Lexical & Semantic Development & Disorder in Spanish-English Bilinguals

Lexical and Semantic Development and Disorder in Spanish-English Bilinguals

What is Different in a Bilingual?

• Lexical knowledge is distributed over two languages.

• There are two sets of vocabulary from which to choose.

• There is a more significant gap between expressive and receptive language than seen in monolinguals.

• The quick strategy of word-vocabulary learning differs.

1. 1. Initially, there are differences in how they will use fast mapping—“mutual exclusivity bias.”

   2. Fast-mapping of word meaning is more efficient in L1 than in L2.

   3. They would not necessarily assign the unfamiliar item to the unfamiliar object because they better understand that one item can have multiple labels.

• A monolingual child with limited vocabulary is likely to score lower on other language measures, but a bilingual child will not—profile effect.

• Shared conceptual knowledge but mapping of concept -> language-specific vocabulary knowledge is separate.

• May have a language/lexical spurt in development in one language at a time.

• Correlation between language exposure and production:

1. 1. Exposure in each language affects the amount of vocabulary produced in each language.

   2. The stability of L2 affects performance in both languages. 

   3. More context-dependent vocabulary 

Signs of Disorder

Signs of disorder will be different depending on the age of the child. It might be good to look at Total Conceptual Vocabulary (TCV) for younger kids and Total Vocabulary for older kids. The child should have more exposure by older age. The following symptoms can be a sign of a disorder.

• They express shorter MLUs.

• It takes longer to learn a new word than TD peers.

• Typically developing (TD) children can maintain acquisition of Spanish while learning English, but children with LI will slow or stall with their Spanish acquisition or while learning English. 

1. 1. They may experience language loss earlier than TD peers.

• Alternatively, a child with LI might not switch to L2 in terms of dominance.

• Their test scores are low on other aspects of assessment besides vocabulary.

• Bilingual children with LI have more shallow semantic representations. 

1. 1. Ex: category labels and naming fewer items within each category

• If there is a discrepancy between the CDI TCV scores between the bilingual and monolingual norms, it could signify a disorder.

• They must show challenges in BOTH languages, not just English.

• They may be less likely to discuss object functions.

• They present with increased errors.

• Subtractive effects of L2 on L1

• Less phonological awareness in both languages

*In isolation, these signs do not always imply a language disorder, but it may be good to watch as red flags

Assessment Techniques

• Assess total vocabulary and total conceptual vocabulary in both languages.

• Gather a comprehensive language history (as much as possible) to understand the history of language use and exposure.

1. 1. Simultaneous vs. sequential bilingual

   2. Amount of time in the country

   3. Family history of language delays or disorders

• Examine how concepts map to vocabulary size.

1. 1. Do they have words for each concept in both languages?

• • • Ex: “ventana” and “window” means they have the TE for that concept, but if they have “floor” but not “piso,” they do not have the TE for that concept.

• Use a language sample to determine the TTR and analyze it for breadth and depth of vocabulary. 

1. 1. Try to establish how it compares to typical language and speech patterns in L1.

• Talk to the parents about their language use and demands, when and with whom they use each language, and in each context.

• Keep in mind the context of each language exposure when assessing vocabulary in that language.

• Consider the context of the assessment. 

1. 1. Are they familiar with naming tasks? Description of functions tasks?

• When using standardized measures, test beyond the ceilings, be open, and use them in non-standardized manners (more dynamic assessment).

• In the US, always examine language use in both languages even if it is suspected that the child has little/no English.

• In reporting, consider as much description rather than standard score reporting as possible. 

1. 1. Use criterion-referenced measures to compare the child to children as similar as possible to increase the validity of the scores.

• Look at both languages—ideally performing each task in the language they are more robust in, mixing it as needed.

1. 1. Ex. academic tasks in English and community-oriented tasks in Spanish for a home-Spanish speaker who learns English at school.

• Look at different types of relationships between words.

• Choose assessment measures that have similar frequency and complexity in both languages.

• Keep dialectical bias in mind.

Vocabulary Tests

MacArthur Bates

• It does not have a bilingual version but does have Spanish and English versions.

• It can be compared with monolingual norms for an estimate of the development.

• Use the CDI in both languages and compare bilingual’s conceptual score (TCV) to monolingual norms.

Language Development Survey Spanish/English Vocabulary Checklist

• Less expensive than CDI

*Consider PLS-4 because it does maintain the progressive difficulty where many translated assessments do not — still has potential issues with standardization; it should be used to identify challenges.

Dynamic Assessment

• The Test-Teach-Retest model is recommended.

• It helps to isolate from input/exposure variables.

• It measures the ability to learn from new exposure.

• It provides support and sees how they respond.

• Language sample (could be dynamic assessment or not) for lexical diversity and MLU

1. 1. The number of different words and vocabulary diversity will change depending on the length of the child’s utterances.

• Take context into account—use familiar materials and elicitation procedures.

Intervention Ideas

• Support both languages in the intervention.

• Teach caregivers to use incidental teaching opportunities and multiple models.

• Provide support for caregiver and child book reading.

• Focus on depth of vocabulary over quantity.

• Combine direct teaching of words and word-learning strategies.

• Explicitly teach morphology.

• Embed vocabulary instruction during literacy activities (repetitive measures).

• Treat in a more dominant language could be more appropriate.

1. 1. Functional measures using the context of what language that function is occurring make it more salient.

• Metalinguistic skills are taught in the stronger language but give support for those skills in the weaker language in a functional context.

• Teach cognates.

1. 1. Use Tier 1 Spanish words to scaffold vocabulary learning of Tier 2 English words.

   2. Even typically developing ELLs need explicit instruction in cognates.

• Use more explanation and elaboration to build a foundation for approaches with other languages (pre-activation).

1. 1. Ex. explain morphological structure when teaching a word.

• Promote multiple opportunities over time to use language to address more significant expressive/receptive gap

• Vocabulary, structure, and pragmatic development should happen with a monolingual approach—teaching in each language separately.

• Strategies for learning categories can carry over to both languages.

• Consider cultural aspects: sorts of words that appear in that language more frequently.

Other Languages

Points to consider

• They may be more reliant on parent/interpreter reports.

• SLP must understand some aspects of the morphology and syntax of that language.

1. 1. Ex. its effects on word order.

• SLP must have some grasp on phonotactics of the languages - what is ok in that language?

• Gather info on norms - i.e., MLU norms? How are words used? Pragmatics?

• Assess in both languages.

• Try to gather as much language info as possible - history, use, home language, conversations partners, exposure.

• Bring in expertise of others in other areas if necessary.

1. 1. Consult with ELL teachers, counselors, pediatricians, other therapists.

• Learn typical order of acquisition of the language.

• Similarities and differences in how the language is “built” for a typically developing child—timeline.

• Understand the difference in use.

• Consider the sentence structure, gender assignments, suffixes (as in for nouns in Spanish).