Search

The U.S. healthcare system struggles to provide adequate language assistance to medical practitioners and patients. As a result, health providers and patients rely on ad hoc interpreters, including children, to communicate. Bilingual children who regularly interpret for others, whom we refer to as child language brokers, are important linguistic and cultural conduits for their communities and bridge language differences in vital contexts, such as health and medical settings. In this paper, we explore the experiences of 17 adolescent language brokers and consider the settings, tasks, and people they engage with when language brokering for health. Findings illustrate that child language brokering is a real and important component for immigrant family health, that child language brokering for health is not a uniform experience, and that language brokering for health can sometimes have severe ramifications.

This reflective article examines the emerging tendencies in critical perspectives within English Language Teaching (ELT). The article begins by providing a brief historical overview of ELT's critical pedagogies and discussing its perspectives in the post-pandemic era. It highlights the need for critical approaches that address power dynamics, social inequalities, and ideological influences. In addition, new trends imply integrating cultural aspects that favor students' identity and culture, and more dynamic bilingual practices to promote inclusive, socially just, multilingual, and transformative language learning environments. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of ongoing reflection, professional development, and collaboration among ELT practitioners to incorporate critical perspectives effectively in the classroom.

The following article recommends Texas high school English teachers to select "All the Pretty Horses" (McCarthy, 1992), the critically acclaimed, best-selling novel by Cormac McCarthy, as a reading option for students. Set in rural Texas and Mexico, "All the Pretty Horses" provides an engaging reading experience that would likely connect to the lives of many Texas high school students. In addition to the rural setting and bilingual dialogues, the novel offers relatable teenage characters with diverse cultural, socioeconomic, and linguistic backgrounds similar to the diverse student populations in Texas schools. The novel also addresses developmentally appropriate themes including independence, identity, and career. Likewise, students with various reading levels will be able to comprehend the text. The present article discusses how "All the Pretty Horses" is an example of a relevant, accessible, and high-interest text for adolescents. In addition, the article provides high school teachers with suggestions for meaningful literacy activities that correspond to Boardman and colleagues' (2008) five central components of adolescent literacy.

Translanguaging, defined as "the deployment of a speaker's full linguistic repertoire without regard for watchful adherence to the socially and politically defined boundaries of named (and usually national and state) languages" (Otheguy et al., 2015, p. 281), has great potential to play a key role in English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms and institutions. This article first explores the origins and historical development of the concept of translanguaging before examining more general recent developments and applications of this concept internationally and in Australia. The final section provides suggestions for how to apply some of the principles of translanguaging in the adult ESL classroom, with a particular focus on specific translanguaging practices that have been used with Direct Entry English for Academic Purposes students.

This longitudinal, mixed-methods study reports on the development and implementation of an early phonological awareness screening and intervention program for struggling emergent readers in a French immersion school in Manitoba. The program was created by a professional learning community made up of the school administrator, teachers, and clinical support staff. This paper describes the process of developing the phonological awareness program and the intervention itself. Forty-two children participated in the phonological awareness intervention that lasted 10 weeks. The intervention was given in English in kindergarten. Significant gains were found in the phonological awareness skills of the children who participated in the intervention. Results also indicated that children's phonological awareness skills in English predicted their French reading levels in Grade 1. In addition, we provide insight into the roles played by key members of the school's PLC through qualitative analysis of a series of semi-structured interviews. The work of the school's professional learning community offers a model that may be implemented by other school teams to promote equity and accessibility for all learners in FI programs.

The Vocabulary Size Test (VST) measures English learners' decontextualised receptive vocabulary knowledge of written English and has nine bilingual versions with multiple-choice options written in other languages. This study used the English-Japanese version of the VST to investigate the extent to which loanword items were answered correctly by Japanese first language (L1) university students compared to non-loanword items, and whether it was easier to answer these loanword items when the correct answer option was written in loanwords rather than Japanese-words. Paired t-tests showed a significant difference in correct response rates between the loanword and non-loanword items, and the loanword options and Japanese-word options, with a large effect size. The results suggest the relative ease of learning English loanwords compared to non-loanwords for L1 Japanese users, and the need to consider the use of loanwords in vocabulary tests to measure test-takers' vocabulary size more accurately.

The English reading ability of university students is crucial for their academic achievement, regardless of whether they are studying English or any other subject in English. Examining the affective factors that influence this ability is critical for understanding its development. Research has been conducted on the correlation between first language (L1) and English as a second language (ESL/EFL) reading attitudes, but there is limited research on the correlation between L2 and L1. This research seeks to investigate the similarities in reading perspectives between Arabic-speaking international students and English-speaking university students. The study employed surveys and semi-structured interviews to evaluate individuals' viewpoints on bilingual reading. The objective was to assess individuals' attitudes towards reading in two languages. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted. The study revealed that students' reading preferences remained consistent across different languages. However, the relationship between second-language reading attitudes and first-language reading attitudes was found to be minimal. The implications of the current study suggest that enhancing reading attitudes in both languages may enhance reading ability. The study utilised subjective data and targeted a specific demographic, limiting its generalizability to more diverse student populations.

