Using parent report to assess bilingual vocabulary acquisition: a model from Irish

This chapter describes the adaptation of a parent report instrument on early language development to a bilingual context. Beginning with general issues of adapting tests to any language, particular attention is placed on the issue of using parents as evaluators of child language acquisition of a minority language in a bilingual context. In Ireland, Irish is the first official language and is spoken by about 65,000 people on a daily basis. However all Irish speakers are bilingual, and children are exposed to the dominant English language at an early age. Using an adaptation of a parent report instrument, 21 typically developing children between 16 and 40 months were assessed repeatedly over two years to monitor their language development. The form allowed parents to document their children’s vocabulary development in both languages. Results showed that when knowledge of both languages was accounted for, the children acquired vocabulary at rates similar to those of monolingual speakers and used translational equivalents relatively early in language development. The study also showed that parents of bilingual children could accurately identify and differentiate language development in both of the child’s languages. Recommendations for adapting and using parent report instruments in bilingual language acquisition contexts are outlined

Profiling vocabulary acquisition in Irish

Investigations into early vocabulary development, including the timing of the acquisition of nouns, verbs and closed-class words, have produced conflicting results, both within and across languages. Studying vocabulary development in Irish can contribute to this area, as it has potentially informative features such as a VSO word order, and semantically rich prepositions. This study used a parent report adapted for Irish, to measure vocabulary development longitudinally for children aged between 1;04 and 3;04. The findings indicated that the children learned closed-class words at relatively smaller vocabulary sizes compared to children acquiring other languages, and had a strong preference for nouns

Learning styles and academic outcomes: a longitudinal study on the impact of a problem-based learning curriculum

Learning styles are the preferred ways individuals have for processing knowledge. Problem-based learning (PBL) might be perceived to suit the ‘active’ learner because of the brainstorming and group work involved. However, PBL is also intended for those who prefer to learn by researching the literature, those who seek to explore complex questions, and those who like to problem-solve and apply knowledge to practice. This study profiled the learning styles of 30 speech and language therapy students in an undergraduate PBL curriculum using the Learning Styles Questionnaire (Honey & Mumford, The learning styles Helper’s guide. Maidenhead: Peter Honey Publications Ltd., 2000) and measured their styles repeatedly over a three-year period. The results indicated that students entered the course with a range of learning styles, although in general were not characterized as active learners. Following three years of PBL-based education, the students became significantly more active, although as a group remained largely reflective. Learning styles had both negative and positive associations with academic outcomes in a variety of courses over the three years. The implications for PBL and education are discussed

Sealbhú na Gaeilge ag naíonáin: early language acquisition of Irish

Speech and language therapy (SLT) services are coming under increased pressure to provide people living in linguistic minority communities with assessment and intervention in the language of the community in which the client lives. In Ireland, Irish, although a minority language, enjoys a positive attitude and a high status as the first official language of Ireland. However, there is little known about Irish language acquisition in typically developing children, let alone assessment or developmental pathways for speech and language therapists to work with. Furthermore, the study of Irish can make a valuable contribution to cross-linguistic research as it has structures which are very different to English such as a VSO word order, and complex morphophonological inflections in its initial mutations.  This study adapted a well-known research tool, the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories, to Irish in order to measure vocabulary and grammatical development longitudinally for twenty-one children aged between 16 and 40 months. Results from the parent-checklists were validated against spontaneous language samples and elicitation tasks, and compared to crosslinguistic studies of early language development. The analysis explored theoretical questions such as whether there is a noun advantage in Irish, how grammar is acquired, and the nature of the relationship between the lexicon and grammar. In addition, other theoretical aspects such as the effect of gender, birth order and maternal education on early language milestones were investigated. The findings indicate that Irish-speaking children develop vocabulary at a relatively similar rate to other children but the content of their vocabulary is somewhat different, with a relative advantage in grammatical words once they have 400 words in their vocabulary. On the other hand, many inflectional morphemes are acquired relatively late, and this is largely due to their relative complexity. The outcomes of this study not only give SLTs a descriptive framework of the development of vocabulary and grammar in Irish but also contribute to the body of cross linguistic research

Using parent report to assess early lexical production in children exposed to more than one language

