Search

Purpose: Best practices recommend promoting the use of the home language and allowing caregivers to choose the language(s) that they want to use with their child who is deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). We examined whether Spanish-speaking caregivers of children who are DHH receive professional recommendations on oral bilingualism that follow best practices. We also assessed whether professional recommendations, caregiver beliefs, and language practices had an impact on child language(s) proficiency. Method: Sixty caregivers completed a questionnaire on demographic questions, language(s) use and recommendations, beliefs on bilingualism, and child language proficiency measures in English, Spanish, and American Sign Language (ASL). Professional recommendations on oral bilingualism were reported descriptively, and linear regression was used to identify the predictors of child language(s) proficiency. Results: We found that only 23.3% of the caregivers were actively encouraged to raise their child orally bilingual. Language practices predicted child proficiency in each language (English, Spanish, and ASL), but professional recommendations and caregiver beliefs did not. Conclusions: Our results revealed that most caregivers received recommendations that do not follow current best practices. Professional training is still needed to promote bilingualism and increase cultural competence when providing services to caregivers who speak languages different from English.

Purpose: This study investigates consonant and vowel accuracy and whole-word variability (also called "token-to-token variability" or "token-to-token inconsistency") in bilingual Spanish-English and monolingual English-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs) compared to their bilingual and monolingual peers with normal hearing (NH). Method: Participants were 40 children between 4;6 and 7;11 (years;months; M[subscript age] = 6;2), n = 10 each in 4 participant groups: bilingual Spanish-English with CIs, monolingual English with CIs, bilingual Spanish-English with NH, and monolingual English with NH. Spanish and English word lists consisting of 20 words of varying length were generated, and 3 productions of each word were analyzed for percent consonants correct, percent vowels correct, and the presence of any consonant and/or vowel variability. Results: Children with CIs demonstrated lower accuracy and more whole-word variability than their peers with NH. There were no differences in rates of accuracy or whole-word variability between bilingual and monolingual children matched on hearing status, and bilingual children had lower accuracy and greater whole-word variability in English than in Spanish. Conclusions: High rates of whole-word variability are prevalent in the speech of children with CIs even after many years of CI experience, and bilingual language exposure does not appear to negatively impact phonological development in children with CIs. Contributions to our understanding of underlying sources of speech production variability and clinical implications are discussed.

This study investigated the dimensionality of bilingual phonological awareness (PA) in English and Spanish by replicating a kindergarten model in Grade 1, and presents alternatives to modeling clustered data. English and Spanish tasks were analyzed from previously collected samples totaling 1,586 first grade Spanish-speaking English learners. Four distinct approaches to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models were examined: (a) uncentered student-level data, (b) student-level data centered at the classroom means, (c) classroom-level data, and (d) multilevel CFA. Results indicated that while the multilevel CFA provided the most comprehensive view of the data, the multi-level student-level estimates were not appreciably different from estimates based on student-level data centered at the classroom means, and multi-level classroom-level estimates were comparable to estimates based on the analysis of classroom means. Importantly, English and Spanish PA were statistically separable at the student-level, but minimally distinct (r = 0.86) and slightly less correlated than what has been reported for kindergarten (r = 0.93). At the classroom level, the correlation was moderate (r = 0.51), and substantially reduced compared to kindergarten (r = 0.83). The distinction at the classroom-level between kindergarten and Grade 1 implies that instruction differentiates the abilities across languages at the classroom-level, but less so at the student-level.

Articles in this issue examine (1) the primary sources of variability in reading and language achievement among Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs) in the United States, (2) the extent to which poor performance at the end of grade 2 is identifiable in developmental trajectories beginning in kindergarten, (3) the relations among core reading constructs of phonological awareness and decoding in both English and Spanish and the factors that affect their relationship, (4) the performance of different approaches to identification and the factors that influence how well they work, as well as (5) the growing literature focused on intervention for reading problems in this population. This article examines the literature on language minority students and disability identification and analyzes a large-scale longitudinal dataset (>4,000 ELs; >15,000 observations) to systematically characterize and describe the oral language and reading development of Spanish-speaking children designated as ELs from kindergarten to second grade, considering a range of factors that may potentially contribute to that characterization and its relation to academic performance. This systematic characterization should facilitate the development of an empirical basis for a theoretically grounded framework of typical development in ELs in order to more precisely identify those children with language and learning disabilities.

