ERIC Number: EJ764350
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Jan
Pages: 17
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1368-2822
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Non-Word Repetition in Spanish-Speaking Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI)
Girbau, Dolors; Schwartz, Richard G.
International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, v42 n1 p59-75 Jan 2007
Background: A number of previous studies have revealed that children with Specific Language Impairment have limitations in Phonological Working Memory as revealed by a task that requires them to repeat non-words of increasing syllable length. However, most published studies have used non-words that are phonotactically English. Aims: The purpose was to examine the repetition of non-words that are consistent with the phonotactic patterns of Spanish. The study also examined the relationship between non-word repetition performance and other language measures. Methods & Procedures: Eleven Spanish-speaking children with Specific Language Impairment and 11 age-matched children with typical language development aged 8;3-10;11, who were part of a larger study of sentence processing, participated in the study. The primary data were the children's repetition of 20 non-words, four at each syllable length (one, two, three, four and five syllables). The children's productions were transcribed and scored for non-word, segmental and cluster accuracy as well as for error type. Outcomes & Results: The children with Specific Language Impairment performed more poorly on almost all measures of accuracy, but particularly in their production of three-, four-, and five-syllable non-words. Substitutions were the most frequent error type for both groups. Likelihood ratios indicated that non-word repetition performance is a highly accurate identifier of language status in these preselected groups. The children's non-word repetition was highly correlated with most of the standardized language measures that were administered to the children. Conclusions: The repetition of non-words consistent with Spanish phonotactics reveals word-length effects and error patterns similar to those found in previous studies. It extends these findings to older school-age Spanish-speaking children with Specific Language Impairment. Given the limited choices for instruments that can be used to identify children with Specific Language Impairment, a Spanish Non-word Repetition Task has the potential to be a valuable screening test for clinical and research purposes. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)
Descriptors: Program Effectiveness, Memory, Syllables, Spanish Speaking, Screening Tests, Language Acquisition, Error Patterns, Language Impairments, Children, Psycholinguistics, Phonology, Suprasegmentals, Reading Comprehension, Preschool Children, Early Childhood Education
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities; Test of Nonverbal Intelligence; Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A