Limited expressive vocabulary skills in young children are considered to be the first warning signs of a potential Specific Language Impairment (SLI) (Ellis & Thal, 2008). In bilingual language learning environments, the expressive vocabulary size in each of the child’s developing languages is usually smaller compared to the number of words produced by monolingual peers (e.g. De Houwer, 2009). Nonetheless, evidence shows children’s total productive lexicon size across both languages to be comparable to monolingual peers’ vocabularies (e.g. Pearson et al., 1993; Pearson & Fernandez, 1994). Since there is limited knowledge as to which level of bilingual vocabulary size should be considered as a risk factor for SLI, the effects of bilingualism and language-learning difficulties on early lexical production are often confounded. The compilation of profiles for early vocabulary production in children exposed to more than one language, and their comparison across language pairs, should enable more accurate identification of vocabulary delays that signal a risk for SLI in bilingual populations. These considerations prompted the design of a methodology for assessing early expressive vocabulary in children exposed to more than one language, which is described in the present chapter. The implementation of this methodological framework is then outlined by presenting the design of a study that measured the productive lexicons of children aged 24-36 months who were exposed to different language pairs, namely Maltese and English, Irish and English, Polish and English, French and Portuguese, Turkish and German as well as English and Hebrew. These studies were designed and coordinated in COST Action IS0804 Working Group 3 (WG3) and will be described in detail in a series of subsequent publications. Expressive vocabulary size was measured through parental report, by employing the vocabulary checklist of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences (CDI: WS) (Fenson et al., 1993, 2007) and its adaptations to the participants’ languages. Here we describe the novelty of the study’s methodological design, which lies in its attempt to harmonize the use of vocabulary checklist adaptations, together with parental questionnaires addressing language exposure and developmental history, across participant groups characterized by different language exposure variables. This chapter outlines the various methodological considerations that paved the way for meaningful cross-linguistic comparison of the participants’ expressive lexicon sizes. In so doing, it hopes to provide a template for and encourage further research directed at establishing a threshold for SLI risk in children exposed to more than one language

Developing assessment tools for bilingual and minority language acquisition

Profiling bilingual and minority language acquisition is becoming increasingly important for the work of speech and language therapists in Ireland. The Official Language Act dictates that all government and public services must be provided in Irish as well as English. Therefore SLTs must now be prepared to assess and treat clients in the Irish language. This paper describes how an assessment of early expressive vocabulary and grammatical development for children aged between 16 and 40 months was adapted to Irish from the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (Fenson, Dale, Reznick , Bates , Thal, Pethnick, Tomasello, Mervis and Stiles, 1994). Ongoing work in piloting and measuring the validity and reliability of the parent-report instrument is also outlined. This study has implications for developing assessment tools for working with Irish-speaking and bilingual children

Diagnosing language impairment in bilinguals: professional experience and perception

Diagnosing specific language impairment (SLI) in monolingual children is a complex task, with some controversy regarding criteria. Diagnosis of SLI in bilinguals is made more complex by the lack of standardized assessments and poor understanding of clinical markers in languages other than English. There is an added complexity when one of the languages being acquired is an endangered one, where the domains of use and input are restricted, and where input is affected by convergence with the majority language. This article explores the challenge facing speech and language therapists and psychologists in diagnosing SLI in bilingual children acquiring Irish and English. Six speech and language therapists and four psychologists took part in semi-structured interviews exploring the impact of the bilingual environment, the nature of bilingual language impairment, current practices and the needs of these children. Thematic analysis was carried out and here three of the main themes emerging in the areas of assessment, the bilingual environment and characteristics of language impairment in this population are discussed. For assessment, an overriding theme was the requirement of standardized testing to secure additional educational and therapy resources for these children. However, because there are no standardized tests available in Irish, both professions end up translating existing English-based language and psychological assessments, using the norms provided to achieve standard scores. Both professions expressed strong dissatisfaction with this practice but saw little choice, given the Department of Education's approach to allocation of supports. Language impairment in Irish was characterized by lexical difficulties, particularly with verbs and prepositions, tense errors, and significant borrowing and code-switching with English. Other themes that emerged were the growing influence of English as the children became older, which affected both attitudes to the minority Irish language as well as the content and structure of the language itself. The implications for service provision for bilingual populations in general are outlined

Findings from the first phase of developing a receptive vocabulary test for the Irish language

