Few studies have focused on bilingual language development in school-aged simultaneous bilingual children. The current study tackles this gap in the literature by examining the influence of language exposure on the development of both languages in school-aged simultaneous bilingual living in additive bilingual contexts. The language abilities of…

This volume presents research on second language learning through audiovisual input, conducted within the SUBTiLL (Subtitles in Language Learning) project at the University of Barcelona. It includes studies exploring various language dimensions and skills, such as vocabulary, pronunciation, and reading, while also considering learner factors, such…

The effect of language aptitude on grammar attainment of second language learners with different ages of onset became one of the hot topics in the last decades. However, most previous studies were conducted in a second language context with inconsistent results, and few studies were conducted in a foreign language context. To fill this gap, the…

English lessons are obligatory from second grade onwards in Turkish state schools which means that language learners are exposed to English early on. Despite an early start, language learners struggle to acquire foreign language speaking skills. The problem of speaking English is a frequently encountered topic of discussion in educational…

Gifted children are described as very talented children who achieve more than their age mates in one or more domains (Steiner and Carr in Educ Psychol Rev 15(3):215-246, 2003). These children potentially share a cognitive advantage enabling them to excel in language, but also in other domains. In the present study we explored whether gifted…

Purpose: There is conflicting evidence regarding if and how a deficit in executive function may be associated with developmental language impairment (LI). Nonlinguistic stimuli are now frequently used when testing executive function to avoid a language confound. However, it is possible that increased stimulus processing demands for nonlinguistic…

This study investigated the effects of task complexity on child learners' second language (L2) gains, the relationship between aptitude and L2 development, and the extent to which task complexity influences this relationship when recasts are provided. Sixty child EFL learners were assigned to two experimental groups. During the treatment, one…

We report the first study on pronoun use by an under-studied research population, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exposed to American Sign Language from birth by their deaf parents. Personal pronouns cause difficulties for hearing children with ASD, who sometimes reverse or avoid them. Unlike speech pronouns, sign pronouns are…

Purpose: The purpose of this research forum article is to provide an overview of typical and atypical development of English as a second language (L2) and to present strategies for clinical assessment with English language learners (ELLs). Method: A review of studies examining the lexical, morphological, narrative, and verbal memory abilities of…

Purpose: This article explains why it is reasonable to question the view that stuttering and language ability in children are linked--the so-called "stuttering-language connection." Method: Studies that focused on syntactic, morphologic, and lexical development in children who stutter (CWS) are examined for evidence to support the following…

Purpose: This study explored the prevalence and stability of behavioral difficulties and self-concepts between the ages of 8 and 17 years in a sample of children with a history of specific language impairment (SLI). We investigated whether earlier behavioral, emotional, and social difficulties (BESD); self-concepts; and language and literacy…

Two studies addressed key theoretical debates in theory of mind (ToM) development by comparing (a) deaf native signers (n = 18), (b) deaf late signers (n = 59), and (c) age-matched hearing persons (n = 74) in childhood (Study 1: n = 81) and adulthood (Study 2: n = 70) on tests of first- and second-order false belief and conversational sarcasm.…

Facilitative linguistic input directly connected to children's interest and focus of attention has become a recommended component of interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This longitudinal correlational study used two assessment time points and examined the association between parental undemanding…

Children aged 3-2 years (n = 184) with typical development, deafness, autism, or Asperger syndrome took a series of theory-of-mind (ToM) tasks to confirm and extend previous developmental scaling evidence. A new sarcasm task, in the format of H. M. Wellman and D. Liu's (2004) 5-step ToM Scale, added a statistically reliable 6th step to the scale…

Language ability is a known predictor of outcome in children with autism but plays a more controversial role for higher functioning children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We studied the relationship between early language milestones and later structural language, adaptive functioning and autism symptoms in a sample of 76 children (mean age…