The present study aimed to validate a 70-item Korean bilingual version of the Vocabulary Size Test (VST) using Rasch modeling. The goal was to assess the applicability of this Korean version of the VST for Korean learners of English in an English as a foreign language (EFL) context by examining validity evidence based on Messick's framework. Specifically, the study focused on the content, substantive, and external aspects of construct validity. However, the findings provided weak evidence supporting the utility of the VST as a measure of receptive vocabulary for Korean EFL learners. The test was deemed too easy and lacked the ability to effectively differentiate among varying levels of second language proficiency, with many test items exhibiting unexpected behavior. Additionally, the VST showed a weak correlation with another measure of second language proficiency. In light of these findings, the study offers specific recommendations for improving the test's validity and usefulness.

The author examines some of the critical issues raised by Baker-Bell (2020a) about language education in the United States. The challenges associated with linguistic justice are related to a history of linguistic discrimination in the United States, which many sources have documented and affected many different linguistic backgrounds and peoples. This research inspired her to develop an antiracist Black language pedagogy that assists students in understanding their position in white linguistic hegemony. The author evaluates some of the ideas of Black language pedagogy, explicitly focusing on the requirements of administrators in K-12 education. Additionally, the author contrasts Baker-Bell's ideas to translanguaging and how heteroglossic pedagogies are used to develop bilingual and bicultural students similar to the concepts of García (2009). The author then discusses how the ideas of heteroglossic language pedagogies, Black language pedagogy, and translanguaging could inform each other.

This cross-sectional study examined materials adaptation within an English-Chinese bilingual storytelling curriculum for first graders to identify the potential factors influencing adaptation choice. It delved into the relationship between curriculum objectives, perceptions of picture books, and the use of tense and narrative. A survey (N=352) gathered demographic data of English teachers from China, and the data was analyzed using Partial Least Square (PLS) structural equation modeling. Findings illuminate how teachers' perception of picture books fully mediate the interplay between bilingual storytelling curriculum objectives and teachers' narrative in a picture book adaptation. Analyzing the results by narrative theory, it found that the essence of storytelling and narrative is making meanings; stories play a leading role in the curriculum for first graders to develop their bilingual narrative through sharing, reading, and telling stories. Consequently, teachers' understanding of picture books' possibilities as teaching materials, benefits for fostering students' bilingual development, and perception of the intertextuality of illustration and words can significantly facilitate teachers' narrative in a picture book adaptation. This study contributes by elucidating the mediating role of picture books, emphasizing the importance of linking curriculum objectives with teaching materials adaptation in practice. Furthermore, longitudinal research is to overcome the limitations of this cross-sectional correlation analysis.

In the geographies where various languages are spoken, individuals may have to experience learning one or more languages to fulfil their needs. When societies who live together and use various language groups make contact with people who use other language groups and cultures, they have to interact with each other. This mutual effect is then reflected on the languages and brings the term of bilingualism or multilingualism into the agenda. Multilingualism is regarded as the simple form of bilingualism. The acquisition of a second language indicates the ability to use another language. The process of dual-language/bilingualism emerges in cases where people learn/acquire another language in addition to his/her mother language. Dual language or bilingualism can be stated as an individual expressing themselves in two or more languages as effectively as in the mother tongue. The reason for choosing this topic is the increasing popularity of it; because human beings who use various languages all over the world have had to live together for numerous reasons such as wars, migrations, education, trade and etc. In 2022-2023 AY, in order to understand and shed light on students' ideas towards bilingualism, a survey was carried out at a state university in England. We would like to state that the findings obtained from evaluating the attitudes of the bilingual students related to the acquisition of English will contribute to the literature and provide a different perspective in this research.

This research study provided a basic understanding of pedagogical translanguaging and its importance in a multilingual classroom environment from the perspective of foreign language class students. The qualitative study, employing interpretive phenomenological analysis, investigated students' viewpoints on pedagogical translanguaging in a multilingual classroom setting, specifically within Pondicherry Central University's French certificate program in India. Through semi-structured interviews, 8 main themes and 35 subthemes were identified. Comparing these findings with the functions of translanguaging, similarities and differences in translanguaging application in language learning contexts emerged. Additionally, the study aimed to enhance instructional strategies tailored to meet the linguistic needs of diverse learners in multilingual classrooms.

The study described in this article evaluates the effectiveness of methods of improving phonetic, grammatical, and syntactic skills in children with general speech underdevelopment in a bilingual environment. The method is based on a theoretical study of severe speech disorders, a structural analysis of linguistic samples, and a comparative study of the results of research by various scientists in an interdisciplinary discourse. An experimental study was carried out concerning the assessment of the effectiveness of speech therapy exercises for forming linguistic skills (phonetic-phonemic, morphological, word-formation, lexical, and syntactic) at different language levels in preschoolers with a general speech disorder in the context of bilingualism (Kazakh was considered the main language, and Russian was considered an additional language). The materials presented in this paper can be used to develop linguistic skills for various speech defects.