This article examines the validity of IQ-achievement discrepancy and low achievement as criteria for the identification of disabilities in Spanish-speaking English-language learners (ELs) and the factors that moderate the validity of these approaches as bases for identification. While there has been a long history of examining the validity of different approaches to disability identification in monolinguals, there are no systematic approaches taken for ELs. Data from Grades 1 and 2 of a large longitudinal data set consisting of young Spanish-speaking students attending schools in the United States were used to empirically examine criteria for disability identification among language minority children--one of the first large-scale attempts. Findings indicated significant overidentification when the language of assessment was not matched to the language of the instruction, although the effects varied predictably over time and by language of instruction. Validation of classifications using measures external to the classification found that low achieving and discrepant children differ from typically developing children, and from one another in predictable ways based on differences in IQ. The study highlights the importance of taking into account the language of instruction and the severity of the cut-off to reduce misidentification of typically developing children.

Purpose: This study investigates the production of voiceless alveolar and postalveolar fricatives and affricates by bilingual and monolingual children with hearing loss who use cochlear implants (CIs) and their peers with normal hearing (NH). Method: Fifty-four children participated in our study, including 12 Spanish-English bilingual CI users (M = 6;0 [years;months]), 12 monolingual English-speaking children with CIs (M = 6;1), 20 bilingual children with NH (M = 6;5), and 10 monolingual Englishspeaking children with NH (M = 5;10). Picture elicitation targeting /s/, /t?/, and /?/ was administered. Repeated-measures analyses of variance comparing group means for frication duration, rise time, and centroid frequency were conducted for the effects of CI use and bilingualism. Results: All groups distinguished the target sounds in the 3 acoustic parameters examined. Regarding frication duration and rise time, the Spanish productions of bilingual children with CIs differed from their bilingual peers with NH. English frication duration patterns for bilingual versus monolingual CI users also differed. Centroid frequency was a stronger place cue for children with NH than for children with CIs. Conclusion: Patterns of fricative and affricate production display effects of bilingualism and diminished signal, yielding unique patterns for bilingual and monolingual CI users.

Purpose: This study investigates consonant and vowel accuracy and whole-word variability (also called token-totoken variability or token-to-token inconsistency) in bilingual Spanish-English and monolingual English-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs) compared to their bilingual and monolingual peers with normal hearing (NH). Method: Participants were 40 children between 4;6 and 7;11 (years; months; [M.sub.age] = 6;2), n = 10 each in 4 participant groups: bilingual Spanish-English with CIs, monolingual English with CIs, bilingual Spanish-English with NH, and monolingual English with nH. Spanish and English word lists consisting of 20 words of varying length were generated, and 3 productions of each word were analyzed for percent consonants correct, percent vowels correct, and the presence of any consonant and/or vowel variability. Results: Children with CIs demonstrated lower accuracy and more whole-word variability than their peers with NH. There were no differences in rates of accuracy or whole-word variability between bilingual and monolingual children matched on hearing status, and bilingual children had lower accuracy and greater whole-word variability in English than in Spanish. Conclusions: High rates of whole-word variability are prevalent in the speech of children with CIs even after many years of CI experience, and bilingual language exposure does not appear to negatively impact phonological development in children with CIs. Contributions to our understanding of underlying sources of speech production variability and clinical implications are discussed., Cochlear implants (CIs) provide access to sound to individuals with severe-profound sensorineural hearing loss (HL). Children born with such HL who receive CIs acquire speech and language with the acoustic [...]

