Influences of bilingualism and developmental language disorder on how children learn and process words.

Abstract

Previous studies found that bilingual children and adults with typical language development (TLD) perform better than monolinguals in novel word learning, but show lower scores on lexical retrieval tasks (e.g., naming known words). Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) lack in their abilities in both tasks compared with children with TLD. The current study tested the interplay between bilingualism and language disorder during novel word learning and lexical retrieval. Preschoolers (N = 101; 50 boys and 51 girls; mothers' mean years of education = 16.35) in four groups (Hebrew monolinguals or Russian-Hebrew bilinguals with DLD or TLD) learned 12 novel real words (6 with a familiar referent and 6 with a novel referent) and performed a lexical retrieval task. Children exhibited significant learning with no effect of bilingualism, but a negative effect of language disorder. Thus, children with DLD performed worse than children with TLD, and this ability was not affected by bilingualism. In lexical retrieval, DLD groups scored lower than TLD groups, and critically also bilinguals scored lower than monolinguals. This differential effect of bilingualism in the two tasks suggests that bilingualism does not impede language learning mechanisms even among children with DLD. Instead, the findings suggest that lower performance in the lexical retrieval task is due to decreased frequency of exposure. By exploring both word learning and lexical retrieval, the study highlights the differential mechanisms at play in the effects of bilingualism and language disorder on the developing lexicon.

Executive function skills account for a bilingual advantage in English word learning among low-income preschoolers

“…The results of our first research question extends existing research to demonstrate that the bilingual advantage in word learning exist by preschool for children from low-income backgrounds. Some studies indicate this bilingual advantage in learning novel words does not apply to infants and young toddlers due to limited exposure to two languages and limited linguistic experience of learning new words (Byers-Heinlein et al, 2013;Barak et al, 2022), however, our results indicate that the bilingual advantage in learning novel words may grow with age. We speculate that accumulated language learning experiences throughout infancy and toddlerhood likely lead to the observed advantage in word learning by preschool.…”

“…However, studies of word learning among monolingual and bilingual children do not always yield similar results. While a few studies report no differences in word learning between monolingual and bilingual infants and preschoolers (Byers-Heinlein, Fennell & Werker, 2013;Barak, Degani & Novogrodsky, 2022), there are also studies showing a bilingual advantage in word learning among children as young as 3-years-old (i.e., Yoshida et al, 2011).…”

Développement professionnel pour l’enseignement direct et explicite du vocabulaire scolaire et polyvalent dans les écoles de langue française en contexte minoritaire

“…En fait, un enfant bilingue a besoin de 40-60 % d'exposition à chaque langue pour avoir un vocabulaire réceptif (compréhension des mots) comparable à celui d'un enfant monolingue ; il en a besoin encore plus pour développer son vocabulaire expressif (usage de la langue). Comparativement à leurs pairs monolingues, les locuteurs bilingues ont tendance à avoir un vocabulaire expressif réduit et un accès lexical ralenti dans chacune de leurs langues (Barak et al, 2022 ;Bialystok et al, 2010 ;Gross et al, 2014). Cependant, lorsque le vocabulaire des deux langues est combiné, les enfants bilingues et monolingues présentent souvent un répertoire lexical similaire (Pearson et al, 1997).…”

“…ex., Hirosh et Degani, 2018 ;Kaushanskaya et al, 2014). Cependant, lorsqu'il s'agit de l'apprentissage d'un nouveau signifié, cet avantage bilingue n'est présent que lorsque le nouveau signifiant est acquis par le biais de la première langue, ou la langue dominante (Barak et al, 2022 ;Bogulski et al, 2019 ;Degani et Goldberg, 2019). Cela dit, l'instruction explicite du vocabulaire, surtout le « vocabulaire scolaire » (terme explicité plus loin), est essentielle à l'acquisition adéquate du langage réceptif et expressif de l'enfant, tant à l'oral qu'à l'écrit, dans chacune de ses langues parlées, et particulièrement dans sa langue seconde (Marulis et Neuman, 2010).…”

The Intervention of Picture Books on Children with Specific Language Impairment: Progress, Challenges, and Prospects

“…However, the vocabulary defect and phonetic acquisition defect of SLI children limit their voice information capacity, affect the information capacity and information storage time of their short-term memory, and the elimination speed of voice information is faster than that of ordinary children(G. Conti-Ramsden, Botting, et al, 2001). At the same time, studies have pointed out that SLI children have a particularly difficult time learning new referents in vocabulary retrieval tasks, and it is difficult to predict their new word learning (Barak, Degani, et al, 2022), which will further lead to children's difficulty in reading sentences. Poor comprehension and discourse affect the development of children's reading ability (Coloma, De Barbieri, et al, 2020).…”