experimental group) narrated two Spanish and two English stories in kindergarten and first grade. Core vocabulary was derived from the 30 most frequently used words in the stories of 65 and 37 typically developing (TD) first graders (normative group) for Spanish and English, respectively. The number of words each child in the experimental group produced out of the 30 identified core vocabulary words and frequency of each of the core words produced each year were analysed. Children with PLI produced fewer core vocabulary words compared to their TD peers after controlling for total words produced. This difference was more pronounced in first grade. They produced core vocabulary words less frequently in kindergarten than their TD peers. Both groups produced core vocabulary words more frequently in English than Spanish. Bilingual children with PLI demonstrate a less productive core vocabulary use compared to their TD peers in both their languages illustrating the nature of their grammatical and lexical-semantic deficits.

  14. Asymmetrical Switch Costs in Bilingual Language Production Induced by Reading Words

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peeters, David; Runnqvist, Elin; Bertrand, Daisy; Grainger, Jonathan

    2014-01-01

    We examined language-switching effects in French-English bilinguals using a paradigm where pictures are always named in the same language (either French or English) within a block of trials, and on each trial, the picture is preceded by a printed word from the same language or from the other language. Participants had to either make a language…

  15. Interest Convergence and Hegemony in Dual Language: Bilingual Education, but for Whom and Why?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Laura Beth

    2018-01-01

    I analyze two bills from the state legislatures of California (SB 1174) and Arizona (SB 1242) that propose to expand bilingual education where English-only education was previously the default. Using a critical discourse analysis lens to conduct a directed content analysis, I ask who bilingual education is for, why it is offered, and how the…

  16. Implicit orientation toward family and school among bilingual Latino college students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devos, Thierry; Blanco, Karla; Muñoz, Cynthia; Dunn, Roger; Ulloa, Emilio C

    2008-08-01

    The authors examined the associations that underlie the orientations of bilingual Latino college students toward family and school. Participants completed, in English or Spanish, 3 implicit association tests assessing their attitude toward family vs. school, identifications with these concepts, and self-esteem. Results revealed a more positive attitude toward, and stronger identification with, family than school. Identification with family was stronger among participants who completed the study in English, suggesting self-definition in terms of distinctions from the context. Last, the more participants valued family over school and identified with family rather than school, the higher was their self-esteem. These findings shed light on the subtle, yet crucial, mechanisms by which cultural knowledge is incorporated in the self-concept of bilingual Latino college students.

  17. Writing System Modulates the Association between Sensitivity to Acoustic Cues in Music and Reading Ability: Evidence from Chinese–English Bilingual Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Zhang

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Music and language share many attributes and a large body of evidence shows that sensitivity to acoustic cues in music is positively related to language development and even subsequent reading acquisition. However, such association was mainly found in alphabetic languages. What remains unclear is whether sensitivity to acoustic cues in music is associated with reading in Chinese, a morphosyllabic language. The present study aimed to answer this question by measuring music (i.e., musical metric perception and pitch discrimination, language (i.e., phonological awareness, lexical tone sensitivity, and reading abilities (i.e., word recognition among 54 third-grade Chinese–English bilingual children. After controlling for age and non-verbal intelligence, we found that both musical metric perception and pitch discrimination accounted for unique variance of Chinese phonological awareness while pitch discrimination rather than musical metric perception predicted Chinese lexical tone sensitivity. More importantly, neither musical metric perception nor pitch discrimination was associated with Chinese reading. As for English, musical metric perception and pitch discrimination were correlated with both English phonological awareness and English reading. Furthermore, sensitivity to acoustic cues in music was associated with English reading through the mediation of English phonological awareness. The current findings indicate that the association between sensitivity to acoustic cues in music and reading may be modulated by writing systems. In Chinese, the mapping between orthography and phonology is not as transparent as in alphabetic languages such as English. Thus, this opaque mapping may alter the auditory perceptual sensitivity in music to Chinese reading.

  18. The Effects of Phonological Awareness of Zulu-Speaking Children Learning to Spell in English: A Study of Cross-Language Transfer

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Sousa, Diana Soares; Greenop, Kirston; Fry, Jessica

    2010-01-01

    Background: Emergent bilingual Zulu-English speaking children in South Africa have spoken but no written proficiency in Zulu (L1), yet are required to learn to spell English (L2) via English-only literacy instruction. Little research exists on emergent bilingual's phonological awareness (PA) and spelling development, with no L1 formal literacy…

  19. Differentiated Linguistic Strategies of Bilingual Professionals on the U.S.-Mexico Border

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramos, Diana Carolina; Sayer, Peter

    2017-01-01

    The authors present three distinct cases of English-Spanish bilinguals on the U.S.-Mexico border to illustrate how legitimate and authentic language use functions as forms of symbolic capital (P. Bourdieu, 1991). Language practices in the occupational domain exemplify how varieties of English and Spanish come into contact, are negotiated, and…

  20. Syntactic Acquisition in Bilingual Children: Autonomous or Interdependent?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paradis, Johanne; Genesee, Fred

    1996-01-01

    Investigates the potential interference between the grammars of French-English bilingual children, ages two to three years. The study examined their acquisition of functional categories, specifically the properties of INFL (finiteness and agreement) and negation. Results indicate that these children evidence no transfer, acceleration, or delay in…

  1. From Deficit to Diversity: How Teachers of Recently Arrived Emergent Bilinguals Negotiate Ideological and Pedagogical Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ascenzi-Moreno, Laura

    2017-01-01

    Although the number and diversity of emergent bilingual students is rising, this population is viewed as homogeneous rather than vibrant and eclectic. This case study explores how two secondary teachers of English as a new language uncover the diversity of their recently arrived emergent bilingual population by implementing translanguaging…

  2. Does bilingualism contribute to cognitive reserve? Cognitive and neural perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guzmán-Vélez, Edmarie; Tranel, Daniel

    2015-01-01

    Cognitive reserve refers to how individuals actively utilize neural resources to cope with neuropathology to maintain cognitive functioning. The present review aims to critically examine the literature addressing the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive reserve to elucidate whether bilingualism delays the onset of cognitive and behavioral manifestations of dementia. Potential neural mechanisms behind this relationship are discussed. PubMed and PsycINFO databases were searched (through January 2014) for original research articles in English or Spanish languages. The following search strings were used as keywords for study retrieval: "bilingual AND reserve," "reserve AND neural mechanisms," and "reserve AND multilingualism." Growing scientific evidence suggests that lifelong bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve and delays the onset of Alzheimer's disease symptoms, allowing bilingual individuals affected by Alzheimer's disease to live an independent and richer life for a longer time than their monolingual counterparts. Lifelong bilingualism is related to more efficient use of brain resources that help individuals maintain cognitive functioning in the presence of neuropathology. We propose multiple putative neural mechanisms through which lifelong bilinguals cope with neuropathology. The roles of immigration status, education, age of onset, proficiency, and frequency of language use on the relationship between cognitive reserve and bilingualism are considered. Implications of these results for preventive practices and future research are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

  3. Does Bilingualism Contribute to Cognitive Reserve? Cognitive and Neural Perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guzmán-Vélez, Edmarie; Tranel, Daniel

    2015-01-01

    Objective Cognitive reserve refers to how individuals actively utilize neural resources to cope with neuropathology in order to maintain cognitive functioning. The present review aims to critically examine the literature addressing the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive reserve in order to elucidate whether bilingualism delays the onset of cognitive and behavioral manifestations of dementia. Potential neural mechanisms behind this relationship are discussed. Method Pubmed and PsychINFO databases were searched (through January 2014) for original research articles in English or Spanish languages. The following search strings were employed as keywords for study retrieval: ‘bilingual AND reserve’, ‘reserve AND neural mechanisms’, and ‘reserve AND multilingualism’. Results Growing scientific evidence suggests that lifelong bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve and delays the onset of Alzheimer's disease symptoms, allowing bilingual individuals affected by Alzheimer's disease to live an independent and richer life for a longer time than their monolingual counterparts. Lifelong bilingualism is related to more efficient use of brain resources that help individuals maintain cognitive functioning in the presence of neuropathology. We propose multiple putative neural mechanisms through which lifelong bilinguals cope with neuropathology. The roles of immigration status, education, age of onset, proficiency and frequency of language use on the relationship between cognitive reserve and bilingualism are considered. Conclusions Implications of these results for preventive practices and future research are discussed. PMID:24933492

  4. BILINGUALISM AMONG THE ADOLESCENTS IN BADUNG REGENCY, BALI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I Nyoman Muliana

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a discussion of bilingualism among the adolescents in Badung Regency, the Province of Bali. It aims to explore the bilingualism situation and the existence of Balinese Language among them. The discussion is based on participant observation to the adolescents and it is based on Sociolinguistic Theory. The result of the discussion shows that the adolescents in Badung Regency are bilinguals of Balinese and Indonesian languages. They use Balinese language in all their communicative activities, except some females occasionally showed the use of Indonesian language. Their conversations both in Balinese and Indonesian languages are also followed by code mixing of the words and phrase of Indonesian, Balinese, and English languages.  The result of the discussion also indicates that Balinese language still used and maintained by the adolescents in Badung Regency.

  5. Developing the Bilingual Competence in Learning Foreign Languages

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. A. Znamenskaya

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper considers the problem of bilingualism and its effect on the personality of the speaker. Various types of bilingualism are described along with the factors determining the bilingual competence formation: age, individual experience, socio-cultural conditions of the native and foreign language interaction. The author points out both the positive and negative impact on the native language as the result of the second language learning. The special emphasis is on language interference in the process of learning a foreign language. To make sure the students achieve the adequate degree of its authenticity, and therefore the bilingual competence, the teacher should take into account the specificity of national styles, communicative strategies and speech tactics of both languages. A comparative analysis of linguistic differences of the English and Russian languages is demonstrated on the level of phonetics, vocabulary, grammar and national communicative stylistics. The author maintains that successful inter-language and cross-cultural communication requires the integrative cross-disciplinary approach, consolidation of the linguistic theory and methods of foreign language teaching. 

  6. Language Deficits in a Bilingual Child with Cerebral Cysticercosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMenamin, Jerry

    1984-01-01

    Presents a case report of cysticercosis (a parasitic infestation which results in inflammation of the brain, eye, muscles, liver, and lung tissues) and the resulting language pathology in a nine-year-old Mexican American girl who is bilingual in Spanish and English. (SED)

  7. Bilingualism and Biliteracy in Down Syndrome: Insights from a Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burgoyne, Kelly; Duff, Fiona J.; Nielsen, Dea; Ulicheva, Anastasia; Snowling, Margaret J.