Research has demonstrated that multilingual exposure does not inherently impede language development or academic achievement in autistic children. Nevertheless, autistic students who are multilingual learners may experience unique challenges in the United States, where systemic barriers constrain both the diagnosis and the delivery of education. This review synthesizes 46 US-based studies to assess how educational and, to a lesser extent, medical systems are (or are not) prepared to offer adequate support to autistic individuals from multilingual families. Results reveal varied patterns of systemic inequity faced by multilingual children on the autism spectrum, elucidating the issues of disproportionality as well as unequal access to educational and medical resources. While the majority of studies emphasize the benefits of multilingual environments for autistic students, a persistent trend in favor of monolingual instructional strategies remains. Despite this, emerging publications present experimental evidence that drawing on students' first languages can bolster academic and behavioral performance and strengthen executive functioning.

This case study investigates the reading processes of two bilingual teachers who speak English as a second language and use different first languages--Mandarin Chinese and Korean. The two participants read researcher-selected digital texts in English and in their respective first language, retold the texts, and answered comprehension questions about the texts. Their reading aloud and eye movements were recorded for miscue and eye movement analysis. Using Eye Movement Miscue Analysis, the findings showcase the distinctive characteristics of their first-language and second-language reading processes. The cross-linguistic comparison between bilingual reading processes further shows the bilingual participants' similarities and differences in terms of the use of language systems, eye movements, language variations, and image use. This study supports the understanding of non-Roman alphabetical language speakers' reading process, adds to our understanding of the bilingual reading process, and provides teaching and research implications for bilingual teachers and educators.

Background: Upper elementary grade students encounter increasingly complex texts with abundant morphologically complex words. Despite the positive effects of morphology-based vocabulary instruction, emergent bilinguals with limited word reading skills may need additional support. Methods: This study investigated the effects of morphological analysis and morphophonemic analysis instruction on the orthographic and semantic learning of morphologically complex academic words. Fourth- and fifth-grade Spanish-English bilingual students (N = 30) in the United States participated in two learning tasks. In learning task one, participants learned two sets of carefully matched derivational words under morphological and whole-word learning conditions. In learning task two, the same participants learned two other sets of words under morphophonemic and whole-word learning conditions. Each learning task included two learning sessions interweaved by meaning recall and spelling production assessments. Cross-classified multilevel regression was used to assess the effects of intervention conditions, child and item predictors, as well as cross-level interactions. Results: Findings showed no significant difference in meaning recall and spelling measures between morphological and whole-word conditions. Students performed significantly better in the morphophonemic condition than in the whole-word condition for both meaning and affix spelling outcomes. The effect of morphophonemic intervention over whole word condition was stronger for younger students and words of lower base frequencies. Student meaning and spelling performance was significantly predicted by their word reading skills. Conclusions: Morphophonemic analysis instruction enhances word meaning recall and spelling of complex derivative words.

Background: Accumulating evidence shows that the home literacy environment (HLE) has a potent and early influence on children's language and literacy development. However, there is a more limited understanding of HLE and its contribution to children's outcomes for simultaneous bilingual children exposed to two languages at home, particularly in the Asian context. Methods: In this study with 801 six-year-old bilingual learners, HLE and language and literacy outcomes were examined in two languages. Children were assessed in their receptive vocabulary, reading and spelling abilities for English plus their ethnic Asian language (Mandarin Chinese, Malay or Tamil) for a subsample of 374 children. Results: Results from factor analyses suggest that HLE for each language within families had a different latent structure, with three to four factors for English ("parent involvement," "parent habit," "child exploration" and "shared reading") and three factors for the Asian language ("parent involvement," "parent habit" and "child interest"). Further path analyses show that shared reading had a negative contribution to English outcomes but a positive influence on Asian language outcomes. Conclusions: Findings extend existing understanding of HLE structure for bilingual language learners from bilingual families. HLE components contributed differently to bilingual language outcomes, with positive contributions of child exploration to English outcomes and of parent habits including shared reading to Asian language outcomes. Negative relationships for shared reading to English outcomes are also evident and suggest that further research on the long-term effects of HLE is needed.