Studying speech processing in twins versus their singleton peers provides opportunities to study both genetic and environmental effects on how children acquire these aspects of their speech and – by extension – their phonological systems. Our study focused on speech processing in typically developing Hungarian-speaking twins and their singleton peers between 5 and 9 years of age. Participants included 384 monolingual Hungarian-speaking children (192 twins, and 192 singletons). Data from four tasks – repetition of synthesised monosyllables, nonsense words, well-formed noisy sentences, and well-formed phonologically complex sentences – were analysed. There was a main effect for birth status, and singletons outperformed their twin peers on the majority of the speech processing tasks. Age and task also had effects on the performance of the participants, and there was a three-way task by age by twin versus singleton status indicating that the speech processing performance of twins versus singletons is interdependent with the type of task and age. Our results also indicate that monolingual Hungarian-speaking twins may be at higher risk for developmental speech delays relative to their singleton peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study focuses on stop voicing differentiation in bilingual children with normal hearing (NH) and their bilingual peers with hearing loss who use cochlear implants (CIs). Method: Twenty-two bilingual children participated in our study (11 with NH, "M" age = 5;1 [years;months], and 11 with CIs, "M" hearing age = 5;1). The groups were matched on hearing age and a range of demographic variables. Single-word picture elicitation was used with word-initial singleton stop consonants. Repeated measures analyses of variance with three within-subject factors (language, stop voicing, and stop place of articulation) and one between-subjects factor (NH vs. CI user) were conducted with voice onset time and percentage of prevoiced stops as dependent variables. Results: Main effects were statistically significant for language, stop voicing, and stop place of articulation on both voice onset time and prevoicing. There were no significant main effects for NH versus CI groups. Both children with NH and with CIs differentiated stop voicing in their languages and by stop place of articulation. Stop voicing differentiation was commensurate across the groups of children with NH versus CIs. Conclusions: Stop voicing differentiation is accomplished in a similar fashion by bilingual children with NH and CIs, and both groups differentiate stop voicing in a language-specific fashion.

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 a hearing loss (HL) and are learning multiple spoken languages. In fact, the number of bilingual individuals receiving CIs and HAs is rapidly increasing, and Hispanic children display a higher prevalence of HL than the general population of the United States. In order to serve better bilingual children with CIs and HAs, appropriate and effective therapy approaches need to be designed and tested, based on research findings. Aims: This study investigated the effects of supporting both the home language (Spanish) and the language of the majority culture (English) on language outcomes in bilingual children with HL who use CIs and HAs as compared to their bilingual peers who receive English-only support. Methods & Procedures: Retrospective analyses of language measures were completed for two groups of Spanish- and English-speaking bilingual children with HL who use CIs and HAs matched on a range of demographic and socio-economic variables: those with dual-language support versus their peers with English-only support. Dependent variables included scores from the English version of the Preschool Language Scales, 4th Edition. Outcomes & Results: Bilingual children who received dual-language support outperformed their peers who received English-only support at statistically significant levels as measured by Total Language and Expressive Communication as raw and language age scores. No statistically significant group differences were found on Auditory Comprehension scores. Conclusions & Implications: In addition to providing support in English, encouraging home language use and providing treatment support in the first language may help rather than hinder development of both English and the home language in bilingual children with HL who use CIs and HAs. In fact, dual-language support may yield better overall and expressive English language outcomes than English-only support for this population.

Purpose: This study investigates the production of voiceless alveolar and postalveolar fricatives and affricates by bilingual and monolingual children with hearing loss who use cochlear implants (CIs) and their peers with normal hearing (NH). Method: Fifty-four children participated in our study, including 12 Spanish-English bilingual CI users (M = 6;0 [years; months]), 12 monolingual English-speaking children with CIs (M = 6;1), 20 bilingual children with NH (M = 6;5), and 10 monolingual English-speaking children with NH (M = 5;10). Picture elicitation targeting /s/, /tf/, and /f/ was administered. Repeated-measures analyses of variance comparing group means for frication duration, rise time, and centroid frequency were conducted for the effects of CI use and bilingualism. Results: All groups distinguished the target sounds in the 3 acoustic parameters examined. Regarding frication duration and rise time, the Spanish productions of bilingual children with CIs differed from their bilingual peers with NH. English frication duration patterns for bilingual versus monolingual CI users also differed. Centroid frequency was a stronger place cue for children with NH than for children with CIs. Conclusion: Patterns of fricative and affricate production display effects of bilingualism and diminished signal, yielding unique patterns for bilingual and monolingual CI users., Cochlear implants (CIs) offer access to sound for individuals who have severe-to-profound sensori-neural hearing loss (HL) that, in turn, promotes the acquisition of spoken language (Kant, Patadia, Govale, & Rangasayee, [...]