    2016-01-01

    We present the case study of MB--a bilingual child with Down syndrome (DS) who speaks Russian (first language [L1]) and English (second language [L2]) and has learned to read in two different alphabets with different symbol systems. We demonstrate that, in terms of oral language, MB is as proficient in Russian as English, with a mild advantage for…

  8. Considering bilingual dictionaries against a corpus. Do English ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This article investigates the extent to which four representatives of the latest generation of English-French / French-English dictionaries present "real English", i.e. actually used meanings of actually used English word patterns. The findings of a corpus study of the verb CONSIDER are confronted with the entries for this verb ...

  9. Constraints on Tone Sensitivity in Novel Word Learning by Monolingual and Bilingual Infants: Tone Properties Are More Influential than Tone Familiarity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burnham, Denis; Singh, Leher; Mattock, Karen; Woo, Pei J.; Kalashnikova, Marina

    2018-01-01

    This study compared tone sensitivity in monolingual and bilingual infants in a novel word learning task. Tone language learning infants (Experiment 1, Mandarin monolingual; Experiment 2, Mandarin-English bilingual) were tested with Mandarin (native) or Thai (non-native) lexical tone pairs which contrasted static vs. dynamic (high vs. rising) tones or dynamic vs. dynamic (rising vs. falling) tones. Non-tone language, English-learning infants (Experiment 3) were tested on English intonational contrasts or the Mandarin or Thai tone contrasts. Monolingual Mandarin language infants were able to bind tones to novel words for the Mandarin High-Rising contrast, but not for the Mandarin Rising-Falling contrast; and they were insensitive to both the High-Rising and the Rising-Falling tone contrasts in Thai. Bilingual English-Mandarin infants were similar to the Mandarin monolinguals in that they were sensitive to the Mandarin High-Rising contrast and not to the Mandarin Rising-Falling contrast. However, unlike the Mandarin monolinguals, they were also sensitive to the High Rising contrast in Thai. Monolingual English learning infants were insensitive to all three types of contrasts (Mandarin, Thai, English), although they did respond differentially to tone-bearing vs. intonation-marked words. Findings suggest that infants' sensitivity to tones in word learning contexts depends heavily on tone properties, and that this influence is, in some cases, stronger than effects of language familiarity. Moreover, bilingual infants demonstrated greater phonological flexibility in tone interpretation. PMID:29354077

  10. The effects of bilingual status on lexical comprehension and production in Maltese five-year-old children: A LITMUS-CLT study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gatt, Daniela; Attard, Donna; Łuniewska, Magdalena; Haman, Ewa

    2017-01-01

    This article investigates whether the bilingual status of 56 typically developing children aged 60-69 months influenced their lexical abilities. The participants were identified as Maltese-dominant (Me) (n = 21), English-dominant (Em) (n = 15) and balanced bilingual (ME) (n = 20) on the basis of language exposure and proficiency, as reported by their parents. Comprehension and production of nouns and verbs were measured using Cross-Linguistic Lexical Tasks (LITMUS-CLT) in Maltese (CLT-MT) and British English (CLT-EN). Significant effects of bilingual group were identified for performance on lexical comprehension. For production, consistent bilingual group effects resulted when accurate concepts lexicalised in the test language were scored. Lexical mixing was more pronounced when children were tested in their non-dominant language. Maltese noun production elicited the highest levels of mixing across all groups. Findings point towards the need to consider specific exposure dynamics to each language within a single language pair when assessing children's bilingual lexical skills.

  11. Degree of Bilingualism Predicts Age of Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease in Low-Education but not in Highly-Educated Hispanics

    OpenAIRE

    Gollan, Tamar H.; Salmon, David P.; Montoya, Rosa I.; Galasko, Douglas R.

    2011-01-01

    The current study investigated the relationship between bilingual language proficiency and onset of probable Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in 44 Spanish-English bilinguals at the UCSD Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Degree of bilingualism along a continuum was measured using Boston Naming Test (BNT) scores in each language. Higher degrees of bilingualism were associated with increasingly later age-of-diagnosis (and age of onset of symptoms), but this effect was driven by participants with low...

  12. Using Dictionaries in Teaching English as a Foreign Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aleeva, Gulnara Kh.; Safiullina, Gulshat R.

    2016-01-01

    The article discusses the problem of mastering new vocabulary at the English language classes. The brief review of the bilingual English-Russian printed and electronic Dictionaries used at the practical classes of English for the students of the first and second courses of the Germanic Philology Department of Kazan Federal University. The method…

  13. Evaluating the Structure of Early English Literacy Skills in Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webb, Mi-Young; Lederberg, Amy R; Branum-Martin, Lee; McDonald Connor, Carol

    2015-10-01

    Better understanding the mechanisms underlying developing literacy has promoted the development of more effective reading interventions for typically developing children. Such knowledge may facilitate effective instruction of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. Hence, the current study examined the multivariate associations among phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, word reading, and vocabulary skills in DHH children who have auditory access to speech. One hundred and sixty-seven DHH children (M age = 60.43 months) were assessed with a battery of early literacy measures. Forty-six percent used at least 1 cochlear implant; 54% were fitted with hearing aids. About a fourth of the sample was acquiring both spoken English and sign. Scores on standardized tests of phonological awareness and vocabulary averaged at least 1 standard deviation (SD) below the mean of the hearing norming sample. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that DHH children's early literacy skills were best characterized by a complex 3-factor model in which phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and vocabulary formed 3 separate, but highly correlated constructs, with letter-sound knowledge and word reading skills relating to both phonological awareness and alphabetic knowledge. This supports the hypothesis that early reading of DHH children with functional hearing is qualitatively similar to that of hearing children. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  14. "Pink Is a Girl's Color": A Case Study of Bilingual Kindergarteners' Discussions about Gender Roles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, So Jung

    2016-01-01

    This article discusses the results of an empirical study that examined young bilingual students' discussions of picture books dealing with gender themes in a Spanish/English bilingual classroom. The study focused on the reading of five picture books by sixteen 5-year-old Mexican-origin children at a small charter school. The data were collected by…

  15. The Acquisition of Morphology by a Bilingual Child: A Whole-Word Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vihman, Marilyn May

    A delay in the acquisition of morphology by a two-year-old Estonian-speaking boy was investigated to determine the role the child's bilingualism (with English) played in the delay. In contrast to his older sister, whose exposure to English was delayed, the boy exhibited a "whole word" approach to morphology, characterized by the following: (1)…

  16. Second Language Socialization in a Bilingual Chat Room: Global and Local Considerations

    OpenAIRE

    Wan Shun Eva Lam

    2004-01-01

    This paper considers how global practices of English on the Internet intersect with local practices of English in the territorial or national sphere in constructing the language experiences of immigrant learners. Using a multi-contextual approach to language socialization, this paper examines the social and discursive practices in a Chinese/English bilingual chat room and how this Internet chat room provides an additional context of language socialization for two teenage Chinese immigrants in...

  17. Los Programas de Inmersion Bilingue y la Adquisicion del Discurso Academico (Bilingual Immersion Programs and the Acquisition of Academic Discourse).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez-Bonilla, Guadalupe

    2002-01-01

    A study examined the strategies used by a fourth-grade teacher in a two-way bilingual immersion program (English/Spanish) that contributed to students' development of academic language in Spanish. Analysis of a science lesson highlighted the use of an appropriate Spanish-language textbook and the teacher's use of visual elements, repetition,…

  18. Reading Comprehension Difficulties in Chinese-English Bilingual Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tong, Xiuhong; McBride, Catherine; Shu, Hua; Ho, Connie Suk-Han

    2018-02-01

    The co-occurrence of reading comprehension difficulties for first language (L1) Chinese and second language (L2) English and associated longitudinal cognitive-linguistic correlates in each language were investigated. Sixteen poor comprehenders in English and 16 poor comprehenders in Chinese, 18 poor readers in both, and 18 children with normal performance in both were identified at age 10. The prevalence rate for being poor in both was 52.94%, suggesting that approximately half of children who are at risk for Chinese reading comprehension difficulty are also at risk for English reading comprehension difficulty. Chinese word reading, phonological, and morphological awareness were longitudinal correlates of poor comprehension in Chinese. English word reading and vocabulary were longitudinal correlates of poor comprehension in English. Chinese phonological awareness was an additional correlate of poor comprehension in English. Moreover, poor comprehenders in both Chinese and English showed slower rapid automatized naming scores than the other groups. Findings highlight some factors that might be critical for reading comprehension in L1 Chinese and L2 English; fluency is likely to be a critical part of reading comprehension across languages. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  19. Bilingual Language Assessment: Contemporary Versus Recommended Practice in American Schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arias, Graciela; Friberg, Jennifer

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to identify current practices of school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in the United States for bilingual language assessment and compare them to American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) best practice guidelines and mandates of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004). The study was modeled to replicate portions of Caesar and Kohler's (2007) study and expanded to include a nationally representative sample. A total of 166 respondents completed an electronic survey. Results indicated that the majority of respondents have performed bilingual language assessments. Furthermore, the most frequently used informal and standardized assessments were identified. SLPs identified supports, and barriers to assessment, as well as their perceptions of graduate preparation. The findings of this study demonstrated that although SLPs have become more compliant to ASHA and IDEA guidelines, there is room for improvement in terms of adequate training in bilingual language assessment.

  20. Verb Errors of Bilingual and Monolingual Basic Writers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griswold, Olga

    2017-01-01

    This study analyzed the grammatical control of verbs exercised by 145 monolingual English and Generation 1.5 bilingual developmental writers in narrative essays using quantitative and qualitative methods. Generation 1.5 students made more errors than their monolingual peers in each category investigated, albeit in only 2 categories was the…

  1. Processing emotional words in two languages with one brain: ERP and fMRI evidence from Chinese-English bilinguals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Peiyao; Lin, Jie; Chen, Bingle; Lu, Chunming; Guo, Taomei

    2015-10-01

    Emotional words in a bilingual's second language (L2) seem to have less emotional impact compared to emotional words in the first language (L1). The present study examined the neural mechanisms of emotional word processing in Chinese-English bilinguals' two languages by using both event-related potentials (ERPs) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Behavioral results show a robust positive word processing advantage in L1 such that responses to positive words were faster and more accurate compared to responses to neutral words and negative words. In L2, emotional words only received higher accuracies than neutral words. In ERPs, positive words elicited a larger early posterior negativity and a smaller late positive component than neutral words in L1, while a trend of reduced N400 component was found for positive words compared to neutral words in L2. In fMRI, reduced activation was found for L1 emotional words in both the left middle occipital gyrus and the left cerebellum whereas increased activation in the left cerebellum was found for L2 emotional words. Altogether, these results suggest that emotional word processing advantage in L1 relies on rapid and automatic attention capture while facilitated semantic retrieval might help processing emotional words in L2. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Processing of Phonological Variation in Children with Hearing Loss: Compensation for English Place Assimilation in Connected Speech

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skoruppa, Katrin; Rosen, Stuart

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: In this study, the authors explored phonological processing in connected speech in children with hearing loss. Specifically, the authors investigated these children's sensitivity to English place assimilation, by which alveolar consonants like t and n can adapt to following sounds (e.g., the word ten can be realized as tem in the…

  3. Executive function and bilingualism in young and older adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shanna eKousaie

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Research suggests that being bilingual results in advantages on executive control processes and disadvantages on language tasks relative to monolinguals. Furthermore, the executive function advantage is thought to be larger in older than younger adults, suggesting that bilingualism may buffer against age-related changes in executive function. However, there are potential confounds in some of the previous research, as well as inconsistencies in the literature. The goal of the current investigation was to examine the presence of a bilingual advantage in executive control and a bilingual disadvantage on language tasks in the same sample of young and older monolingual anglophones, monolingual francophones, and French/English bilinguals. Participants completed a series of executive function tasks, including a Stroop task, a Simon task, a sustained attention to response task (SART, the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST, and the digit span subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and language tasks, including the Boston Naming Test (BNT, and category and letter fluency. The results do not demonstrate an unequivocal advantage for bilinguals on executive function tasks and raise questions about the reliability, robustness and/or specificity of previous findings. The results also did not demonstrate a disadvantage for bilinguals on language tasks. Rather, they suggest that there may be an influence of the language environment. It is concluded that additional research is required to fully characterize any language group differences in both executive function and language tasks.

