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ERIC Number: EJ971722
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Feb
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1092-4388
EISSN: N/A
Semantic Deficits in Spanish-English Bilingual Children with Language Impairment
Sheng, Li; Pena, Elizabeth D.; Bedore, Lisa M.; Fiestas, Christine E.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, v55 n1 p1-15 Feb 2012
Purpose: To examine the nature and extent of semantic deficits in bilingual children with language impairment (LI). Method: Thirty-seven Spanish-English bilingual children with LI (ranging from age 7;0 [years;months] to 9;10) and 37 typically developing (TD) age-matched peers generated 3 associations to 12 pairs of translation equivalents in English and Spanish. Responses were coded as paradigmatic (e.g., "dinner-lunch," "cena-desayuno" ["dinner-breakfast"]), syntagmatic (e.g., "delicious-pizza," "delicioso-frijoles" ["delicious-beans"]), and errors (e.g., "wearing-where," "vestirse-mal" ["to get dressed-bad"]). A semantic depth score was derived in each language and conceptually by combining children's performance in both languages. Results: The LI group achieved significantly lower semantic depth scores than the TD group after controlling for group differences in vocabulary size. Children showed higher conceptual scores than single-language scores. Both groups showed decreases in semantic depth scores across multiple elicitations. Analyses of individual performances indicated that semantic deficits (1 "SD" below the TD mean semantic depth score) were manifested in 65% of the children with LI and in 14% of the TD children. Conclusion: School-age bilingual children with and without LI demonstrated spreading activation of semantic networks. Consistent with the literature on monolingual children with LI, sparsely linked semantic networks characterize a considerable proportion of bilingual children with LI.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). 10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. Tel: 800-638-8255; Fax: 301-571-0457; e-mail: subscribe@asha.org; Web site: http://jslhr.asha.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A