Purpose: The present study investigated the effects of supporting both English and Spanish on language outcomes in bilingual children with hearing loss (HL) who used listening devices (cochlear implants and hearing aids). The English language skills of bilingual children with HL were compared to those of their monolingual English-speaking peers' with HL. The Spanish and English language skills of the bilingual participants were also compared. Method: The language skills of 40 children with HL (20 bilingual Spanish-English-speaking and 20 monolingual English-speaking) were examined using the Auditory Comprehension, Expressive Communication, and total language scores from the Preschool Language Scale, Fourth Edition (Zimmerman, Steiner, & Pond, 2002a, 2002b). Results: The English language skills of the bilingual participants were commensurate with those of their monolingual English-speaking peers on all 3 measures. The Spanish and English total language scores of the bilingual group were also comparable and highly correlated. Conclusion: Both languages of bilingual children with HL can be supported without having adverse effects on the children's language development. Moreover, supporting both languages in bilingual children with HL may have multifarious positive ramifications. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)

Purpose: This study focuses on stop voicing differentiation in bilingual children with normal hearing (NH) and their bilingual peers with hearing loss who use cochlear implants (CIs). Method: Twenty-two bilingual children participated in our study (11 with NH, M age = 5;1 [years; months], and 11 with CIs, M hearing age = 5;1). The groups were matched on hearing age and a range of demographic variables. Single-word picture elicitation was used with word-initial singleton stop consonants. Repeated measures analyses of variance with three within-subject factors (language, stop voicing, and stop place of articulation) and one between-subjects factor (NH vs. CI user) were conducted with voice onset time and percentage of prevoiced stops as dependent variables. Results: Main effects were statistically significant for language, stop voicing, and stop place of articulation on both voice onset time and prevoicing. There were no significant main effects for NH versus CI groups. Both children with NH and with CIs differentiated stop voicing in their languages and by stop place of articulation. Stop voicing differentiation was commensurate across the groups of children with NH versus CIs. Conclusions: Stop voicing differentiation is accomplished in a similar fashion by bilingual children with NH and CIs, and both groups differentiate stop voicing in a language-specific fashion., Research on phonological development in monolingual children with cochlear implants (CIs) has found both similarities to and differences from their peers with normal hearing (NH; cf. Blamey, Barry, & Jacq, [...]

This study investigates aspects of voice onset time (VOT) of voiceless bilabial and velar stops in monolingual and bilingual children. VOT poses a special challenge for bilingual Spanish- and English-speaking children because although this VOT distinction exists in both languages, the values differ for the same contrast across Spanish and English. Twenty-four 3-year-olds participated in this study (8 bilingual Spanish-English, 8 monolingual Spanish and 8 monolingual English). The VOT productions of /p/ and /k/ in syllable-initial stressed singleton position were compared across participants. Non-parametric statistical analyses were performed to examine differences (1) between monolinguals and bilinguals and (2) between English and Spanish. The main findings of the study were that monolingual and bilingual children generally differed on VOT in English, but not in Spanish. No statistically significant differences were found between the Spanish and the English VOT of the bilingual children, but the VOT values did differ significantly for monolingual Spanish- versus monolingual English-speaking participants. Our findings were interpreted in terms of Flege's Speech Learning Model, finding possible evidence for equivalence classification. (Contains 4 tables and 3 figures.)