  4. Acknowledging Spanish and English resources during mathematical reasoning

    Science.gov (United States)

    LópezLeiva, Carlos A.; Torres, Zayoni; Khisty, Lena L.

    2013-12-01

    As English-only efforts continue in the US schooling system, dual-language programs have served as attempts to preserve students' home language. An after-school, dual-language, Spanish-English, mathematics program, Los Rayos was developed in a predominantly Mexican/Mexican-American neighborhood in Chicago. As participant observers with a sociocultural perspective, we explored the linguistic and personal resources used by participating 4th grade bilingual Latina/o students. We found that students used imaginative, playful, and hybrid linguistic resources to make sense of and solve probability tasks when engaged within a zone of mathematical practice. Results challenge narrow perspectives on bilingual students' linguistic resources. Language implications are discussed.

  5. Review: G.-M. de Schryver et al. (Eds.). Oxford Bilingual School ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Abstract. G.-M. de Schryver et al. (Eds.). Oxford Bilingual School Dictionary: IsiXhosa and English. 2014, 562 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-576682-0. Cape Town: Oxford University Press Southern Africa. Price R129.95.

  6. Two measures of bilingualism in the memories of immigrants and indigenous minorities: crossover memories and codeswitching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Altman, Carmit

    2015-04-01

    Two indices of bilingualism, crossover memories and codeswitching (CS), were explored in five groups of immigrant (English-Hebrew, Georgian-Hebrew Russian-Hebrew) and indigenous bilinguals (Arabic-Hebrew, Hebrew-English). Participants recalled memories in response to cue words and then were asked to report the language of retrieval and provide a more elaborate narrative. More memories were 'same language' memories, recalled in the language of the experimental session/cue word, but as many as 48 % of the memories were crossovers, i.e. memories reported in a language other than the language of the session/cue word. In an effort to examine the ecological validity of the self-reported language of the memories, the frequency of CS in the elaborated narratives was investigated. For the entire sample, more CS was found for self-reported crossover memories in L2 sessions. In a further analysis of CS in crossover memories, collapsed across L1 and L2 sessions, significant differences emerged between immigrants and indigenous bilinguals. Differences between immigrant and non-immigrant bilinguals are discussed in terms of the role of activation in crossover memories.

  7. Carpet or Carcel: The Effect of Age of Acquisition and Language Mode on Bilingual Lexical Access

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canseco-Gonzalez, Enriqueta; Brehm, Laurel; Brick, Cameron A.; Brown-Schmidt, Sarah; Fischer, Kara; Wagner, Katie

    2010-01-01

    Lexical access was examined in English-Spanish bilinguals by monitoring eye fixations on target and lexical competitors as participants followed spoken instructions in English to click on one of the objects presented on a computer (e.g., "Click on the beans"). Within-language lexical competitors had a phoneme onset in English that was shared with…

  8. Bilinguals Show Weaker Lexical Access during Spoken Sentence Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shook, Anthony; Goldrick, Matthew; Engstler, Caroline; Marian, Viorica

    2015-01-01

    When bilinguals process written language, they show delays in accessing lexical items relative to monolinguals. The present study investigated whether this effect extended to spoken language comprehension, examining the processing of sentences with either low or high semantic constraint in both first and second languages. English-German…

  9. THE RESULTS OF ENGLISH TEACHING AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE FOR ACADEMIC STAFF IN THE ARTIFICIAL BILINGUALISM ENVIRONMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. P. Rasskazova

    2017-01-01

    to develop and are difficult to acquire, university teachers demonstrate a different trend: the worst developed skill is listening, then comes reading, writing and speaking. Practical significance. The research provided in the article gives additional understanding of specifics of English training for adults, namely academic teaching staff, and features of their cognitive age processes when foreign language skills acquisition. The materials of the presented publication will be useful to teachers of a foreign language and higher education institution authorities while organizing additional learning foreign languages education in the conditions of artificial bilingualism, also, when teaching programmes updating for the purpose of strengthening of its efficiency. 

  10. Dimensions of Deaf/Hard-of Hearing and Hearing Adolescents’ Health Literacy and Health Knowledge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Scott R.; Samar, Vincent J.

    2016-01-01

    Deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) adults have lower health literacy compared to hearing adults but it is unclear if this disparity also occurs in adolescence. We used the Health Literacy Skills Instrument-Short Form (HLSI-SF), Short Form of the Test of Functional Health Literacy (S-TOFHLA), Comprehensive Heart Disease Knowledge Questionnaire (CHDKQ) and newly constructed interactive and critical health literacy survey items to quantify D/HH and hearing adolescents’ health literacy. We adapted and translated survey materials into sign language and spoken English to reduce testing bias due to variable English language skills. Participants were 187 D/HH and 94 hearing college-bound high school students. Adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, school grade, and SES, D/HH adolescents demonstrated weaker general and functional health literacy and cardiovascular health knowledge than hearing adolescents on the HLSI, S-TOFHLA, and CHDKQ (all p’s<.0001). Standard health literacy or knowledge scores were associated with several interactive and critical health literacy skills (all p’s<.05). D/HH adolescents who reported greater hearing-culture identity, having hearing aids, experiencing better hearing with assistive devices, having good quality of communication with parents, and attending hearing schools at least half of the time had higher functional health literacy (all p’s<.025). Those who reported English as their best language and attending hearing schools at least half the time had higher cardiovascular health knowledge scores (all p’s< .03). Results suggest that interventions to improve D/HH adolescents’ health literacy should target their health-related conversations with their families, access to printed health information, and access to health information from other people, especially health care providers and educators. PMID:27548284

  11. Dimensions of Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing and Hearing Adolescents' Health Literacy and Health Knowledge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Scott R; Samar, Vincent J

    2016-01-01

    Deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) adults have lower health literacy compared to hearing adults, but it is unclear whether this disparity also occurs in adolescence. We used the Health Literacy Skills Instrument-Short Form (HLSI-SF), Short Form of the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA), Comprehensive Heart Disease Knowledge Questionnaire (CHDKQ), and newly constructed interactive and critical health literacy survey items to quantify D/HH and hearing adolescents' health literacy. We adapted and translated survey materials into sign language and spoken English to reduce testing bias due to variable English language skills. Participants were 187 D/HH and 94 hearing college-bound high school students. When we adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, school grade, and socioeconomic status, D/HH adolescents demonstrated weaker general and functional health literacy and cardiovascular health knowledge than hearing adolescents on the HLSI, S-TOFHLA, and CHDKQ (all ps < .0001). Standard health literacy or knowledge scores were associated with several interactive and critical health literacy skills (all ps < .05). D/HH adolescents who reported greater hearing-culture identity, having hearing aids, experiencing better hearing with assistive devices, having good quality of communication with parents, and attending hearing schools at least half of the time had higher functional health literacy (all ps < .025). Those who reported English as their best language and attending hearing schools at least half of the time had higher cardiovascular health knowledge scores (all ps < .03). Results suggest that interventions to improve D/HH adolescents' health literacy should target their health-related conversations with their families; access to printed health information; and access to health information from other people, especially health care providers and educators.

  12. Transitioning from Maori-Medium to English-Medium Education: Emerging Findings of a Pilot Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Richard

    2016-01-01

    Maori-bilingual education in New Zealand has come a long way towards injecting life into the Maori language. However, only a small number of families commit to bilingual education for the long term. This paper discusses why Maori parents either turn away from Maori-bilingual education or prematurely transition to English-medium schools. It then…

  13. Project COM-TECH (Bilingual Computer- and Technology-Oriented Program), 1985-86. OEA Evaluation Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    New York City Board of Education, Brooklyn. Office of Educational Assessment.

    In 1985-86, Project COM-TECH offered bilingual individualized instruction to 300 limited-English proficiency students at two New York City high schools (Bushwick in Brooklyn, and Brandeis in Manhattan). Using an enrichment approach, the project provided supplementary instruction in English as a second language (ESL), native language arts, and…

  14. Bilingual Academic Computer and Technology Oriented Program: Project COM-TECH. Evaluation Section Report. OREA Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berney, Tomi D.; Plotkin, Donna

    Project COM-TECH offered bilingual individualized instruction, using an enrichment approach, to Spanish- and Haitian Creole-speaking students with varying levels of English and native language proficiency and academic preparation. The program provided supplementary instruction in English as a Second Language (ESL); Native Language Arts (NLA); and…

  15. Bilingual children referred for psychiatric services: associations of language disorders, language skills, and psychopathology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toppelberg, Claudio O; Medrano, Laura; Peña Morgens, Liana; Nieto-Castañon, Alfonso

    2002-06-01

    To investigate (1) the prevalence of language deficits and disorders and (2) the relationship of bilingual language skills and psychopathology, in Spanish-English bilingual children referred for child and adolescent psychiatry services. Bilingual language skills, emotional/behavioral problems, sociodemographics, immigration variables, and nonverbal IQ were studied in 50 consecutively referred children. Estimated prevalence was high for language deficits (48%) and disorders (41%), with most cases (>79%) being of the mixed receptive-expressive type. In children with clinically significant emotional/behavioral problems, bilingual language skills were strongly and inversely correlated with problem scores, particularly global problems (r = -0.67, p or = -0.54; p language disorders and delays and (2) the close tie between poor language skills and emotional/behavioral problems. The data strongly suggest the clinical importance and feasibility of language assessment and the significance of receptive problems in bilingual children referred for psychiatric services. A safe approach is to fully assess language skills, rather than misattributing these children's language delays to normal bilingual acquisition processes.

