Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-17T18:28:19.968Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Interface or face to face? The profiles and contours of bilinguals and specific language impairment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2010

Virginia C. Mueller Gathercole
Virginia C. Mueller Gathercole*
Affiliation:
Bangor University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

What makes a child's language development trajectory have the patterns that it has, and what causes differences across children in those patterns? These fundamental questions have for over half a century been at the heart of research on language development in monolingual children, on the cross-linguistic development of language in children from distinct language communities, on bilingual language development, and on development in cases of language disorders in children. Paradis has taken the important step of carefully comparing the trajectories of two populations of children—children with specific language impairment (SLI) and children growing up bilingually—who both differ in interesting ways from normally developing monolingual children. Her Keynote Article highlights striking similarities and potential differences between these two groups. This Commentary focuses on three issues: what influences developmental profiles in language development, bilinguals' development of vocabulary and syntax, and assessment issues related to treating monolinguals as the “standard.”

Type
Commentaries
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , April 2010 , pp. 282 - 293
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bates, E., Bretherton, I., Shore, C., & McNew, S. (1983). Names, gestures, and objects: Symbolization in infancy and aphasia. In Nelson, K. E. (Ed.), Children's language (Vol. 4, pp. 59–125). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bloom, L. (1973). One word at a time: The use of single word utterances before syntax. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Bowerman, M. (1982). Starting to talk worse: Clues to language acquisition from children's late speech errors. In Strauss, S. & Stavy, R. (Eds.), U-shaped behavioral growth (pp. 101–145). New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brownell, R. (2000a). Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test: Spanish-bilingual edition. Novato, CA: Academic Therapy Publications.Google Scholar
Brownell, R. (2000b). Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test: Spanish-bilingual edition. Novato, CA: Academic Therapy Publications.Google Scholar
Cobo-Lewis, A. B., Pearson, B. Z., Eilers, R. E., & Umbel, V. C. (2002). Effects of bilingualism and bilingual education on oral and written Spanish skills: A multifactor study of standardized test outcomes. In Oller, D. K. & Eilers, R. (Eds.), Language and literacy in bilingual children (pp. 64–97, 98–117). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Jong, J., Orgassa, A., Baker, A., & Weerman, F. (2008). Bilingual SLI: A cumulative effect of bilingualism and language impairment? Paper presented at the International Conference on Models of Interaction in Bilinguals, Bangor University, October 25, 2008.Google Scholar
Döpke, S. (2000). Generation of and retraction from cross-linguistically motivated structures in bilingual first language acquisition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 3, 209–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, L. M. (1981). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test—Revised. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Services.Google Scholar
Dunn, L. M., Padilla, E. R., Lugo, D. E., & Dunn, L. M. (1986). Test de Vocabulario en Imágenes Peabody: Adaptación Hispanoamericana. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar
Fernández Fuertes, R., & Liceras, J. M. (2008). Copula omission in the English developing grammar of English/Spanish bilingual children. Paper presented at International Conference on Models of Interaction in Bilinguals, Bangor University, October 25, 2008.Google Scholar
Gathercole, V. C. M. (2002). Monolingual and bilingual acquisition: Learning different treatments of that-trace phenomena in English and Spanish. In Oller, D. K. & Eilers, R. (Eds.), Language and literacy in bilingual children (pp. 220–254). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gathercole, V. C. M. (Ed.). (2007a). Language transmission in bilingual families in Wales. Cardiff: Welsh Language Board.Google Scholar
Gathercole, V. C. M. (2007b). Miami and North Wales, so far and yet so near: Constructivist account of morpho-syntactic development in bilingual children. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 10, 224–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gathercole, V. C. M. (in press). Bilingual children: Language and assessment issues for educators. In Wood, C., Littleton, K., & Kleine Staarman, J. (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology. New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Gathercole, V. C. M., & Hoff, E. (2007). Input and the acquisition of language: Three questions. In Hoff, E. & Shatz, M. (Eds.), The handbook of language development (pp. 107–127). Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Gathercole, V. C. M., & Thomas, E. M. (2005). Minority language survival: Input factors influencing the acquisition of Welsh. In Cohen, J., McAlister, K., Rolstad, K., & MacSwan, J. (Eds.), ISB4: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism (pp. 852–874). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Gathercole, V. C. M., & Thomas, E. M. (2007). Prawf Geirfa Cymraeg, Fersiwn 7–11. [Welsh Vocabulary Test, Version 7–11]. Retrieved from http://www.pgc.bangor.ac.ukGoogle Scholar