Autistic children from heritage-language-speaking homes in the United States are a growing group that would benefit from tailored support that honors their linguistic heritage. Bilingual autistic adults share benefits of their bilingualism abilities and report childhood learning environments as necessary for facilitating language learning or maintenance. Caregivers of young autistic children also report the desire to maintain their heritage languages but sometimes struggle to do so due to misconceptions and a lack of resources such as bilingual personnel. This study was the first to explore U.S.-based bilingual providers' (N = 16) experiences and perceptions of providing bilingual care for autistic children. Data analysis was conducted using reflexive thematic analysis, and resulted in five themes, including (a) You Don't Have to Change Who You Are: Experiences and Beliefs About Bilingualism, (b) Having the "Other" Perspective: Empathy and Intersectionality, (c) Services as a Gateway: Beliefs Rooted in Social Justice, (d) He Was Like a Different Child: Impacts of Receiving Heritage-Language Support, and (e) It Was Just Business: Impacts of Not Receiving Same Language Support. Findings from this study suggest that autistic children and their families benefit from heritage language care, and the recruitment and retention of a linguistically diverse workforce is recommended. Additional implications for research and practice are discussed.

This study investigates the influences of early and intense L2 exposure on children's L1 causative verb production, assessed by an experimental causative verb production task. Turkish expresses causality by morphological and lexical means, whereas English does so by periphrastic and lexical means. Learning L2 English might enhance L1 Turkish causative verb production by highlighting the parallels and contrasts in causal expressions between the languages, which may result in an enriched L1 causative use. Five-, 7 -, and 9-year-old L1-Turkish L2-English bilingual (n = 80) and L1-Turkish monolingual (n = 80) children participated in the study in L1-Turkish. Results indicated that language group differences only emerged for the use of morphological causative verbs in favor of 5-year-old bilinguals compared with monolingual peers. Age group differences occurred only for the monolingual group and only for morphological verbs. Specifically, monolingual 7- and 9-year-olds performed better than monolingual 5-year-olds. Causative verb-type differences were only seen for 5-year-old monolinguals, who performed better for lexical than morphological verbs; in contrast, 5-year-old bilinguals performed equally well on the two types of causatives, and better than 5-year-old monolinguals on morphological causatives. Overall, these findings indicate that learning an L2 with structural similarities and differences compared with L1 might enhance children's awareness and correct use of causal linguistic structures.

This study explores the captivating world of toy unboxing videos as a space for emergent bilingual children to engage in translanguaging practices. Through the lens of translanguaging, which encourages the unrestricted use of full linguistic repertoires, this research examines the experiences of two five-year-old immigrant and emergent bilingual children, who employ linguistic repertoires from both English and Korean, within toy unboxing play. Toy unboxing play is not exclusive to these children alone but extends beyond as a shared phenomenon of new play among children across the globe. This ethnographic case study seeks to understand when and how translanguaging is employed in their toy unboxing play and explores the possibilities it opens for fostering inclusive views on linguistic practices among emergent bilingual children. In our findings, we argue that toy unboxing play can be a way of creating translanguaging space facilitating the deployment of children's linguistic repertoires and contributing to their meaning-making and learning processes. The translanguaging practices exhibited by the children in their toy unboxing play demonstrate linguistic flexibility across three key domains: (1) playful interaction with toys and self, (2) emotional interaction with families and intimate others, and (3) transcultural interaction with peers and virtual audience. The study contributes valuable insights into the potentialities of translanguaging within the context of children's play. Translanguaging emerges not only as a linguistic phenomenon but as a holistic approach to communication, reflecting the multifaceted nature of emergent bilingual children's identities and experiences. The hybridized approach observed in their play underscores the importance of recognizing translanguaging as a way of being and belonging for children and families with transnational and transcultural backgrounds. By shedding light on the intricate interplay between language, culture, and play, this research deepens our understanding of inclusive and liberating translanguaging spaces for emergent bilingual children.

Due to core challenges in social communication experienced by many young children with autism, children on the spectrum who are also dual language learners (DLLs) may benefit from developmentally-appropriate language supports in school settings. The current study examined whether home language status moderated the effect of a play-based intervention, JASPER, delivered in the classroom, in children with autism. Fifty-nine preschool children with autism received JASPER over eight weeks. Children who received JASPER improved significantly more in their language skills from entry to exit than children in preschool as usual. Home language status moderated the effect of treatment on receptive language where children of diverse linguistic backgrounds made greater gains in receptive language.

While extensive quantitative research has shed light on the cognitive mechanisms of dyslexia, few mixed-methods studies have been conducted to examine the perceptions of and attitudes towards learning in children with dyslexia, especially in Hong Kong, a bilingual context. In addition, the validity of the metaphor elicitation technique, which was adopted in previous interview studies, has not yet been examined in children. Therefore, 30 children with dyslexia (age range: 8-13; 10 females) in Hong Kong were interviewed for metaphors regarding six domains: Chinese reading, Chinese writing, having Chinese lessons, English reading, solving maths problems, and dyslexia. Word reading fluency and parent-rated learning interest and confidence were measured to validate the use of the metaphor elicitation method in assessing children's reading attitudes in both Chinese and English using correlation analyses. Perceptions were examined by way of qualitative analyses based on the metaphor entailments. Results showed that children who expressed more positive attitudes towards English reading performed better in English reading. Moreover, the attitudes also positively correlated with the corresponding parents' ratings. These findings suggested that the metaphor elicitation technique is a valid method for assessing attitudes towards English reading in children with dyslexia. Furthermore, their perceptions of dyslexia and learning generally corresponded to those from previous interview studies despite differences in languages and contexts. Importantly, descriptions related to multiple themes, including metalinguistic awareness, cognitive skills, coping strategies, and dyslexia, were well-aligned with scientific findings, demonstrating that children already have a good understanding of dyslexia and various learning domains.