  16. Planning Abilities in Bilingual and Monolingual Children: Role of Verbal Mediation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gangopadhyay, Ishanti; McDonald, Margarethe; Ellis Weismer, Susan; Kaushanskaya, Margarita

    2018-01-01

    We examined the role of verbal mediation in planning performance of English–Spanish-speaking bilingual children and monolingual English-speaking children, between the ages of 9 and 12 years. To measure planning, children were administered the Tower of London (ToL) task. In a dual-task paradigm, children completed ToL problems under three conditions: with no secondary task (baseline), with articulatory suppression, and with non-verbal motor suppression. Analyses revealed generally shorter planning times for bilinguals than monolinguals but both groups performed similarly on number of moves and execution times. Additionally, bilingual children were more efficient at planning throughout the duration of the task while monolingual children showed significant gains with more practice. Children’s planning times under articulatory suppression were significantly shorter than under motor suppression as well as the baseline condition, and there was no difference in planning times between monolingual and bilingual children during articulatory suppression. These results demonstrate that bilingualism influences performance on a complex EF measure like planning, and that these effects are not related to verbal mediation. PMID:29593620

  17. Proactive Interference & Language Change in Hearing Adult Students of American Sign Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoemann, Harry W.; Kreske, Catherine M.

    1995-01-01

    Describes a study that found, contrary to previous reports, that a strong, symmetrical release from proactive interference (PI) is the normal outcome for switches between American Sign Language (ASL) signs and English words and with switches between Manual and English alphabet characters. Subjects were college students enrolled in their first ASL…

  18. Development and evaluation of the British English coordinate response measure speech-in-noise test as an occupational hearing assessment tool.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Semeraro, Hannah D; Rowan, Daniel; van Besouw, Rachel M; Allsopp, Adrian A

    2017-10-01

    The studies described in this article outline the design and development of a British English version of the coordinate response measure (CRM) speech-in-noise (SiN) test. Our interest in the CRM is as a SiN test with high face validity for occupational auditory fitness for duty (AFFD) assessment. Study 1 used the method of constant stimuli to measure and adjust the psychometric functions of each target word, producing a speech corpus with equal intelligibility. After ensuring all the target words had similar intelligibility, for Studies 2 and 3, the CRM was presented in an adaptive procedure in stationary speech-spectrum noise to measure speech reception thresholds and evaluate the test-retest reliability of the CRM SiN test. Studies 1 (n = 20) and 2 (n = 30) were completed by normal-hearing civilians. Study 3 (n = 22) was completed by hearing impaired military personnel. The results display good test-retest reliability (95% confidence interval (CI) hearing impairment. The British English CRM using stationary speech-spectrum noise is a "ready to use" SiN test, suitable for investigation as an AFFD assessment tool for military personnel.

  19. The effectiveness of using a bilingualized dictionary for determining ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This article discusses the use of a bilingualized dictionary, namely Oxford Advanced Learner's English–Chinese Dictionary 8 (OALECD8), by advanced Hong Kong Cantonese ESL learn-ers in the determination of noun countability and associated article use. A homogenous group of 30 English majors in a local university ...

  20. Physical Education in English. A proposal for working postural hygiene in Primary Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    García Pellicer, J. J.

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, European Union has increased the demand for bilingual education as a tool to prepare young people in school and at work. This need has been reflected in the educational legislation of its member countries In Spain, since 2006 there is a basic competency related to foreign language learning. The Physical Education area has become an ideal means to facilitate the learning of English through play and movement. In order to facilitate the work of future teachers in the area, this article examines the teaching of Physical Education in the bilingual English. The current legislation that governs the implementation of bilingualism in schools will be presented, along with the most important methodological considerations for teaching our subject in English. Finally, in the section about practical applications, we present a circuit of activities to work postural hygiene in Primary Education. Each activity has its description in Spanish and English, along with the «teacher speech», with specific instructions to carry out in each of the exercises

  1. Language Planning for the 21st Century: Revisiting Bilingual Language Policy for Deaf Children

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Knoors, H.E.T.; Marschark, M.

    2012-01-01

    For over 25 years in some countries and more recently in others, bilingual education involving sign language and the written/spoken vernacular has been considered an essential educational intervention for deaf children. With the recent growth in universal newborn hearing screening and technological

  2. The perception and expression of verb morphology in bilinguals with specific language impairment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hourieh Ahadi

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aim: Most of the researches are about bilingual children with specific language impairment and importance of it in recognition and treatment. This study aimed to assess verb morphology in bilinguals with specific language impairment (SLI and compare them with normal bilinguals.Methods: Six bilingual (Azeri and Persian children with specific language impairment at the age of 7-8 years were collected from clinics of Tehran, Iran. They were evaluated about verb morphology using narrative speech and specific language impairment test and then, compared with six age-matched and six other language-matched children as control group. Children with specific language impairment were diagnosed by exhibiting a significant delay (more than one year in language that can not be explained by intelligence deficits, hearing loss or visual impairment. We used Man-Whitney test for comparing the groups.Results: Bilingual children with specific language impairment had delay in comparison with their age-matched group in subject-verb agreement (p=0.020 and articulating tense morphemes (p=0.019. They also had meaningful delay in using proper tense of verbs (past, present, and future in comparison with language-matched control group (p=0.029.Conclusion: Comparison of typical development of bilingual children and bilinguals with specific language impairment shows that verb morphology is a good clinical marker for diagnosing and treatment of these children.

  3. Deriving a Bilingual Lexicon for Cross-Language Information Retrieval

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hiemstra, Djoerd

    1997-01-01

    In this paper we describe a systematic approach to derive a bilingual lexicon automatically from parallel corpora. Following this approach, a lexicon was derived from the English and Dutch version of the Agenda 21 corpus. With the lexicon and a part of the corpus that was not used to derive the

  4. Bilingualism in older Mexican-American immigrants is associated with higher scores on cognitive screening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padilla, Claudia; Mendez, Mario F; Jimenez, Elvira E; Teng, Edmond

    2016-11-24

    Bilingualism may protect against cognitive aging and delay the onset of dementia. However, studies comparing monolinguals and bilinguals on such metrics have produced inconsistent results complicated by confounding variables and methodological concerns. We addressed this issue by comparing cognitive performance in a more culturally homogeneous cohort of older Spanish-speaking monolingual (n = 289) and Spanish-English bilingual (n = 339) Mexican-American immigrants from the Sacramento Longitudinal Study on Aging. After adjusting for demographic differences and depressive symptoms, both groups performed similarly at baseline on verbal memory but the bilingual group performed significantly better than the monolingual group on a cognitive screening test, the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS; p bilingual group, neither language of testing nor degree of bilingualism was significantly associated with 3MS or verbal memory scores. Amongst individuals who performed in the normal or better range on both tests at baseline and were followed for an average of 6 years, both monolinguals and bilinguals exhibited similar rates of cognitive decline on both measures. These findings suggest that bilingualism is associated with modest benefits in cognitive screening performance in older individuals in cross-sectional analyses that persist across longitudinal analyses. The effects of bilingualism should be considered when cognitively screening is performed in aging immigrant populations.

  5. Multiparametric estimation of brain hemodynamics with MR fingerprinting ASL.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Pan; Mao, Deng; Liu, Peiying; Li, Yang; Pinho, Marco C; Welch, Babu G; Lu, Hanzhang

    2017-11-01

    Assessment of brain hemodynamics without exogenous contrast agents is of increasing importance in clinical applications. This study aims to develop an MR perfusion technique that can provide noncontrast and multiparametric estimation of hemodynamic markers. We devised an arterial spin labeling (ASL) method based on the principle of MR fingerprinting (MRF), referred to as MRF-ASL. By taking advantage of the rich information contained in MRF sequence, up to seven hemodynamic parameters can be estimated concomitantly. Feasibility demonstration, flip angle optimization, comparison with Look-Locker ASL, reproducibility test, sensitivity to hypercapnia challenge, and initial clinical application in an intracranial steno-occlusive process, Moyamoya disease, were performed to evaluate this technique. Magnetic resonance fingerprinting ASL provided estimation of up to seven parameters, including B1+, tissue T 1 , cerebral blood flow (CBF), tissue bolus arrival time (BAT), pass-through arterial BAT, pass-through blood volume, and pass-through blood travel time. Coefficients of variation of the estimated parameters ranged from 0.2 to 9.6%. Hypercapnia resulted in an increase in CBF by 57.7%, and a decrease in BAT by 13.7 and 24.8% in tissue and vessels, respectively. Patients with Moyamoya disease showed diminished CBF and lengthened BAT that could not be detected with regular ASL. Magnetic resonance fingerprinting ASL is a promising technique for noncontrast, multiparametric perfusion assessment. Magn Reson Med 78:1812-1823, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

  6. Neural processing of speech in children is influenced by bilingual experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krizman, Jennifer; Slater, Jessica; Skoe, Erika; Marian, Viorica; Kraus, Nina

    2014-01-01

    Language experience fine-tunes how the auditory system processes sound. For example, bilinguals, relative to monolinguals, have more robust evoked responses to speech that manifest as stronger neural encoding of the fundamental frequency (F0) and greater across-trial consistency. However, it is unknown whether such enhancements increase with increasing second language experience. We predict that F0 amplitude and neural consistency scale with dual-language experience during childhood, such that more years of bilingual experience leads to more robust F0 encoding and greater neural consistency. To test this hypothesis, we recorded auditory brainstem responses to the synthesized syllables ‘ba’ and ‘ga’ in two groups of bilingual children who were matched for age at test (8.4+/−0.67 years) but differed in their age of second language acquisition. One group learned English and Spanish simultaneously from birth (n=13), while the second group learned the two languages sequentially (n=15), spending on average their first four years as monolingual Spanish speakers. We find that simultaneous bilinguals have a larger F0 response to ‘ba’ and ‘ga’ and a more consistent response to ‘ba’ compared to sequential bilinguals. We also demonstrate that these neural enhancements positively relate with years of bilingual experience. These findings support the notion that bilingualism enhances subcortical auditory processing. PMID:25445377

  7. Elementary Bilingual and ESL Education Programs and Their Effectiveness within Schools. A Descriptive Study, Teaching Methods, and Strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perez, Cassandra Leigh; Karr-Kidwell, PJ

    The purpose of this report was to collect a summary of information on instructional programs for bilingual students in Irving Independepent School District (Texas), so the parents of these students as well as staff members could evaluate the existing bilingual programs. The effectiveness of improving English-as-a-Second-Language skills for…

  8. Bilingual Children in the Nursery: A Case Study of Samia at Home and at School.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drury, Rose

    2000-01-01

    Presents case study of 4.5-year-old to highlight aspects of socialization for young bilingual children learning English as a second language. Identifies social rules/routines, child-adult interaction, and the stage of English language development as areas providing important educational insights. Highlights how children in early stages of second…

  9. Chinese translation norms for 1,429 English words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wen, Yun; van Heuven, Walter J B

    2017-06-01

    We present Chinese translation norms for 1,429 English words. Chinese-English bilinguals (N = 28) were asked to provide the first Chinese translation that came to mind for 1,429 English words. The results revealed that 71 % of the English words received more than one correct translation indicating the large amount of translation ambiguity when translating from English to Chinese. The relationship between translation ambiguity and word frequency, concreteness and language proficiency was investigated. Although the significant correlations were not strong, results revealed that English word frequency was positively correlated with the number of alternative translations, whereas English word concreteness was negatively correlated with the number of translations. Importantly, regression analyses showed that the number of Chinese translations was predicted by word frequency and concreteness. Furthermore, an interaction between these predictors revealed that the number of translations was more affected by word frequency for more concrete words than for less concrete words. In addition, mixed-effects modelling showed that word frequency, concreteness and English language proficiency were all significant predictors of whether or not a dominant translation was provided. Finally, correlations between the word frequencies of English words and their Chinese dominant translations were higher for translation-unambiguous pairs than for translation-ambiguous pairs. The translation norms are made available in a database together with lexical information about the words, which will be a useful resource for researchers investigating Chinese-English bilingual language processing.

