Linguistic Skills in Bilingual Children With Developmental Language Disorders: A Pilot Study

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Andrea Marini¹  Paola Sperindè²  Isabella Ruta²  Christian Savegnago²  Francesco Avanzini² 

[1] Department of Languages, Education and Society, University of Udine;Claudiana – Landesfachhochschule für Gesundheitsberufe;Servizio di Neurologia e Riabilitazione Pediatrica;Medico Ditrigente di Foniatria, Reparto di Otorinolaringoiatria, Ospedale di Bolzano

关键词: developmental language disorders;    primary language impairment;    specific language impairment;    bilingualism;    narrative discourse;    BVL_4-12;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00493

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The current pilot study compared the linguistic characteristics of a cohort of simultaneous bilingual children (Italian, L1; German L2) with developmental language disorders (DLDs) and those of bilingual peers with typical language development (TLD). Importantly, the two groups were balanced for a number of environmental variables (e.g., age of first exposure to the L2, acquisition contexts, degree of exposure to both languages) known to affect linguistic development in both TLD and DLDs. The analyses included the assessment of the participants’ phonological short-term memory. Their lexical, grammatical and narrative abilities were analyzed in both languages by administering the Italian and German equivalent forms of the Battery for the assessment of language in children aged 4 to 12 – BVL_4-12 ( Marini et al., 2015 ). The children with DLDs had reduced phonological short-term memory and lexical skills that, in turn, contributed to the reduced levels of local coherence and informativeness of their narratives. Such difficulties were found at similar levels in their two languages. These results suggest that reduced phonological short-term memory and lexical selection skills may reflect a core symptom in both mono- and bilingual children with developmental language disorders.

【 授权许可】

CC BY