Successful language learning in bilinguals requires the differentiation of two language systems. The capacity to discriminate rhythmically close languages has been reported in 4-month-olds using auditory-only stimuli. This research offers a novel perspective on early language discrimination using audiovisual material. Monolingual and bilingual infants were first habituated to a face talking in the participants' native language (or the more frequent language in bilingual contexts) and then tested on two successive language switches by the same speaker, with a close and a distant language. Code-switching exposure was indexed from parental questionnaires. Results revealed that while monolinguals could detect both the close- and distant-language switch, bilinguals only reacted to the distant language, regardless of home code-switching experience. In the temporal dimension, the analyses showed that language switch detection required at least 10 s, suggesting that the audiovisual presentation (here the same speaker switching languages) slowed down or even hindered the language switch detection. These results suggest that the detection of a multimodal close-language switch is a challenging task, especially for bilingual infants exposed to phonologically and rhythmically close languages. The current research sets the ground for further studies exploring the role of indexical cues and selective attention processes on language switch detection.

This study explores the decolonial potential of Chinese bilingual postgraduate students' translanguaging practices in English academic writing. It investigates the ways that students enact translanguaging to delink from monolingual standard English norms and integrate their authentic bilingual voices in the writing process. A case study was conducted to collect the students' written products and record and analyze their approaches and views to language use in academic writing in an English for academic purpose course. The findings reveal that students could employ the integrated multilingual repertoires to enhance learning outcomes, negotiate deficit linguistic views, and voice cultural identities in the writing process. Their translanguaging enactment transcends linguistic boundaries and English-dominated norms, providing empirical support for the decolonization of academic writing in Chinese higher education. The study underscores the importance of student-led negotiation of linguistic and cultural differences, advocating for critical engagement with translanguaging to deconstruct social inequalities perpetuated by hegemonic ideologies and promote bilingual subjectivities in non-Anglophone academic contexts.

This brief analyzes 4-year graduation rates among students ever classified as English learners (ever-ELs) and those never classified as English learners (never-ELs) at the intersections of gender, race/ethnicity, and neighborhood income. We follow two cohorts of New York City students who entered ninth grade in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 (N = 127,931). We find substantial variations in 4-year graduation among these subgroups, with differential predicted probabilities depending on the student's ever-EL status, race/ethnicity, and neighborhood income. These findings reveal important intersectional disparities in this diverse group of ELs--nuances that are lost when analyzing across a single social dimension and that push us to adopt an intersectional lens in quantitative research on ELs.

Phonological awareness is the stepping-stone to learning to read as it helps children map language sounds onto letters. Theories of bilingualism posit that phonological awareness is a language-common literacy skill. However, bilingual learners are also thought to build language-specific representations. To illuminate common and specific dual-language processes, we asked bilingual Spanish-English heritage language speakers (N = 60, M[subscript age] = 8.2) to complete a phonological sound-matching task in Spanish and English during functional Near Infrared Neuroimaging (fNIRS). The left perisylvian activation was common across bilinguals' two languages, including similar active regions and functional connections. The findings further revealed language-specific modulation of the system with more robust engagement of the temporal networks for Spanish and frontal networks for English. We interpret the results in the context of analytically demanding reading experiences in English and more informal home-based Spanish language experiences typical of heritage language speakers.

In 2020, 21.5% of US preschoolers spoke a language other than English at home. These children transition into English-speaking classrooms in different ways, often handling foundational concepts in two languages. Critically, some knowledge may be dependent on the language of learning. For instance, both bilingual children and adults typically prefer, and exhibit higher performance on arithmetic in the language in which they learned math (LA+) compared with their other language (LA-). The typical interpretation is that arithmetic facts are accessed from memory more efficiently or solely in LA+. However, recent research suggests that bilingual arithmetic is not restricted to one language in memory, and that language experience plays an important role in performance. Moreover, evidence suggests children and adults process arithmetic fundamentally differently. Thus, bilingual arithmetic memory may manifest differently across the life span. This review outlines evidence to date at the intersection between the brain basis of bilingualism, arithmetic processing, and development.

