Narrative abilities in early successive bilingual Slovak–English children: a cross-language comparison

This study investigates macrostructure skill transfer in successive bilingual children speaking Slovak and English, a new language combination for narrative research. We examined whether narrative performance reflected language dominance and assessed relationships between nonword repetition (NWR) and narrative skills within and across languages. Forty typically developing Slovak–English bilingual children (mean age = 5 years, 10 months) were evaluated for microstructure and macrostructure performance in both languages through story telling and retelling tasks. In addition, NWR was assessed in Slovak, the children's first language (L1). Macrostructure scores were higher in their L1 than in their second language (L2), but comprehension did not differ across languages. L1 NWR was significantly related to L1 microstructure scores, but not to L1/L2 macrostructure or L2 microstructure. Implications for assessing bilingual children's language are discussed

Noun and verb knowledge in monolingual preschool children across 17 languages: Data from cross-linguistic lexical tasks (LITMUS-CLT)

This article investigates the cross-linguistic comparability of the newly developed lexical assessment tool Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks (LITMUS-CLT). LITMUS-CLT is a part the Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings (LITMUS) battery (Armon-Lotem, de Jong & Meir, 2015). Here we analyse results on receptive and expressive word knowledge tasks for nouns and verbs across 17 languages from eight different language families: Baltic (Lithuanian), Bantu (isiXhosa), Finnic (Finnish), Germanic (Afrikaans, British English, South African English, German, Luxembourgish, Norwegian, Swedish), Romance (Catalan, Italian), Semitic (Hebrew), Slavic (Polish, Serbian, Slovak) and Turkic (Turkish). The participants were 639 monolingual children aged 3;0-6;11 living in 15 different countries. Differences in vocabulary size were small between 16 of the languages; but isiXhosa-speaking children knew significantly fewer words than speakers of the other languages. There was a robust effect of word class: accuracy was higher for nouns than verbs. Furthermore, comprehension was more advanced than production. Results are discussed in the context of cross-linguistic comparisons of lexical development in monolingual and bilingual populations

Cross-linguistic patterns in the acquisition of quantifiers.

Learners of most languages are faced with the task of acquiring words to talk about number and quantity. Much is known about the order of acquisition of number words as well as the cognitive and perceptual systems and cultural practices that shape it. Substantially less is known about the acquisition of quantifiers. Here, we consider the extent to which systems and practices that support number word acquisition can be applied to quantifier acquisition and conclude that the two domains are largely distinct in this respect. Consequently, we hypothesize that the acquisition of quantifiers is constrained by a set of factors related to each quantifier's specific meaning. We investigate competence with the expressions for "all," "none," "some," "some…not," and "most" in 31 languages, representing 11 language types, by testing 768 5-y-old children and 536 adults. We found a cross-linguistically similar order of acquisition of quantifiers, explicable in terms of four factors relating to their meaning and use. In addition, exploratory analyses reveal that language- and learner-specific factors, such as negative concord and gender, are significant predictors of variation.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the National Academy of Sciences via http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.160134111

MAIN: the Slovak version and pilot data

The adaptation of the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (LITMUS-MAIN) for use with Slovak speaking children is a vital step in the process of creating a transparent evaluation of children’s narrative abilities. Since its first translation and adaptation in 2012, new pilot data from different groups of children has been collected in Slovakia. This paper describes the process of adapting the instrument to fit the Slovak language and reports on analyses of narrative production in monolingual (103 Slovak-speaking children) and bilingual (37 Slovak-English speaking) pre-school children. Within a pilot study, the story elicitation method was also compared (telling vs. retelling) within a small sample of 10 monolingual Slovak-speaking children. All results show transparent and detailed possibilities in terms of finding a meaningful evaluation that can evaluate a child’s complex narrative abilities