  10. A Manual for the Anchorage School District Bilingual Education Program Revised Scope and Sequence, K-3.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heinrich, Maria Nieves Bumanlag Lilagan

    The manual offers a systematic set of procedures and relevant information to facilitate effective use of the Anchorage school district (ASD) bilingual education program (BEP). The historical background of the program's development is presented, available manuals for teaching English to limited English proficiency (LEP) students and related…

  11. Adapting the Facilitating Conditions Questionnaire (FCQ) for Bilingual Filipino Adolescents: Validating English and Filipino Versions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganotice, Fraide A; Bernardo, Allan B I; King, Ronnel B

    2013-06-01

    This study examined the applicability of the English and Filipino versions of the Facilitating Conditions Questionnaire (FCQ) among Filipino high school students. The FCQ measures the external forces in students' social environments that can influence their motivation for school. It is composed of 11 factors: university intention, school valuing, parent support, teacher support, peer help, leave school, pride from others, negative parent influence, affect to school, negative peer influence, and positive peer influence. It was translated into conversational Filipino. Seven hundred sixty-five high school students answered one of the two language versions. Both within-network and between-network approaches to construct validation were used. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) of the two versions showed good fit. Results of the multigroup CFA indicated that there was invariance in terms of factor loadings for the two versions. Results of the between-network test also showed that the factors in the FCQ correlated systematically with theoretically relevant constructs. Taken together, this study supports the applicability of the FCQ for use with Filipino bilingual adolescents.

  12. More Limitations to Monolingualism: Bilinguals Outperform Monolinguals in Implicit Word Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Escudero, Paola; Mulak, Karen E; Fu, Charlene S L; Singh, Leher

    2016-01-01

    To succeed at cross-situational word learning, learners must infer word-object mappings by attending to the statistical co-occurrences of novel objects and labels across multiple encounters. While past studies have investigated this as a learning mechanism for infants and monolingual adults, bilinguals' cross-situational word learning abilities have yet to be tested. Here, we compared monolinguals' and bilinguals' performance on a cross-situational word learning paradigm that featured phonologically distinct word pairs (e.g., BON-DEET) and phonologically similar word pairs that varied by a single consonant or vowel segment (e.g., BON-TON, DEET-DIT, respectively). Both groups learned the novel word-referent mappings, providing evidence that cross-situational word learning is a learning strategy also available to bilingual adults. Furthermore, bilinguals were overall more accurate than monolinguals. This supports that bilingualism fosters a wide range of cognitive advantages that may benefit implicit word learning. Additionally, response patterns to the different trial types revealed a relative difficulty for vowel minimal pairs than consonant minimal pairs, replicating the pattern found in monolinguals by Escudero et al. (2016) in a different English accent. Specifically, all participants failed to learn vowel contrasts differentiated by vowel height. We discuss evidence for this bilingual advantage as a language-specific or general advantage.

  13. Development of False Memories in Bilingual Children and Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howe, Mark L.; Gagnon, Nadine; Thouas, Lisa

    2008-01-01

    The effects of within- versus between-languages (English-French) study and test on rates of bilingual children's and adults' true and false memories were examined. Children aged 6 through 12 and university-aged adults participated in a standard Deese-Roediger-McDermott false memory task using free recall and recognition. Recall results showed…

  14. The Issues in the Measurement of Bilingual Language Dominance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeh, Mary C. L.

    This paper deals with measurement of language dominance at the early-childhood level using a rating scale to help bilingual programs with student classification and placement. Some of the assumptions unique in the measurement of language dominance are discussed and applied to the validation procedure on a Spanish/English language dominance scale…

  15. Effects of Classroom Bilingualism on Task-Shifting, Verbal Memory, and Word Learning in Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaushanskaya, Margarita; Gross, Megan; Buac, Milijana

    2014-01-01

    We examined the effects of classroom bilingual experience in children on an array of cognitive skills. Monolingual English-speaking children were compared with children who spoke English as the native language and who had been exposed to Spanish in the context of dual-immersion schooling for an average of 2 years. The groups were compared on a…

  16. The English-Language and Reading Achievement of a Cohort of Deaf Students Speaking and Signing Standard English: A Preliminary Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nielsen, Diane Corcoran; Luetke, Barbara; McLean, Meigan; Stryker, Deborah

    2016-01-01

    Research suggests that English-language proficiency is critical if students who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH) are to read as their hearing peers. One explanation for the traditionally reported reading achievement plateau when students are D/HH is the inability to hear insalient English morphology. Signing Exact English can provide visual access to these features. The authors investigated the English morphological and syntactic abilities and reading achievement of elementary and middle school students at a school using simultaneously spoken and signed Standard American English facilitated by intentional listening, speech, and language strategies. A developmental trend (and no plateau) in language and reading achievement was detected; most participants demonstrated average or above-average English. Morphological awareness was prerequisite to high test scores; speech was not significantly correlated with achievement; language proficiency, measured by the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-4 (Semel, Wiig, & Secord, 2003), predicted reading achievement.

  17. Teaching emergent bilingual students flexible approaches in an era of new standards

    CERN Document Server

    Proctor, C Patrick; Hiebert, Elfrieda H

    2016-01-01

    Recent educational reform initiatives such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) largely fail to address the needs--or tap into the unique resources--of students who are developing literacy skills in both English and a home language. This book discusses ways to meet the challenges that current standards pose for teaching emergent bilingual students in grades K-8. Leading experts describe effective, standards-aligned instructional approaches and programs expressly developed to promote bilingual learners' academic vocabulary, comprehension, speaking, writing, and content learning. Innovative

  18. Age of Bilingual Exposure Is Related to the Contribution of Phonological and Semantic Knowledge to Successful Reading Development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jasińska, Kaja K; Petitto, Laura-Ann

    2018-01-01

    Bilingual children's reading as a function of age of first bilingual language exposure (AoE) was examined. Bilingual (varied AoE) and monolingual children (N = 421) were compared in their English language and reading abilities (6-10 years) using phonological awareness, semantic knowledge, and reading tasks. Structural equation modeling was applied to determine how bilingual AoE predicts reading outcomes. Early exposed bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on phonological awareness and word reading. Phonology and semantic (vocabulary) knowledge differentially predicted reading depending on the bilingual experience and AoE. Understanding how bilingual experiences impact phonological awareness and semantic knowledge, and in turn, impact reading outcomes is relevant for our understanding of what language and reading skills are best to focus on, and when, to promote optimal reading success. © 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

  19. An Analysis of the Oxford Bilingual School Dictionary: Northern ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The Oxford Bilingual School Dictionary: Northern Sotho and English (De Schryver 2007) is a welcome addition to dictionaries that have been compiled for school use in particular. Its novelty and appeal lie in the fact that the lemmas and Northern Sotho mini-grammar are based on a corpus of general language usage and ...

  20. Agrammatic aphasia verb and argument patterns in Kiswahili-English spontaneous language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hillary K. Sang

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: The spontaneous and narrative language of Kiswahili agrammatic aphasic and non-brain-damaged speakers was analysed. The bilingual participants were also tested in English to enable comparisons of verb production in the two languages. The significance of this study was to characterise bilingual Kiswahili-English spontaneous agrammatic output. This was done by describing Kiswahili-English bilingual output data with a specific focus on the production of verbs. The description involves comparison of verb and argument production in Kiswahili and English. Methods and procedures: The participants recruited for this study were drawn from two groups of participants (six non-fluent aphasic/agrammatic speakers and six non-braindamaged. From each participant, a sample of spontaneous output was tape-recorded in English and Kiswahili based on the description and narration of the Flood rescue picture’ and the ‘Cookie theft picture’. The data elicited were compared for each subject and between the participants and relevant verb parameters have been analysed. The variables that were studied included mean length of utterance (MLU, inflectional errors, verb tokens and types, copulas and auxiliaries. Further, all verbs produced were classified as per their argument structure. Results: The results from English data supported previous findings on agrammatic output. The agrammatic participants produced utterances with shorter MLU and simpler sentence structure. However, Kiswahili data surprisingly showed reversed results, with agrammatic speakers producing longer utterances than non-brain-damaged (NBD controls. The results also revealed selective impairment in some agrammatic speakers who made inflectional errors. The verb argument structure showed contrasting results, with agrammatic speakers preferring transitive verbs whilst the NBD speakers used more intransitive verbs. Conclusions: The study attempts for the first time to characterise English

  1. Teaching Language and Content: Instructor Strategies in a Bilingual Science Class at a Chinese University

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Xiaoping; Smith, Sara W.

    2012-01-01

    The present research analyzes instructional strategies used to integrate the learning of content and English as a foreign language in a bilingual physics class at a university in Shanghai, China. It examines how the instructor handles meaning and form of new English science vocabulary in concept-focused physics lectures and the strategies he used…

  2. Bilingual Word Processing Curriculum Development Project. Final Report, November 1, 1979, to July 30, 1980. Proyecto de Desarollo Curricular en el Procesamiento de Comunicacion Escrita Bilingue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Essex County Coll., Newark, NJ.