Sensorimotor processing in children and higher-cognitive processing in adults could determine how non-native phonemes are acquired. This study investigates how age-of-acquisition (AOA) and proficiency-level (PL) predict native-like perception of statistically dissociated L2 categories, i.e., within-category and between-category. In a similarity task, participants rated the level of similarity between pairs of English syllables from 1 (similar) to 4 (dissimilar). Early L2 acquisition predicts accurate within-categorization and high proficiency in late L2 acquisition predicts improved between-categorization. Our results suggest that the manner in which bilinguals learn to categorize non-native sounds depends on the cognitive processes available at the age of L2 exposure.

Purpose: The present study investigated the effects of selected measures of language experience (parent-reported estimates of frequency of output and language use) and language ability (parent-reported language proficiency and mean length of utterance in words) on the segmental accuracy of Spanish- and English-speaking bilingual children. Method: The phonological skills of 50 typically developing bilingual Spanish-English children (mean age = 5;9 [years;months]) were examined. Independent variables included parent estimates of language use, language proficiency, and frequency of language output (5 groups), as well as a direct language measure (mean length of utterance in words) to predict the dependent segmental accuracy measures (percentage of consonants and vowels correct). Results: Frequency of language output did not have an effect on any of the English or Spanish segmental accuracy measures. However, parent-reported language use and language proficiency as well as the direct measure of language ability (mean length of utterance in words) had various effects on segmental accuracy. Those effects differed, however, in language-specific patterns. Conclusions: Parental estimates of language use and language proficiency are useful for predicting the phonological skills of bilingual Spanish- and English-speaking children, and augmenting them with a direct measure of language ability as a predictor of segmental accuracy is desirable. (Contains 10 tables.)

This study compared two phonological assessment tools for use with young Spanish-speaking children in the American Southwest, FON and STAR. Each was administered to 27 1-, 2- and 3-year-old monolingual Spanish-speaking children in the greater Phoenix area. Analyses compared the children's rate of response, complexity of the children's productions, as measured by the Phonological Mean Length of Utterance (pMLU), and the proximities of the child's productions to the adult target words, as measured by the Proportion of Whole-Word Proximity (Proximity). Response rates increased with age, and were similar for both FON and STAR. Two-year-olds had higher pMLU scores on the STAR than the FON, but no difference was found for 3-year-olds. The children overall had significantly higher Proximity scores on the STAR words. Positive correlations between vocabulary size and phonological whole-word measures on both the FON and the STAR were found. Recommendations are that language sampling be used for children under age 2, the STAR word list for 2-year-olds, and either word list for 3-year-olds. (Contains 6 tables.)

The present study investigated phonological whole-word measures and consonant accuracy in bilingual and monolingual children to investigate how target approximations drive phonological acquisition. The study included eight bilingual Spanish- and English-speaking 3-year-olds and their monolingual peers (eight Spanish and eight American English). Phonological whole-word measures (pMLU and Proximity) and consonant accuracy (PCC) were calculated on elicited single words. Differences were found on each measure between bilinguals and monolinguals in English, but in Spanish, only the PCC displayed differences between bilinguals and monolinguals. Bilinguals displayed language separation on the pMLU and the PCC but not the Proximity, indicating structural phonological differences between the Spanish and English of bilinguals but commensurate target approximations. This suggests that maintaining a consistent level of phonological proximity to the target is an important factor in phonological acquisition. The measures and their relationships are also discussed. (Contains 3 tables and 5 figures.)

Purpose: In this study, the authors investigated speech rhythm acquisition by bilingual Spanish-English-speaking children, comparing their performance with functionally monolingual peers in both languages and to monolingual and bilingual adults. Method: Participants included younger children (3;9 [years;months] to 4;5.15 [years;months.days]), older children (4;6.18 to 5;2), and adults (over 18 years). Twenty-six sentences were elicited and analyzed using the normalized vocalic and intervocalic Pairwise Variability Indices (PVIs) that express the level of variability in successive duration measurements, on the basis of E. Grabe and E. L. Low (2002). Results: Younger bilingual children displayed distinct speech rhythm patterns for their target languages, and they deviated from their monolingual English-speaking peers. Older bilingual children also separated speech rhythm by language, and differences between older bilingual children and their monolingual peers speaking English were also found. Younger and older bilingual children differed on the vocalic PVI, but not the intervocalic PVI, providing partial support for age differences. Bilingual adults showed separation of their languages and performed similarly to their monolingual peers. Conclusion: Bilingual children show distinct speech rhythm patterns for their target languages but with some early equal timing bias that diminishes over time, on the basis of the vocalic measurements. Overall, the vocalic PVI is more robust than the intervocalic PVI, but further research is necessary.

