Browsing by Subject "Bilingual language development"
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item Cognate facilitation effects in bilingual children of varying language dominance(2017-12-05) Ramirez, Mayra Chantal; Echols, Catharine H.; Griffin, Zenzi M; Booth, Amy EA widely accepted theory is that bilinguals activate both of their languages regardless of which is in use. Though there is abundant research on this phenomenon in bilingual adults, less research has focused on bilingual children. Cognates (i.e., words that share meaning and sound across languages) have frequently been used to explore language co-activation. The present study investigates cognate facilitation effects in child bilinguals of varying language dominance. Spanish-English bilingual children between 6 and 10 years old performed a picture-naming task that included pictures of cognates and non-cognates. Children who were more English-dominant experienced larger cognate facilitation effects when producing words in their non-dominant language but not in their dominant language. In contrast, children with more balanced dominance did not experience cognate facilitation effects in either language. The findings from this study may have implications for the development of the bilingual lexicon.Item Developmental patterns of Spanish grammatical morphemes and mean length of utterance in bilingual children(2013-05) Lovgren-Uribe, Samantha Doline; Bedore, Lisa M.The purpose of this analysis was to define norms for grammatical morpheme development in Spanish for Spanish-English bilingual children ages 4;0-7;6. This study uses secondary data analysis based on two existing datasets. Participants included 334 Spanish-English bilingual children that were recruited from school districts in Texas, Utah, and Pennsylvania. Grammatical morpheme accuracy was determined by performance on the BESA (Bilingual English Spanish Assessment) (Peña, Gutiérrez-Clellen et al., in preparation). Mean length of utterance in words (MLUw) data was collected from language samples. The average percent accuracy of grammatical morphemes was calculated and analyzed as a function of MLUw in Spanish. Results show that the percentage of accurately produced morphemes has a general upward trend as MLUw increases. Clinical and research implications are discussed.Item Language coaching for speakers of Spanish as a heritage language : novice-expert interactions via videoconference(2018-12) Abing, Jesse Lee; Koike, Dale April; Russi, Cinzia; Toribio, Almeida J; Kelm, OrlandoThis longitudinal study examines the potential of coach-learner interactions via videoconferencing technology to facilitate language use and development in interactions of Hispanic heritage university students learning Spanish. From a situated learning perspective (SLA) (Lave & Wenger, 1991), the act of learning is evidenced by one’s changed participation in discursive practices of sociocultural significance. Socially-situated studies analyzing the development of Interactional Competence (Hall, 1999; He & Young, 1999) have found novice-expert interactions productive for SLA in both face-to-face (Yagi, 2007; Young & Miller, 2004) and computer mediated (Lee, 2007) contexts. However, no studies have examined the development of HLLs in video conferenced novice-expert interactions. This multiple-case study uses a sociocognitive approach (Atkinson, Churchill, Nishino, & Okada, 2007) to investigate changes in participation for six HLLs paired with a coach for approximately twelve 45-minute sessions over two months. Investigator, coach, and learner perspectives were triangulated for a holistic view of linguistic (e.g., interactional resources, use of English) and affective (e.g., comfort, self-confidence) development. Coaches assessed learners on an initial and final task-based (Willis, 1993) job interview roleplay activity, while the investigator’s analysis focused on change in participation vis-a-vis interactional competence in the opening portion of the initial and final task assessment sessions, where learners and coaches engage in spontaneous conversation before starting their task-based roleplay activity. In addition, learners’ perceptions of the experience and its impact were gathered in pre- and post-interviews and surveys. Overall, the outcomes of the situated practice resulted in changed participation related to a greater sense of comfort and confidence using the target language along with improved linguistic (e.g., fluency, vocabulary) and interactional (e.g., alignment activity) resources. The results of the analysis indicate that through recurrent, one-on-one interactions with the same person, the HLL and NS coach had the opportunity to deconstruct power dynamics and align more deeply as mutual interactors. At the beginning and at the end of the study, changes in mutual engagement were characterized by more highly coordinated turn-taking, increased interpersonal alignment and intersubjectivity, and improved conversational flow.