    A project proposed to demonstrate that quality bilingual (Spanish/English) curriculum materials for word processing could be developed. There were six different, yet interrelated elements or stages in this curriculum effort: (1) identification of competencies and materials; (2) translation, adaptation, and development of materials; (3)…

  3. Hearing assessment in pre-school children with speech delay.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Psillas, George; Psifidis, Anestis; Antoniadou-Hitoglou, Magda; Kouloulas, Athanasios

    2006-09-01

    The purpose of this study was to detect any underlying hearing loss among the healthy pre-school children with speech delay. 76 children, aged from 1 to 5 years, underwent a thorough audiological examination consisting of tympanometry, free field testing, otoacoustic emission recordings and auditory brainstem responses (ABRs). If hearing was normal, then they were evaluated by a child neurologist-psychiatrist. According to our findings, the children were classified into 3 groups; those with normal hearing levels (group I, 52 children, 68.4%), sensorineural hearing loss (group II, 22 children, 28.9%) and conductive hearing loss (group III, 2 children, 2.6%). In group I, speech delay was attributed to pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), which represents high-functioning autistic children (37 cases). Other causes were specific language impairment (SLI)-expressive (3 cases), bilingualism (2 cases), and unknown etiology (10 cases). More than half (59%) of the children diagnosed with PDD evidenced significant language impairment limited to more than two words. Children with SLI-expressive and bilingualism used a maximum of two words. In group II, 13 children suffered from profound hearing loss in both ears, 3 from severe, 3 had profound hearing loss in one ear and severe in the other, 2 from moderate, and 1 had moderate in one ear and severe in the other. No child had mild sensorineural hearing loss. The children with profound hearing loss in at least one ear had total language impairment using no word at all (10 cases), or a maximum of two words (6 cases). When hearing loss was moderate to severe, then the speech vocabulary was confined to several words (more than two words-6 cases). Only two children suffering from conductive hearing loss both presented with complete lack of speech. A great number of healthy pre-school children with speech delay were found to have normal hearing. In this case, the otolaryngologist should be aware of the possible underlying clinical

  4. Noise and Hearing Loss Prevention

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... message, please visit this page: About CDC.gov . NOISE AND HEARING LOSS PREVENTION Language: English (US) Español ( ... when hazardous noise levels cannot be adequately reduced. Noise and Hearing Loss on the NIOSH Science Blog ...

  5. Prospective associations between bilingualism and executive function in Latino children: sustained effects while controlling for biculturalism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riggs, Nathaniel R; Shin, Hee-Sung; Unger, Jennifer B; Spruijt-Metz, Donna; Pentz, Mary Ann

    2014-10-01

    The study purpose was to test 1-year prospective associations between English-Spanish bilingualism and executive function in 5th to 6th grade students while controlling for biculturalism. Participants included 182 US Latino students (50 % female). Self-report surveys assessed biculturalism, bilingualism, and executive function (i.e., working memory, organizational skills, inhibitory control, and emotional control, as well as a summary executive function score). General linear model regressions demonstrated that bilingualism significantly predicted the summary executive function score as well as working memory such that bilingual proficiency was positively related to executive function. Results are the first to demonstrate (a) prospective associations between bilingualism to executive function while controlling for the potential third variable of biculturalism, and (b) a principal role for working memory in this relationship. Since executive function is associated with a host of health outcomes, one implication of study findings is that bilingualism may have an indirect protective influence on youth development.

  6. Dictionaries of Canadian English | Considine | Lexikos

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ... its best, reached a high degree of sophistication, there are still major opportunities waiting to be taken. keywords: dictionary, lexicography, canadian english, canadianisms, national dictionaries, canadian french, canadian first nations lan-guages, bilingual dictionaries, regional dictionaries, unfinished diction-ary projects ...

  7. The Role of the Introductory Matter in Bilingual Dictionaries of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    rbr

    learner's dictionaries and bilingual English–Arabic dictionaries, and to determine to what ... Here, one has to differentiate between an introduction in a book and one in a .... study will analyze, compare and criticize the introductory matter in a set of .... designed for native speakers of English, especially for comprehension and.

  8. After exit: Academic achievement patterns of former English language learners.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ester J. de Jong

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available With few exceptions, accountability systems for programs for English language learners (ELLs have focused on the achievement patterns of ELLs who are still considered “limited English proficient” and program evaluations have been unable to answer the question whether ELLs actually catch up with English proficient peers after attending a bilingual or English as a Second Language (ESL program. Disaggregating data for former ELLs can therefore provide important information for long-term district and program accountability. The study was concerned with the achievement patterns in English language arts, Math, and Science of former ELLs who attended a bilingual and a English as a Second Language (ESL program. It also explored whether length of program participation and grade level exited played a significant role in predicting academic achievement patterns for these exited students. Results indicate that 4th grade students more closely paralleled non- ELL students’ achievement patterns than 8th grade students, particularly for the BE students. While length of program participation is not a significant predictor of former ELLs’ academic success, exit grade does emerge as an important variable to take into consideration in setting exit guidelines.

  9. Production of lexical stress in non-native speakers of American English: kinematic correlates of stress and transfer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakraborty, Rahul; Goffman, Lisa

    2011-06-01

    To assess the influence of second language (L2) proficiency on production characteristics of rhythmic sequences in the L1 (Bengali) and L2 (English), with emphasis on linguistic transfer. One goal was to examine, using kinematic evidence, how L2 proficiency influences the production of iambic and trochaic words, focusing on temporal and spatial aspects of prosody. A second goal was to assess whether prosodic structure influences judgment of foreign accent. Twenty Bengali-English bilingual individuals, 10 with low proficiency in English and 10 with high proficiency in English, and 10 monolingual English speakers, participated. Lip and jaw movements were recorded while the bilingual participants produced Bengali and English words embedded in sentences. Lower lip movement amplitude and duration were measured in trochaic and iambic words. Six native English listeners judged the nativeness of the bilingual speakers. Evidence of L1-L2 transfer was observed through duration but not amplitude cues. More proficient L2 speakers varied duration to mark iambic stress. Perceptually, the high-proficiency group received relatively higher native-like accent ratings. Trochees were judged as more native than iambs. Even in the face of L1-L2 lexical stress transfer, nonnative speakers demonstrated knowledge of prosodic contrasts. Movement duration appears to be more amenable than amplitude to modifications.

  10. Bilingual recognition memory: stronger performance but weaker levels-of-processing effects in the less fluent language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francis, Wendy S; Gutiérrez, Marisela

    2012-04-01

    The effects of bilingual proficiency on recognition memory were examined in an experiment with Spanish-English bilinguals. Participants learned lists of words in English and Spanish under shallow- and deep-encoding conditions. Overall, hit rates were higher, discrimination greater, and response times shorter in the nondominant language, consistent with effects previously observed for lower frequency words. Levels-of-processing effects in hit rates, discrimination, and response time were stronger in the dominant language. Specifically, with shallow encoding, the advantage for the nondominant language was larger than with deep encoding. The results support the idea that memory performance in the nondominant language is impacted by both the greater demand for cognitive resources and the lower familiarity of the words.

  11. The development and psychometric properties of the American sign language proficiency assessment (ASL-PA).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maller, S; Singleton, J; Supalla, S; Wix, T

    1999-01-01

    We describe the procedures for constructing an instrument designed to evaluate children's proficiency in American Sign Language (ASL). The American Sign Language Proficiency Assessment (ASL-PA) is a much-needed tool that potentially could be used by researchers, language specialists, and qualified school personnel. A half-hour ASL sample is collected on video from a target child (between ages 6 and 12) across three separate discourse settings and is later analyzed and scored by an assessor who is highly proficient in ASL. After the child's language sample is scored, he or she can be assigned an ASL proficiency rating of Level 1, 2, or 3. At this phase in its development, substantial evidence of reliability and validity has been obtained for the ASL-PA using a sample of 80 profoundly deaf children (ages 6-12) of varying ASL skill levels. The article first explains the item development and administration of the ASL-PA instrument, then describes the empirical item analysis, standard setting procedures, and evidence of reliability and validity. The ASL-PA is a promising instrument for assessing elementary school-age children's ASL proficiency. Plans for further development are also discussed.

  12. Cultivating Bilingual Learners' Language Arts Knowledge: A Framework for Successful Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almaguer, Isela; Esquierdo, J. Joy

    2013-01-01

    It is essential to support bilingual learners' language and academic development; however, teaching second language learners English has taken precedence over teaching content area knowledge and vocabulary, specifically for language arts. The focus has shifted from content area instruction to primarily second language instruction due to an…

  13. The effects of stating problems in bilingual students' first and second languages on solving mathematical word problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernardo, Allan B I; Calleja, Marissa O

    2005-03-01

    Researchers have suggested that among bilinguals, solving word problems in mathematics is influenced by linguistic factors (K. Durkin & B. Shire, 1991; L. Verschaffel, B. Greer, & E. De Corte, 2000). Others have suggested that students exhibit a strong tendency to exclude real-world constraints in solving mathematics word problems (L. Verschaffel, E. De Corte, & S. Lasure, 1994). In the present study, the authors explored the effects of stating word problems in either Filipino or English on how Filipino-English bilingual students solved word problems in which the solution required the application of real-world knowledge. The authors asked bilingual students to solve word problems in either their first or second language. For some of the word problems, real-life constraints prevented straightforward application of mathematical procedures. The authors analyzed the students' solutions to determine whether the language of the word problems affected the tendency to apply real-life constraints in the solution. Results showed that the bilingual students (a) rarely considered real-life constraints in their solutions, (b) were more successful in understanding and solving word problems that were stated in their first language, and (c) were more likely to experience failure in finding a solution to problems stated in their second language. The results are discussed in terms of the relationship between linguistic and mathematical problem-solving processes among bilinguals.

  14. [An analysis of code-switching phenomenon in bimodal bilinguals (Libras and Portuguese).

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Sousa, Aline Nunes; de Quadros, Ronice Müller

    2012-01-01

    An interesting linguistic phenomenon that happens in the interaction among bilingual people is code-switching. In this paper, we are investigating code-switching among oral Brazilian Portuguese and Brazilian Sign Language - Libras, in a same enunciative chain, with the goal of identifying and analyzing the use of code-switching in the speech of a child and an adult (both hearing from deaf parents), interacting in an intermodal bilingual context, with deaf and hearing interlocutors. Code-switching in languages, in this case, occurs when a person stops to speak in Portuguese and he/she alternates to sign. This present research is a starting study, with qualitative analysis of data. Our corpus is composed of nine sections of interactions in Libras and oral Portuguese, recorded in video, part of the Bimodal Bilingual Development Project from UFSC. The data shows that adult and child's characteristics of code-switching seem to have similarities and differences. The adult seems to switch more worried about the course of the interaction. On the other hand, the child did not seem to use code-switching for specific pragmatic reasons. In regard to the switching extension, it is noted that both the child and the adult used more than one word sentences. The role of the interlocutors seems to be decisive in the interactions investigated here - especially for the adult, since the child is still acquiring awareness about the role of the interlocutor in an interaction.