Aims and objectives: The aim of this study was to develop and pilot a test of receptive vocabulary for bilingual Irish-English-speaking children, based on a model from Welsh. Design/Methodology/Approach: 310 typically developing children aged five, six and seven years took part. The children were all attending Irish-medium education in Irish-dominant Gaeltacht regions and in immersion education schools outside of these regions. Data and Analysis: Participants were identified as being from either bilingual Irish- and English-speaking homes or English-dominant homes. A mixed-factorial analysis of variance found a significant main effect of age and language background, but no interaction. Post hoc comparisons revealed that those from Bilingual-speaking homes had significantly higher Irish receptive vocabulary scores than those from English-dominant homes. Linear regression models showed that the receptive vocabulary scores of children in immersion schools grew by an average of 21 words per year between the ages of five and seven, compared to almost 12 words per year in Gaeltacht schools. Findings/Conclusions: The findings demonstrate the advantages of immersion education and the need for vocabulary enrichment of children in the Gaeltacht. However, the complexities of developing assessments for first language speakers of a minority language that is in conflict with a second language variety of that language and the majority English language are also highlighted. Significance/Implications: The implications of this study are that immersion schooling is advantageous to the Irish vocabulary of children, but that children from Gaeltacht schools may require vocabulary enrichment that is sufficiently complex to address their needs. Limitations: Limitations to this study include the uneven number of children from each language background/school location and incomplete background details from the children, such as socio-economic status and language use amongst peers

Stage 1 Registered Report: The experiences and perceptions of parent-child interaction therapy for parents of young children with communication difficulties: A qualitative evidence synthesis protocol.

Background: Parent-child interaction therapy refers to a group of interventions mediated by trained parents to address areas of developmental difficulties in children. In the field of speech and language therapy it is used in early intervention for children with speech, language and communication difficulties. The intervention involves training parents and caregivers on the importance of responsivity and language input in daily interactions and coaches them on strategies to implement these with the children. As the success of the intervention is heavily influenced by caregiver engagement, understanding and acceptance, it is important to consider their views. However, to date there has been limited work on synthesising parental views of this intervention. Methods: This is a protocol for a qualitative evidence synthesis of peer-reviewed qualitative papers addressing the experiences and perceptions of parent-child interaction therapy for parents of children with communication difficulties. We will complete a systematic search of 11 databases, review the reference lists and complete a cited reference search of all included studies. Two authors will independently screen tests for inclusion, initially by title and abstract, with full-text screening as necessary. Thematic synthesis will be used for all included studies. We will appraise the quality of included studies using CASP and confidence in the review findings using GRADE CERQual. Discussion: As the views of parents are pivotal in the success of this intervention, the findings from this synthesis should help to guide best practice and policy for the future implementation of parent child interaction therapy for children with communication difficulties

Embedding key word sign prompts in a shared book reading activity: The impact on communication between children with Down syndrome and their parents

Background: Children with Down syndrome have speech and language difficulties that are disproportionate to their overall intellectual ability and relative strengths in the use of gesture. Shared book reading between parents and their children provides an effective context in which language development can be facilitated. However, children with Down syndrome often take a passive role in shared book reading and the use of key word signing (KWS) as a shared book reading technique has never been investigated. Aims: This study aimed to compare children with Down syndrome's participation and use of KWS across two methods of shared book reading – one in which a book had key-word sign prompts embedded (signed condition) and the other in which a book was read as normal (unsigned condition). Measures of child and parent communicative behaviour were taken in each condition to establish if differences emerged. Methods & Procedures: A total of 36 children with Down syndrome (aged between 18 and 61 months) and their mothers took part in the study. Parent–child dyads were videoed at home reading two books, one in a signed and one in an unsigned condition. Child measures included total number of signs produced in each condition and levels of attention and initiation as measured by the Pivotal Behaviour Rating Scale. Parent measures included total number of utterances, mean length of utterance (MLU) in morphemes and vocabulary diversity (VOCD). Parental measures were transcribed using the Codes for Human Analysis Transcripts (CHAT) software and analysed by the Computerised Language Analysis software (CLAN). Contrasts in outcomes between the signed and unsigned conditions were estimated using Poisson and linear mixed-effects models, determined by the type of data. Outcomes & Results: Results showed that children attempted to sign significantly more in the signed than unsigned condition, as well as showing significant increases in their levels of attention and initiation. There was also a significant increase in the total number of utterances used by parents in the signed versus unsigned condition and a decrease in MLU. VOCD was similar in both conditions. Conclusions & Implications: This study shows that the simple act of embedding key word signs into commercially available books, during shared book reading between parents and young children with Down syndrome, positively affects children's participation (initiation and attention) and use of KWS. The use of KWS as a core shared book reading technique may therefore be a fruitful avenue to facilitate growth in the language abilities of young children with Down syndrome