Purpose: There is limited research on the writing of young Spanish-English bilinguals and their writing in both languages. In the current study, we addressed whether written syntax features differed by language (English and Spanish) and varied as a function of grade level, English learner status, and instructional program (dual or English immersion). We also examined whether Spanish and English syntax features were related cross-linguistically and related to writing quality within languages and whether these relations to writing quality were moderated by grade level, English learner status, and instructional program. Method: We examined written syntax features of Spanish and English essays by simultaneous and emergent bilinguals in Grades 1, 2, and 3 in either Spanish-English dual immersion or English immersion instruction in the United States (N = 278). Essays were scored for quality and evaluated for mean length of T-units, number of verbs, number of noun agreement words, and number of subject agreement words accurately conjugated. Results: Written syntax features significantly differed by language and varied as a function of grade level, English learner status, and instructional program. Grades 2 and 3 wrote longer utterances, more verbs, and greater noun agreement accuracy than Grade 1. Syntax features were related to writing quality within languages, but Spanish relations were weaker for English learners than non-English learners and for dual immersion students than English immersion students. Conclusion: Our findings suggest written syntax features may be useful for evaluation of English-Spanish simultaneous and emergent bilinguals' writing.

Purpose: This study examined the language and nonverbal inhibitory control skills of Italian monolingual and bilingual typically developing (TD) preschoolers with Italian as their second language and of age-matched monolingual and bilingual peers with developmental language disorder (DLD). Method: Four groups of preschoolers were enrolled: 30 TD Italian monolinguals, 24 TD bilinguals, 19 Italian monolinguals with DLD, and 19 bilinguals with DLD. All children were assessed in Italian on vocabulary, receptive morphosyntax, and morphological markers for DLD in the Italian language (i.e., third-person verb inflections, definite articles, third-person direct-object clitic pronouns, simple prepositions) and nonverbal inhibitory control skills. Group performance was compared using a series of one-way analyses of variance. Results: Monolingual and bilingual children with DLD achieved significantly lower performance in all language measures compared to both TD monolingual and bilingual children. However, TD bilinguals, although comprehensively showing better language skills than monolinguals with DLD, achieved a performance closer to that of monolinguals with DLD but significantly higher than that of bilinguals with DLD. Both TD monolinguals and bilinguals showed better results than both DLD groups in inhibitory control tasks, particularly in the interference suppression task. Conclusions: This study provides a picture of language and inhibitory control characteristics of children with various language profiles and adds to the literature on potential markers of DLD among bilingual children. These results suggest that the assessment of nonlinguistic markers, which are associated with language impairment, could be a useful approach to better specify the diagnosis of DLD and reduce cases of misdiagnosis in the context of bilingualism.

Sometime before their second birthday, many children have a period of rapid expressive vocabulary growth called the vocabulary spurt. Theories of the underlying mechanisms differ: Accumulator models emphasize the accumulation of experience with words over time to yield a spurtlike pattern, while cognitive models attribute the spurt to cognitive changes. To test these theories, English-French monolingual and bilingual children with different exposure to each language were studied. Dense, longitudinal data were analyzed from 45 infants aged 16-30 months, whose expressive vocabulary was measured on a total of 617 occasions in English and/or French. Single-language (English and/or French), concept (number of concepts lexicalized across both languages), and word (sum of both languages) vocabulary scores were computed. Infants' exposure to each language and their exposure balance were measured using a language exposure questionnaire. Logistic curves were fitted to each infant's data to estimate the timing (midpoint) and steepness (slope) of the vocabulary spurt in single-language, concept, and word vocabularies. Seventy-six percent of infants showed a spurt in at least one vocabulary type, and bilinguals were less likely to show one in their nondominant than their dominant language. For single-language vocabulary, infants with more exposure to a language had earlier spurts. For combined vocabularies (concept and word), monolinguals and unbalanced bilinguals had earlier and steeper spurts than balanced bilinguals. Results better support the predictions of accumulator models than cognitive theories and show that infants follow different vocabulary acquisition trajectories based on their language background.

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of a graphic organizer for improving the expository text comprehension of adolescent Spanish-English bilingual students with learning disabilities. Students were two females and one male. Using a multiple baseline single case design, researchers taught students to create a funnel map graphic organizer for 10 descriptive text passages. Students' performance was assessed on their ability to correctly create the funnel map (criterion variable) and to comprehend expository passages during baseline, intervention, and maintenance phases. Each participant learned to create an accurate funnel map within four sessions. Text comprehension scores began to increase within three sessions. Results showed the positive effect of using the funnel map for improving comprehension of expository texts. Individual Tau effect sizes (0.81-0.92) and overall Tau-U effect sizes (0.86) and a Between Case-Standardized Mean Difference (BC-SMD) of 1.87 showed the intervention to be highly effective.

This U.S. study evaluated the effects of a reading intervention for emergent bilingual students with significant reading difficulties in Grades 6 and 7 within a multisite randomized controlled trial. Emergent bilinguals were randomized to a researcher-provided intervention (n = 171) or business-as-usual comparison condition (n = 169). Results on a measure of word reading indicated significant differences favoring treatment after Year 1; however, there were no significant differences between groups on standardized measures of reading comprehension. Initial English vocabulary knowledge moderated reading comprehension scores at the beginning of the second year of intervention, indicating that students' response to instruction varied as a function of their initial English language proficiency. The discussion focuses on interpreting these findings with an emphasis on improving the effectiveness of interventions for secondary grade emergent bilinguals with significant reading difficulties.