  15. Model Programs: Compensatory Education. The Juan Morel Campos Bilingual Center, Chicago, Illinois.

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Center for Educational Communication (DHEW/OE), Washington, DC.

    The bilingual program described in this booklet offers intermediate-grade English and Spanish instruction to Spanish-speaking children from an economically disadvantaged neighborhood in one of Chicago's largest school districts. The descriptive information presented here concerns context and objectives, necessary personnel, educational…

  16. On the facilitatory effects of cognate words in bilingual speech production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa, Albert; Santesteban, Mikel; Caño, Agnès

    2005-07-01

    There is a growing body of evidence showing that a word's cognate status is an important dimension affecting the naming performance of bilingual speakers. In a recent article, Kohnert extended this observation to the naming performance of an aphasic bilingual (DJ). DJ named pictures with cognate names more accurately than pictures with non-cognate names. Furthermore, having named the pictures in Spanish helped the subsequent retrieval (with a delay of one week between the two tests) of the same pictures' names in English, but only for pictures with cognate names. That is, there was a language transfer but only for those translation words that were phonologically similar. In this article we first evaluate the conclusions drawn from these results by Kohnert, and second we discuss the theoretical implications of the facilitatory effects of cognate words for models of speech production in bilingual speakers.

  17. Dual-echo ASL based assessment of motor networks: a feasibility study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Storti, Silvia Francesca; Boscolo Galazzo, Ilaria; Pizzini, Francesca B.; Menegaz, Gloria

    2018-04-01

    Objective. Dual-echo arterial spin labeling (DE-ASL) technique has been recently proposed for the simultaneous acquisition of ASL and blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD)-functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. The assessment of this technique in detecting functional connectivity at rest or during motor and motor imagery tasks is still unexplored both per-se and in comparison with conventional methods. The purpose is to quantify the sensitivity of the DE-ASL sequence with respect to the conventional fMRI sequence (cvBOLD) in detecting brain activations, and to assess and compare the relevance of node features in decoding the network structure. Approach. Thirteen volunteers were scanned acquiring a pseudo-continuous DE-ASL sequence from which the concomitant BOLD (ccBOLD) simultaneously to the ASL can be extracted. The approach consists of two steps: (i) model-based analyses for assessing brain activations at individual and group levels, followed by statistical analysis for comparing the activation elicited by the three sequences under two conditions (motor and motor imagery), respectively; (ii) brain connectivity graph-theoretical analysis for assessing and comparing the network models properties. Main results. Our results suggest that cvBOLD and ccBOLD have comparable sensitivity in detecting the regions involved in the active task, whereas ASL offers a higher degree of co-localization with smaller activation volumes. The connectivity results and the comparative analysis of node features across sequences revealed that there are no strong changes between rest and tasks and that the differences between the sequences are limited to few connections. Significance. Considering the comparable sensitivity of the ccBOLD and cvBOLD sequences in detecting activated brain regions, the results demonstrate that DE-ASL can be successfully applied in functional studies allowing to obtain both ASL and BOLD information within a single sequence. Further, DE-ASL is a

  18. Belief Reasoning and Emotion Understanding in Balanced Bilingual and Language-Dominant Mexican American Young Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weimer, Amy A; Gasquoine, Philip G

    2016-01-01

    Belief reasoning and emotion understanding were measured among 102 Mexican American bilingual children ranging from 4 to 7 years old. All children were tested in English and Spanish after ensuring minimum comprehension in each language. Belief reasoning was assessed using 2 false and 1 true belief tasks. Emotion understanding was measured using subtests from the Test for Emotion Comprehension. The influence of family background variables of yearly income, parental education level, and number of siblings on combined Spanish and English vocabulary, belief reasoning, and emotion understanding was assessed by regression analyses. Age and emotion understanding predicted belief reasoning. Vocabulary and belief reasoning predicted emotion understanding. When the sample was divided into language-dominant and balanced bilingual groups on the basis of language proficiency difference scores, there were no significant differences on belief reasoning or emotion understanding. Language groups were demographically similar with regard to child age, parental educational level, and family income. Results suggest Mexican American language-dominant and balanced bilinguals develop belief reasoning and emotion understanding similarly.

  19. The role of the introductory matter in bilingual dictionaries of English ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Within the context of lexicographic practice, this study aims to outline the differences between EFL learner's dictionaries and bilingual English–Arabic dictionaries, and to determine to what extent a given set of popular dictionaries provide varied and sufficient information in their introductions. Three categories of dictionaries ...

  20. When Bilinguals Choose a Single Word to Speak: Electrophysiological Evidence for Inhibition of the Native Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Misra, Maya; Guo, Taomei; Bobb, Susan C.; Kroll, Judith F.

    2012-01-01

    Behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures are reported for a study in which relatively proficient Chinese-English bilinguals named identical pictures in each of their two languages. Production occurred only in Chinese (the first language, L1) or only in English (the second language, L2) in a given block with the order counterbalanced…

  1. Signing Earth Science: Accommodations for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and Whose First Language Is Sign

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vesel, J.; Hurdich, J.

    2014-12-01

    TERC and Vcom3D used the SigningAvatar® accessibility software to research and develop a Signing Earth Science Dictionary (SESD) of approximately 750 standards-based Earth science terms for high school students who are deaf and hard of hearing and whose first language is sign. The partners also evaluated the extent to which use of the SESD furthers understanding of Earth science content, command of the language of Earth science, and the ability to study Earth science independently. Disseminated as a Web-based version and App, the SESD is intended to serve the ~36,000 grade 9-12 students who are deaf or hard of hearing and whose first language is sign, the majority of whom leave high school reading at the fifth grade or below. It is also intended for teachers and interpreters who interact with members of this population and professionals working with Earth science education programs during field trips, internships etc. The signed SESD terms have been incorporated into a Mobile Communication App (MCA). This App for Androids is intended to facilitate communication between English speakers and persons who communicate in American Sign Language (ASL) or Signed English. It can translate words, phrases, or whole sentences from written or spoken English to animated signing. It can also fingerspell proper names and other words for which there are no signs. For our presentation, we will demonstrate the interactive features of the SigningAvatar® accessibility software that support the three principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and have been incorporated into the SESD and MCA. Results from national field-tests will provide insight into the SESD's and MCA's potential applicability beyond grade 12 as accommodations that can be used for accessing the vocabulary deaf and hard of hearing students need for study of the geosciences and for facilitating communication about content. This work was funded in part by grants from NSF and the U.S. Department of Education.

  2. "She Doesn't Have the Basic Understanding of a Language": Using Spelling Research to Challenge Deficit Conceptualizations of Adolescent Bilinguals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks, Maneka Deanna

    2017-01-01

    This article examines the alternative English spelling practices of a student who is considered to be a "long-term English learner." It draws on a theoretical framework that integrates a social perspective on spelling with a rejection of idealized conceptions of bilingualism. The analyzed English spellings presented in this article were…

  3. INTERCULTURAL FEATURES AND THE THEME OF TRAVELLING IN BILINGUAL MATHEMATICS LESSONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zuzana Naštická

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available The present qualitative research is focused on bilingual mathematics education. The research presents findings of a case study of one bilingual Slovak and English mathematics 40-minute lesson within an after school elective bilingual mathematics course running weekly since October, 2015. The lesson took place in March, 2016, and was attended by nine learners aged 12-13, eight boys and one girl. The learners are cases of successive school additive bilingual education. The elective course as a whole is a case of immerse bilingual educational programme. In terms of sociolinguistic settings, the course lessons are cases of bilingual education with external second language. The researcher designed and realized the course lessons in terms of CLIL approach, i.e. Content and Language Integrated Learning. The main aim of the case study was to examine if bilingual mathematics instruction does or does not prevent learners from solving math word problems. Secondly, the analysis of transcription of the lesson audio-record served for identification of intercultural features which might hinder the learning process. The analysis of the transcribed audio-record indicates that the bilingual context did not prevent students from solving math word problems, although each of the students worked at their individual rate. On the other hand, some students were confused by the comma as a thousands-separator in multi-digit numbers, and this actually hindered their learning and problem solving process. This fact has been identified as an intercultural difference which had to be explicitly explained to the students. In order to lessen the possible negative influences of bilingual context on mathematics education, teachers need to predict students’ responses to various intercultural differences which students are unfamiliar with.

  4. On Processing Chinese Ideographs and English Words: Some Implications from Stroop-Test Results.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biederman, Irving; Tsao, Yao-Chung

    1979-01-01

    When Chinese adults tried to name the color of characters which represented conflicting color words, they showed greater interference than did English speaking readers of the same task in English. This effect cannot be attributed to bilingualism. There may be fundamental differences in the perceptual demands of reading Chinese and English.…

  5. [Take] and the ASL Verb Complex: An Autolexical Account

    Science.gov (United States)

    Metlay, Donald S.

    2012-01-01

    This dissertation will show how linguistic description and an Autolexical account of the bound verb root [take] shed a light on the nature of complex verb constructions in American Sign Language (ASL). This is accomplished by creating a new ASL Verb Complex Model unifying all verbs into one category of VERB. This model also accounts for a variety…

  6. Serial-position effects on a free-recall task in bilinguals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoo, Jeewon; Kaushanskaya, Margarita

    2016-01-01

    In this study, we examined mechanisms that underlie free-recall performance in bilinguals' first language (L1) and second language (L2) through the prism of serial-position effects. On free-recall tasks, a typical pattern of performance follows a U-shaped serial-position curve, where items from the beginning of the list (the primacy effect) and items from the end of the list (the recency effect) are recalled with higher accuracy than items from the middle of the list. The present study contrasted serial-position effects on the free-recall task in Korean-English bilinguals' L1 vs. L2 and examined the relationship between an independent working memory (WM) measure and serial-position effects in bilinguals' two languages. Results revealed stronger pre-recency (primacy and middle) effects in L1 than in L2, but similar recency effects in the two languages. A close association was observed between WM and recall performance in the pre-recency region in the L1 but not in the L2. Together, these findings suggest that linguistic knowledge constrains free-recall performance in bilinguals, but only in the pre-recency region.