Gathercole, V. C. M., & Thomas, E. M. (2009). Bilingual first-language development: Dominant language takeover, threatened minority language take-up. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 12, 213–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gathercole, V. C. M., Thomas, E. M., & Hughes, E. (2008). Designing a normed receptive vocabulary test for bilingual populations: A model from Welsh. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 11, 678–720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gathercole, V. C. M., Thomas, E. M., & Hughes, E. (2010). Prawf Geirfa Cymraeg, Fersiwn 11–15 [Welsh Vocabulary Test, Version 11–15]. Manuscript in preparation.Google Scholar
Gathercole, V. C. M., Thomas, E. M., Young, N., Jones, L., Cunnington, L., & Viñas Guasch, N. (2008). Language balance in bilinguals and executive function tasks. Paper presented at the International Conference on Models of Interaction in Bilinguals, Bangor University, October 26, 2008.Google Scholar
Gopnik, A., & Choi, S. (1990). Do linguistic differences lead to cognitive differences? A cross-linguistic study of semantic and cognitive development. First Language, 10, 199–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, B., & Risley, T. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.Google Scholar
Hoff, E. (2003). The specificity of environmental influence: Socioeconomic status affects early vocabulary development via maternal speech. Child Development, 74, 1368–1378.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hulk, A., & Müller, N. (2000). Bilingual first language acquisition at the interface between syntax and pragmatics. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 3, 227–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kester, E. S., & Peña, E. D. (2002). Language ability assessment of Spanish–English bilinguals: Future directions. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 8. Retrieved July 1, 2009, from http://PAREonline.net/getvn.asp?v=8&n=4Google Scholar
Li, P. (2009). Meaning in acquisition: Semantic structure, lexical organization, and crosslinguistic variation. In Gathercole, V. C. M. (Ed.), Routes to language: Studies in honor of Melissa Bowerman (pp. 257–283). New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Lieven, E. (1994). Cross-linguistic and cross-cultural aspects of language addressed to children. In Gallaway, C. & Richards, B. (Eds.), Input and interaction in language acquisition (pp. 56–73). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieven, E., & Guo, J. (Eds.). (2008). Crosslinguistic approaches to the study of language: Research in the tradition of Dan Isaac Slobin. New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Mattes, L. J. (1995). Bilingual vocabulary assessment measure. Oceanside, CA: Academic Communication Associates.Google Scholar
McCune, L. (2006). Dynamic event words: From common cognition to varied linguistic expression. First Language, 26, 233–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munoz-Sandoval, A. F., Cummins, J., Alvarado, G., Ruef, M. L. (2005). Bilingual Verbal Ability Test. Scarborough, Canada: Thomson Nelson.Google Scholar
Oller, D. K., & Eilers, R. (2002). Language and literacy in bilingual children. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paradis, J., & Genesee, F. (1996). Syntactic acquisition: Autonomous or interdependent? Studies in Second Language Acquisition 18, 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rice, M. (2009). Language acquisition lessons from children with specific language impairment: Revisiting the discovery of latent structures. In Gathercole, V. C. M. (Ed.), Routes to language: Studies in honor of Melissa Bowerman (pp. 287–313). New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Saffran, J. R. (2003). Statistical language learning: Mechanisms and constraints. Current Directions in Psychological Science 12, 110–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silva-Corvalán, C., Johnson, C., Montes, M., & Sick, R. (2009). English influence on Spanish language subsystems in bilingual first language acquisition: The role of interfaces. Paper presented at the Colloquium on Crosslinguistic Influence on Different Grammatical Domains in Bilingual First Language Acquisition, ISB7, Utrecht.Google Scholar
Smith, L. (1999). Children's noun learning: How general learning processes make specialized learning mechanisms. In MacWhinney, B. (Ed.), The emergence of language (pp. 277–303). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Theakston, A., Lieven, E., Pine, J., & Rowland, C. (2002). Going, going, gone: The acquisition of the verb “go.” Journal of Child Language 29, 783–811.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomas, E. M., & Gathercole, V. C. M. (2007). Children's productive command of grammatical gender and mutation in Welsh: An alternative to rule-based learning. First Language, 27, 251–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Umbel, V. M., Pearson, B. Z., Fernández, M. C., & Oller, D. K. (1992). Measuring bilingual children's receptive vocabularies. Child Development, 63, 1012–1020.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verhoeven, L., & Vermeer, A. (1993). Taaltoets allochtone kinderen bovenbouw [Language tests for minority children]. Tilburg, The Netherlands: Zwijsen.Google Scholar
Weist, R. M. (in press). Children think and talk about time and space. In Łobacz, P., Nowak, P., & Zabrocki, W. (Eds.), Language, science and culture. Poznan, Poland: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM.Google Scholar