It is widely believed that listeners understand some dialects more easily than others, although there is very little research that has rigorously measured the effects. This study investigated whether listeners experience more difficulty with regional, ethnic, and international dialects of English than with Standard American English. The results demonstrated that speaker dialect had a significant effect for both English as a second language (ESL) listeners (n=158) and native-English-speaking listeners (n=58). ESL listeners scored lower on listening comprehension tests hearing ethnic and international dialects of English compared to Standard American English; however, there were no significant differences between the scores of those hearing regional dialect and Standard American English. These results suggest that regional dialects should be considered in listening comprehension tests such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language.

This paper provides an Optimality Theoretic account of how Hungarian learners of English acquire /[epsilon]/ and /[ash]/. It is hypothesized that as the learners' pronunciation becomes more nativelike, L1 transfer substitutions will diminish; non-transfer substitutions will be especially prevalent in the intermediate stages, and that all learners will have equal or greater success with the similar segment /[epsilon]/ than with the unfamiliar segment /[ash]/. A study involving eight Hungarian ESL learners and four American English subjects largely supports these hypotheses. (Contains 6 figures, 2 tables, and 2 notes.)

Technology for digital speech recording and speech analysis is now readily available for all clinicians who use a computer. This article discusses some advantages of moving from analog to digital recordings and outlines basic recording procedures. The purpose of this article is to familiarize speech-language pathologists with computerized audio files and the benefits of working with those sound files as opposed to using analog recordings. This article addresses transcription issues and offers practical examples of various functions, such as playback, editing sound files, using waveform displays, and extracting utterances. An appendix is provided that describes step-by-step how digital recording can be done. It also provides some editing examples and a list of useful computer programs for audio editing and speech analyses. In addition, this article includes suggestions for clinical uses in both the assessment and the treatment of various speech and language disorders.

Examined the extent to which native-English speaking and English-as-a-Second-Language listeners performed better on a test when the speaker shared their native language. Four groups of listeners with different native languages heard lectures presented in English by speakers of different native languages. Both native and nonnative listeners scored lower on listening comprehension tests when they listened to nonnative speakers. (Author/VWL)

Abstract The present study examines the phonological skills of bilingual children, taking language use and proficiency into consideration, and compares their skills to monolingual peers. The main research question is [...]

We investigated home language (Spanish) maintenance in Spanish- and English-speaking bilingual children with normal hearing (NH) and their peers with hearing loss (HL) who used cochlear implants (CIs) at two time points about 7 months apart. Twenty-two bilingual children (11 with NH and 11 with CIs) between the ages of 4;6 and 7;11 participated in the study, who were matched as closely as possible on chronological age, time elapsed between the first and the second sample, gender, and age of exposure to their languages across groups. We compared group performance on the Preschool Language Scales – 5th edition (PLS-5) and the Word Intelligibility Picture Identification at each time point as well as home language maintenance calculated based on item responses on the PLS-5. Our results indicated differences on all measures at both time points between the performance of children with NH and their peers with HL who used CIs in that the former group outperformed the latter. We also found that bilingual children with NH maintained their home language at a higher level than their peers with HL who used CIs. Further, the data also showed that despite the group differences, both groups displayed maintenance of their home language and that individual variability was more prevalent in the CI group. We conclude that home language maintenance is not only possible, but it should be encouraged for both bilingual children with NH and their peers with HL who used CIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this study, the authors investigated speech rhythm acquisition by bilingual Spanish-English-speaking children, comparing their performance with functionally monolingual peers in both languages and to monolingual and bilingual adults. [...]

Abstract The study of an English-Hungarian two-year-old child was conducted to explore two research issues: (1) the relationship between the complexity of the child's productions and their respective target words [...]