Bilingual children's use of lexical strategies under narrative monologue and dialogue conditions

Code-Switching During Narratives by Bilingual Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder

PURPOSE

This study examined the frequency, direction, and structural characteristics of code-switching (CS) during narratives by Spanish-English bilingual children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD) to determine whether children with DLD exhibit unique features in their CS that may inform clinical decision-making.

METHOD

Spanish-English bilingual children, aged 4;0-6;11 (years;months), with DLD (n = 33) and with typical language development (TLD; n = 33) participated in narrative retell and story generation tasks in Spanish and English. Instances of CS were classified as between utterance or within utterance; within-utterance CS was coded for type of grammatical structure. Children completed the morphosyntax subtests of the Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment to assist in identifying DLD and to index Spanish and English morphosyntactic proficiency.

RESULTS

In analyses examining the contributions of both DLD status and Spanish and English proficiency, the only significant effect of DLD was on the tendency to engage in between-utterance CS; children with DLD were more likely than TLD peers to produce whole utterances in English during the Spanish narrative task. Within-utterance CS was related to lower morphosyntax scores in the target language, but there was no effect of DLD. Both groups exhibited noun insertions as the most frequent type of within-utterance CS. However, children with DLD tended to exhibit more determiner and verb insertions than TLD peers and increased use of "congruent lexicalization," that is, CS utterances that integrate content and function words from both languages.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings reinforce that use of CS, particularly within-utterance CS, is a typical bilingual behavior even during narrative samples collected in a single-language context. However, language difficulties associated with DLD may emerge in how children code-switch, including use of between-utterance CS and unique patterns during within-utterance CS. Therefore, analyzing CS patterns may contribute to a more complete profile of children's dual-language skills during assessment.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23479574.

Language Control and Code-Switching in Bilingual Children With Developmental Language Disorder

PURPOSE

The current study examined language control and code-switching in bilingual children with developmental language disorder (DLD) compared to bilingual peers with typical language development (TLD). In addition, proficiency in each language and cognitive control skills were examined as predictors of children's tendency to engage in cross-speaker and intrasentential code-switching.

METHOD

The participants were 62 Spanish/English bilingual children, ages 4;0-6;11 (years;months), including 15 children with DLD and 47 children with TLD. In a scripted confederate dialogue task to measure language control, children took turns describing picture scenes with video partners who were monolingual speakers of English or Spanish. The Dimensional Change Card Sort indexed cognitive control, the Bilingual English Spanish Assessment assisted in identifying DLD, and parent ratings from the Inventory to Assess Language Knowledge indexed proficiency in Spanish and English.

RESULTS

Children with DLD were more likely to engage in cross-speaker code-switching from Spanish to English (i.e., responding in English when addressed in Spanish) than children with TLD, even when controlling for proficiency in each language. Intrasentential code-switching (i.e., integrating both languages within an utterance) did not differ between groups. Cognitive control was more associated with cross-speaker than with intrasentential code-switching.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight the need to consider cross-speaker and intrasentential code-switching separately when seeking distinguishing features of code-switching in bilingual children with DLD. The use of increased cross-speaker code-switching by children with DLD especially with Spanish speakers highlights the need for increased support of home language use.

Cognitive and Linguistic Predictors of Language Control in Bilingual Children

In order to communicate effectively with a variety of conversation partners and in a variety of settings, bilingual children must develop language control, the ability to control which language is used for production. Past work has focused on linguistic skills as the limiting factor in children's ability to control their language choice, while cognitive control has been the focus of adult models of language control. The current study examined the effects of both language ability and cognitive control on language control in 4-6 year old Spanish/English bilingual children with a broad range of language skills, including those with low skills in both languages. To measure language control, children participated in an interactive scripted confederate dialogue paradigm in which they took turns describing picture scenes with video partners who presented themselves as monolingual speakers of English or monolingual speakers of Spanish. The paradigm had two conditions: a single-language context, in which children interacted with only one partner, and a dual-language context, in which children needed to switch between languages to address different partners. The Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) indexed cognitive control. The findings revealed an overall effect of language ability, such that children with lower language skills were more likely to produce words in the language not understood by their conversation partner. There was also an effect of cognitive control on children's ability to adjust to the dual-language context. Based on these findings, we suggest that a model of language control in children should consider both linguistic and cognitive factors. However, language ability appears to be the main limiting factor, with cognitive control playing a more restricted role in adapting to a dual-language context.

Using Technology to Facilitate Authentic Assessment of Bilingual Preschool Children

An increasing number of children in preschools and schools around the country are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and speak multiple languages. However, clinicians are often challenged in conducting least-biased assessments of bilingual children, which often results in over-referral or under- referral of these children to special education and related services. Utilizing naturalistic and authentic assessment of child language such as language sampling is a recommended approach to augment traditional assessments in clinical settings. The Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) technology offers clinicians a time-and cost effective means to gathering representative language samples across home and school environments to help determine the presence of speech-language impairment in young bilingual children. We describe an exploratory study using the LENA with five Spanish-English bilingual children to identify the accuracy of traditionally transcribed child word counts as compared to the automated child vocalization analyses obtained through the LENA. Results indicate the need for more research to fully explore the clinical utility of this technology for assessment of bilingual children.