Lexical Diversity and Omission Errors as Predictors of Language Ability in the Narratives of Sequential Spanish-English Bilinguals: A Cross-Language Comparison

Autor/inn/en	Jacobson, Peggy F.; Walden, Patrick R.
Titel	Lexical Diversity and Omission Errors as Predictors of Language Ability in the Narratives of Sequential Spanish-English Bilinguals: A Cross-Language Comparison
Quelle	In: American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 22 (2013) 3, S.554-565 (12 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1058-0360
DOI	10.1044/1058-0360(2013/11-0055)
Schlagwörter	Bilingual Students; Spanish; English (Second Language); Language Impairments; Elementary School Students; Middle School Students; Predictor Variables; Oral Language; Story Telling; Regression (Statistics); Test of Nonverbal Intelligence; Woodcock Munoz Language Survey + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Spanisch; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Speech disorder; Speech disorders; Speech disabilities; Speech disability; Speech handicap; Speech handicaps; Speech impairment; Speech impairments; Language handicaps; Sprachbehinderung; Middle school; Middle schools; Student; Students; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Prädiktor; Oral interpretation; Mündlicher Sprachgebrauch; Regression; Regressionsanalyse
Abstract	Purpose: This study explored the utility of language sample analysis for evaluating language ability in school-age Spanish-English sequential bilingual children. Specifically, the relative potential of lexical diversity and word/morpheme omission as predictors of typical or atypical language status was evaluated. Method: Narrative samples were obtained from 48 bilingual children in both of their languages using the suggested narrative retell protocol and coding conventions as per Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT; Miller & Iglesias, 2008) software. An additional lexical diversity measure, VocD, was also calculated. A series of logistical hierarchical regressions explored the utility of the number of different words, VocD statistic, and word and morpheme omissions in each language for predicting language status. Results: Omission errors turned out to be the best predictors of bilingual language impairment at all ages, and this held true across languages. Although lexical diversity measures did not predict typical or atypical language status, the measures were significantly related to oral language proficiency in English and Spanish. Conclusion: The results underscore the significance of omission errors in bilingual language impairment while simultaneously revealing the limitations of lexical diversity measures as indicators of impairment. The relationship between lexical diversity and oral language proficiency highlights the importance of considering relative language proficiency in bilingual assessment. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10