Bilingualism has become the norm--not the exception--in today's globalized world. The development of bilingual proficiency in English and other languages is increasing worldwide. Saudi Arabia is one of many countries within the expanding circle of nations in which English (although with no official status) enjoys a special position as the sole foreign language taught in public schools. This study examined Saudi university students' beliefs about issues surrounding bilingualism, particularly about their first language (L1), second language (L2), and potential benefits of being bilingual. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and a focus group discussion with 15 university students. The findings showed that all students explicitly self-identified as bilingual based on their perceived linguistic repertoire and daily bilingual practices. Self-identification seems to have an empowering effect, which positively influences beliefs about bilingualism and language learning. As members of the dominant Arabic-speaking group, the students were able to achieve sequential additive bilingualism. Overall, the students saw bilingualism as an advantage and highlighted its perceived benefits, the instrumental importance of English, and the vital role of Arabic as a marker of their ethnoreligious identity.

This study explores four 1.5-generation Korean-New Zealanders' perceptions of bilingualism, heritage language (HL) competence, and identity. Drawing on interview data, the study shows that the participants were strongly connected to their ethnic group and strove to accept and strengthen their hyphenated Korean-New Zealander identities through foregrounding their bilingual and bicultural competence. In addition to their Korean use at home, socializing with other Korean speakers at church and in peer groups aided their learning of a wide range of registers in context, while providing culturally sensitive places for the participants to explore their identities. Nevertheless, the study also found that the participants encountered racial and linguistic hierarchical structures from which they were marginalized, which delayed their construction of positive bilingual identities. The findings enable a deeper understanding of how family-internal and family-external factors shape immigrant children's identities, and suggest that substantial institutional and societal support are needed to foster immigrant children's bilingualism and biculturalism.

Purpose: This study used structural equation modeling to investigate the dimensionality of language in Spanish-English bilingual kindergartners. Five theoretical models were compared, including (a) a unidimensional model; (b) a two-dimensional model by language (Spanish, English); (c) a three-dimensional model by domain of language (phonology, semantics, morphosyntax); (d) a second-order model organized first by language (Spanish, English), with each language dimension comprising three domain-specific dimensions (phonology, semantics, morphosyntax); and (e) a six-dimensional model with freely covarying language-specific domains. Method: Participants included 238 Spanish-English bilingual kindergartens, as identified by parent report of current language exposure and direct language measures. All participants completed a battery of phonology, semantics, and morphosyntactic test items in English and in Spanish. Results: The six-dimensional covarying model constrained by domain and language provided the best fit for the data, with six separate factors for phonology, morphosyntax, and semantics in English and Spanish. The excellent model fit is supported by findings of a [chi-squared] to df (degrees of freedom) ratio < 2 with no significance, comparative fit index > 0.95, standardized root-mean-square residual < 0.08, and root-mean-square error of approximation values [less than or equal to] 0.05. Conclusions: Results support emergent theories of bilingual language development. Application of the results to the evaluation and intervention of oral language abilities in bilingual children entering the formal education setting are considered.

Many bilinguals switch languages in daily-life conversations. Although this usually happens within sentence context and with another speaker, most research on the cognitive mechanisms underlying the production of language switches has studied individual words. Here, we examined how context influences both switching frequency and the temporal cost associated with it. Sixty Bulgarian-English bilinguals named pictures in their language of choice without any context, in a sentence context, and in interaction with another (recorded) bilingual. Switching frequency was lower, and costs higher, when bilinguals switched languages with context than without context. This suggests switching costs were not an artifact of tasks without context. Furthermore, both switching frequency and costs correlated across the tasks. In addition, we examined the potential influence of sentence context and the conversation partner. Predictability in sentence context has previously been argued to reduce language competition, which in turn could influence switching. We therefore compared sentences with a predictable or unpredictable target word. As hypothesized, bilinguals were less likely to switch languages when a word was predictable in its sentence context, potentially because words in the other language were less active. The conversation partner's overall switching behaviour had little impact on a bilingual's general switching rate, showing relatively low global alignment. However, local alignment was observed as switching was influenced by the partner's switching in the immediately preceding utterance. Together, these findings show that while production tasks without context can reliably measure switching costs, studying effects of context is necessary to better capture a bilingual's language-switching behavior.

Motivation to learn languages strongly correlates with language achievement, and the school context has a great influence on the motivation of young learners (YLs). A key rationale for the implementation of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) programs, therefore, was pupil motivation. Very few studies have measured motivation in this context, especially in primary schools. Even fewer have done so in bilingual areas, where the continuation of widespread use of the regional language often depends on its presence in the school system and where CLIL reduces this presence. To address these gaps, motivation towards the foreign language (FL), English, and the regional language, Basque, was measured in 399 YLs of English (aged 10-12 years) in Basque immersion schools. The learners were divided into a CLIL group (n = 230), with English as a foreign language (EFL) and CLIL lessons, and a non-CLIL group (n = 169), which received only EFL lessons. Results showed that the CLIL learners had a more positive attitude towards English and a slightly lower motivation towards Basque. This suggests that increasing the amount of exposure to the foreign language (FL) via CLIL lessons improves the motivation towards English but could decrease the instrumental motivation towards the regional language.