Porozumenie naratív u detí v predškolskom veku

The survey demonstrates a new approach for assessing the level of a text comprehension in pre‑school children on a sample of 40 children (N = 40, age range 3;2–5;9, mean age 4;5). Performances of text comprehension are compared in terms of gender, age, as well as comprehension of explicit and implicit information in a text. The survey shows that in terms of gender there are no overall statistically significant differences between boys and girls, as they are not found significant differences between explicit and implicit comprehension among the sample. The survey also confirms a relationship — the correlation between non‑verbal intelligence and comprehension of implicit information. On the other hand, the correlation between non‑verbal intelligence and comprehension of explicit information was not found.Štúdia predstavuje nový prístup hodnotenia porozumenia na úrovni textu u detí v predškolskom veku na vzorke 40 detí (N = 40, vekové rozmedzie 3;2–5;9, priemerný vek 4;5). Výkony v oblasti porozumenia textu sú porovnávané z hľadiska pohlavia, veku ako i porozumenia explicitných a implicitných informácií v texte. Štúdia ukazuje, že z pohľadu pohlavia neexistujú celkovo štatisticky významné rozdiely medzi chlapcami a dievčatami, ako ani nie sú zistené signifikantné rozdiely medzi explicitným a implicitným typom porozumenia u jednotlivých detí vo vzorke. Súčasťou štúdie je i naznačenie vzťahu korelácie medzi intelektom a implicitným porozumením. Naopak vzťah medzi intelektom a explicitným porozumením na základe našich dát v štúdii potvrdený nebol.Die Studie stellt neue Beurteilung des Textverständnisses (Textzusammenhänge) bei den Kindern im Vorschulalter dar (40 Kinder, N = 40, Alter zwischen 3;2–5;9, Durchschnittsalter 4;5). Die Leistung im Bereich der Textverständlichkeit wird je nach Geschlecht, Alter aber auch Verständnis der expliziten und impliziten Informationen im Text verglichen. Die Studie zeigt, dass es aus der Sicht des Geschlechtes, zwischen Mädchen und Jungen, keine statistisch bedeutende Unterschiede gibt. Weiterhin gib es keine Unterschiede zwischen dem expliziten und impliziten Verständnis bei einzelnen Kindern in der Studie. Ein Teil der Studie bestätigt den Zusammenhang zwischen dem Intellekt und dem implizitem Verständnis. Im Gegenteil wurde eine Korrelation zwischen Intellekt und explizitem Verständnis in unserer Studie nicht bestätigt.375

Improving child compliance on a computer-administered nonword repetition task

Purpose A range of nonword repetition (NWR) tasks are used in research and clinical applications, but compliance rates among young children remain low. Live presentation is usually used to improve compliance rates, but this lacks the consistency of recorded stimuli. In this study, the authors examined whether a novel delivery of NWR stimuli based on recorded material could provide improved compliance rates in young children, thereby reducing research bias. Method The novel NWR task with 26 recorded items was administered to 391 typically developing children ages 2–6 years. The children were presented with a story that they could influence by repeating “magic” words. The task was administered via computer with animation. Results From the 384 children who completed the task, the authors found a noncompliance rate related to age. In line with previous research, no effect of demographic factors was found, but there was a significant main effect of age, syllable length, and phonological complexity on repetition accuracy. Test–retest and interrater scoring showed high levels of reliability. Conclusion The task described in this study offers an objective delivery of recorded stimuli that engages young children and provides high compliance rates. The task is inexpensive, requires minimal training, and can be adapted to other languages. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.6170450 </jats:sec

The role of pictures and gestures as a support mechanism for novel word learning: A training study with 2-year-old children

A training study examined novel word learning in 2-year-old children and assessed two nonverbal mechanisms, pictures and gestures, which are commonly used as communication support. The aim was to (1) compare these two support mechanisms and measure their effects on expressive word learning and (2) to investigate these effects on word production over an extended time period. At baseline, the children’s performance was assessed on vocabulary and grammatical skills, and the groups were matched on these key variables. Eighteen participants were taught novel words either accompanied by a gesture or by a picture. The training consisted of four 20-minute sessions per week over a period of four weeks. Following training, the children were assessed on their ability to produce novel words at three time points: immediately after training, at a 2-week follow-up and at a 6-week follow-up. Gesture training supported word learning significantly better than picture training across all three testing points. Children in both groups showed the best production immediately after training, with a small but nonsignificant decline at 2-week follow-up. There was a significant decline in time 3 compared to time 1, but the children were still able to produce 6.8 out of 10 novel words, suggesting long-term learning. Our findings suggest that gesture may be used to support word learning and could benefit children with late emerging language. The importance of these findings for language development and language intervention are discussed. <br/