  7. How Silent Is the "Silent Period" for Young Bilinguals in Early Years Settings in England?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drury, Rose

    2013-01-01

    During the first decade of the twenty-first century there have been increasing numbers of bilingual children entering early years settings, many of whom are new to English. Twelve percent of school children in the UK are identified as having a mother tongue other than English and this number rises to 50% in urban areas such as inner London. In…

  8. Bilingualism in older Mexican-American immigrants is associated with higher scores on cognitive screening

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudia Padilla

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Bilingualism may protect against cognitive aging and delay the onset of dementia. However, studies comparing monolinguals and bilinguals on such metrics have produced inconsistent results complicated by confounding variables and methodological concerns. Methods We addressed this issue by comparing cognitive performance in a more culturally homogeneous cohort of older Spanish-speaking monolingual (n = 289 and Spanish-English bilingual (n = 339 Mexican-American immigrants from the Sacramento Longitudinal Study on Aging. Results After adjusting for demographic differences and depressive symptoms, both groups performed similarly at baseline on verbal memory but the bilingual group performed significantly better than the monolingual group on a cognitive screening test, the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS; p < 0.001. Group differences on the 3MS were driven by language/executive and language/praxis factors. Within the bilingual group, neither language of testing nor degree of bilingualism was significantly associated with 3MS or verbal memory scores. Amongst individuals who performed in the normal or better range on both tests at baseline and were followed for an average of 6 years, both monolinguals and bilinguals exhibited similar rates of cognitive decline on both measures. Conclusions These findings suggest that bilingualism is associated with modest benefits in cognitive screening performance in older individuals in cross-sectional analyses that persist across longitudinal analyses. The effects of bilingualism should be considered when cognitively screening is performed in aging immigrant populations.

  9. Bilingual Competence and Students' Achievement in Physics and Mathematics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farrell, Martin Peter

    2011-01-01

    It has long been suggested that, in a bilingual setting, the proficiencies achieved in the first (L1) and second (L2) language may have a bearing on a subject's cognitive and, consequently, academic functioning. The study is set in Malta, a country in which Maltese (L1) and English (L2) are learnt simultaneously at school from age 5. It…

  10. The Developmental Relationship between Bilingual Morphological Awareness and Reading for Chinese EFL Adult Learners: A Longitudinal Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xue, Jin; Jiang, Xiaoming

    2017-01-01

    The present research aimed to explore the developmental relationship between bilingual morphological awareness and reading for Chinese natives learning English as a foreign language (EFL learners). Pre- and post-tests were conducted with in an interval of 9 months. Morphological and reading measures in Chinese and English were administered to 139…

  11. Degree of bilingualism predicts age of diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in low-education but not in highly educated Hispanics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gollan, Tamar H; Salmon, David P; Montoya, Rosa I; Galasko, Douglas R

    2011-12-01

    The current study investigated the relationship between bilingual language proficiency and onset of probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) in 44 Spanish-English bilinguals at the UCSD Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Degree of bilingualism along a continuum was measured using Boston Naming Test (BNT) scores in each language. Higher degrees of bilingualism were associated with increasingly later age-of-diagnosis (and age of onset of symptoms), but this effect was driven by participants with low education level (a significant interaction between years of education and bilingualism) most of whom (73%) were also Spanish-dominant. Additionally, only objective measures (i.e., BNT scores), not self-reported degree of bilingualism, predicted age-of-diagnosis even though objective and self-reported measures were significantly correlated. These findings establish a specific connection between knowledge of two languages and delay of AD onset, and demonstrate that bilingual effects can be obscured by interactions between education and bilingualism, and by failure to obtain objective measures of bilingualism. More generally, these data support analogies between the effects of bilingualism and "cognitive reserve" and suggest an upper limit on the extent to which reserve can function to delay dementia. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Limits on Monolingualism? A comparison of monolingual and bilingual infants’ abilities to integrate lexical tone in novel word learning.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leher eSingh

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available To construct their first lexicon, infants must determine the relationship between native phonological variation and the meanings of words. This process is arguably more complex for bilingual learners who are often confronted with phonological conflict: phonological variation that is lexically relevant in one language may be lexically irrelevant in the other. In a series of four experiments, the present study investigated English-Mandarin bilingual infants’ abilities to negotiate phonological conflict introduced by learning both a tone and a non-tone language. In a novel word learning task, bilingual children were tested on their sensitivity to tone variation in English and Mandarin contexts. Their abilities to interpret tone variation in a language-dependent manner were compared to those of monolingual Mandarin learning infants. Results demonstrated that at 12 to 13 months, bilingual infants demonstrated the ability to bind tone to word meanings in Mandarin, but to disregard tone variation when learning new words in English. In contrast, monolingual learners of Mandarin did not show evidence of integrating tones into word meanings in Mandarin at the same age even though they were learning a tone language. However, a tone discrimination paradigm confirmed that monolingual Mandarin learning infants were able to tell these tones apart at 12 to 13 months under a different set of conditions. Later, at 17 to 18 months, monolingual Mandarin learners were able to bind tone variation to word meanings when learning new words. Our findings are discussed in terms of cognitive adaptations associated with bilingualism that may ease the negotiation of phonological conflict and facilitate precocious uptake of certain properties of each language.

  13. Lost and found: The value of a little known bilingual dictionary ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This article critically evaluates the ChiNdau–English and English–ChiNdau Vocabulary: With Grammatical Notes, a bilingual dictionary published in 1915 by the American Board Mission (Rhodesian Branch), with a view of determining its suitability for use as a point of departure for modern Ndau lexicography. More than a ...

  14. Sensitivity to Conversational Maxims in Deaf and Hearing Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Surian, Luca; Tedoldi, Mariantonia; Siegel, Michael

    2010-01-01

    We investigated whether access to a sign language affects the development of pragmatic competence in three groups of deaf children aged 6 to 11 years: native signers from deaf families receiving bimodal/bilingual instruction, native signers from deaf families receiving oralist instruction and late signers from hearing families receiving oralist…

  15. Young Adults' Linguistic Manipulation of English in Bangla in Bangladesh

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sultana, Shaila

    2014-01-01

    It is commonly assumed in the print media that bilingual young adults in Bangladesh are subjugated by the colonial legacy of English and they are "polluting" Bangla, the national language of Bangladesh, by their indiscriminate insertion of English in it. However, this ethnographic study on a group of young adults in a university in…

  16. The immediate and chronic influence of spatio-temporal metaphors on the mental representations of time in English, Mandarin, and Mandarin-English speakers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vicky T. Lai

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we examine whether experience with spatial metaphors for time has an influence on people’s representation of time. In particular we ask whether spatiotemporal metaphors can have both chronic and immediate effects on temporal thinking. In Study 1, we examine the prevalence of ego-moving representations for time in Mandarin speakers, English speakers, and Mandarin-English (ME bilinguals. As predicted by observations in linguistic analyses, we find that Mandarin speakers are less likely to take an ego-moving perspective than are English speakers. Further, we find that ME bilinguals tested in English are less likely to take an ego-moving perspective than are English monolinguals (an effect of L1 on meaning-making in L2, and also that ME bilinguals tested in Mandarin are more likely to take an ego-moving perspective than are Mandarin monolinguals (an effect of L2 on meaning-making in L1. These findings demonstrate that habits of metaphor use in one language can influence temporal reasoning in another language, suggesting the metaphors can have a chronic effect on patterns in thought. In Study 2 we test Mandarin speakers using either horizontal or vertical metaphors in the immediate context of the task. We find that Mandarin speakers are more likely to construct front-back representations of time when understanding front-back metaphors, and more likely to construct up-down representations of time when understanding up-down metaphors. These findings demonstrate that spatiotemporal metaphors can also have an immediate influence on temporal reasoning. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that the metaphors we use to talk about time have both immediate and long-term consequences for how we conceptualize and reason about this fundamental domain of experience.

  17. Development and Validation of the Spanish-English Language Proficiency Scale (SELPS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smyk, Ekaterina; Restrepo, M. Adelaida; Gorin, Joanna S.; Gray, Shelley

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: This study examined the development and validation of a criterion-referenced Spanish-English Language Proficiency Scale (SELPS) that was designed to assess the oral language skills of sequential bilingual children ages 4-8. This article reports results for the English proficiency portion of the scale. Method: The SELPS assesses syntactic…

  18. Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) fMRI: advantages, theoretical constrains, and experimental challenges in neurosciences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borogovac, Ajna; Asllani, Iris

    2012-01-01

    Cerebral blood flow (CBF) is a well-established correlate of brain function and therefore an essential parameter for studying the brain at both normal and diseased states. Arterial spin labeling (ASL) is a noninvasive fMRI technique that uses arterial water as an endogenous tracer to measure CBF. ASL provides reliable absolute quantification of CBF with higher spatial and temporal resolution than other techniques. And yet, the routine application of ASL has been somewhat limited. In this review, we start by highlighting theoretical complexities and technical challenges of ASL fMRI for basic and clinical research. While underscoring the main advantages of ASL versus other techniques such as BOLD, we also expound on inherent challenges and confounds in ASL perfusion imaging. In closing, we expound on several exciting developments in the field that we believe will make ASL reach its full potential in neuroscience research.

  19. Evaluation of speech and language assessment approaches with bilingual children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Lamo White, Caroline; Jin, Lixian

    2011-01-01

    British society is multicultural and multilingual, thus for many children English is not their main or only language. Speech and language therapists are required to assess accurately the speech and language skills of bilingual children if they are suspected of having a disorder. Cultural and linguistic diversity means that a more complex assessment procedure is needed and research suggests that bilingual children are at risk of misdiagnosis. Clinicians have identified a lack of suitable assessment instruments for use with this client group. This paper highlights the challenges of assessing bilingual children and reviews available speech and language assessment procedures and approaches for use with this client group. It evaluates different approaches for assessing bilingual children to identify approaches that may be more appropriate for carrying out assessments effectively. This review discusses and evaluates the efficacy of norm-referenced standardized measures, criterion-referenced measures, language-processing measures, dynamic assessment and a sociocultural approach. When all named procedures and approaches are compared, the sociocultural approach appears to hold the most promise for accurate assessment of bilingual children. Research suggests that language-processing measures are not effective indicators for identifying speech and language disorders in bilingual children, but further research is warranted. The sociocultural approach encompasses some of the other approaches discussed, including norm-referenced measures, criterion-referenced measures and dynamic assessment. The sociocultural approach enables the clinician to interpret results in the light of the child's linguistic and cultural background. In addition, combining approaches mitigates the weaknesses inherent in each approach. © 2011 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

  20. Proposals for Upgrading the Lexicographical Treatment of Prepositions in Bilingual Dictionaries for Business Translation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Sandro; Fuertes-Olivera, Pedro

    2010-01-01

    dictionaries. The theory of lexicographical functions is used to determine which grammatical data types are needed by specific user types. The analysis focuses on a bidirectional Spanish-English business dictionary, its treatment of prepositions in entries and cross-references to the middle matter texts......A good lexicographical basis is needed for designing bilingual dictionaries that help users translate business texts. Many approaches have been suggested for including grammatical data in general dictionaries, but few have analysed the types of grammatical data relevant for bilingual specialised....... The findings show that the treatment is inconsistent and may mislead users, because their business-language competence is insufficient for producing correct translations. Bilingual dictionaries should offer a systematic treatment of prepositions and cross-reference users from entries to contrastive middle...