This article reports on two experiments that examine the computation of contrastive focus in Russian on the part of adult English-dominant heritage speakers and second language learners of Russian, in comparison with baseline monolinguals. The first experiment uses an acceptability judgment task to determine whether bilingual and monolingual speakers use both contextual and prosodic cues to determine the location of contrastive focus. A follow-up experiment uses two prominence detection tasks in order to separately examine participants' sensitivity to contextual vs. prosodic cues. The findings indicate that, at higher proficiency, bilingual speakers of Russian successfully use both contextual and prosodic cues to contrastive focus; with proficiency controlled for, heritage speakers do not have an advantage over second language learners in this domain. These findings are discussed in light of cross-linguistic influence and interface vulnerability.

Purpose: This longitudinal study investigated the trajectory of Spanish article accuracy in Spanish-English dual language learners (DLLs) from preschool to first grade, addressing the need for longitudinal data on the variability of Spanish grammatical skills in DLLs in English immersion classrooms. Method: Language sample analysis was conducted on 336 Spanish and English narrative retells elicited from 31 Spanish-English DLLs (range: 45-85 months). Growth curve models captured within- and between-individual change in article accuracy from the beginning of preschool to the end of first grade. Results: As a group, DLLs did not exhibit significant positive or negative growth in Spanish article accuracy over time. On average, article accuracy remained stable at 76% from preschool throughout first grade. Participants exhibited significant variability in article accuracy that was partly explained by changes in Spanish proficiency. Spanish article accuracy was lower for DLLs with lower Spanish proficiency indexed by measures from the Spanish language samples, while English proficiency indexed by the English language samples did not affect Spanish article accuracy. Conclusions: These findings suggest that expectations for Spanish grammatical performance in DLLs need to be adjusted to account for the possible impact of not receiving Spanish support in English immersion school settings. DLLs in these instructional programs do not exhibit article accuracy at a level expected for monolingual Spanish speakers. Significant individual differences in both individual status and growth rates of Spanish article accuracy highlight the broad variability in Spanish language skills of DLLs in the United States.

With the overwhelming "Anglocentric" or "alphabetocentric" science of reading, the current review aimed to add to the science of reading acquisition from the perspective of abugidic writing system, distinct from the well-research alphabetic writing system in multiple dimensions of orthographic complexity, as proposed by Daniels and Share (2018), such as linguistic distance, spatial arrangement and non-linearity, and omission of phonological elements. Abugidic writing system is featured with scripts where each base consonant symbol denotes a consonant with an inherent vowel (/a/) and has billions of users in south Asia (e.g., India, Nepal, Sri Lanka), southeast Asia (e.g., Thailand, Laos, Cambodia), east Asia (parts of China) and Africa (Ethiopia and Eritrea). The current review describes the orthographic feature of Indic (Brahmi-derived) and Ethiopic (Ge'ez) scripts within the abugidic writing system and synthesizes existing findings on the literacy acquisition patterns specific to each script. Further, we elaborate on the multilingual and biscriptal language and literacy environment featured with the abugida-writing societies and discuss the theoretical implication for considering multilingualism and biscriptality as an inseparable sociolinguistic factor when understanding the literacy acquisition of the abugidic writing system in particular and literacy in general.

This study examined the initial efficacy of World Generation (WorldGen), a Tier I social studies instructional approach for emergent bilingual (EB) students and their native English-speaking (non-EB) peers in Grades 6 and 7. WorldGen builds on prior research on instructional practices that have been associated with improved content knowledge and literacy outcomes for EBs in classes of students with varying English proficiency. Using a within-teacher design, middle grades world history teachers' classes were randomly assigned to WorldGen treatment (17) or comparison conditions (16) for three to four approximately two-week units. The student sample included 42% EBs. Students in the treatment condition (n = 373) scored higher, on average, on world history content (Hedges' g = 0.47) and vocabulary knowledge (Hedges' g = 0.41) than students in the comparison condition (n = 343) but no statistically significant findings were yielded regarding disciplinary literacy skills at the end of WorldGen instruction. Of primary interest, the statistically significant main effects indicated that world history content knowledge and vocabulary learning was similar for both current EB and non-EB students in the treatment condition. The findings provide initial support for the use of the WorldGen instructional practices for improving content acquisition and vocabulary in general education social studies classes with students with a range of English proficiency. Furthermore, teachers perceived the WorldGen instructional practices and materials as providing the information and learning experiences necessary to support students in meeting grade-level expectations.