Performance on semantic language tasks by Spanish-English bilingual children with varying levels of language proficiency
Year: 2002
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This study explores a functionalist approach to language acquisition by \nexamining the performance of bilingual children with varying levels of proficiency in \nEnglish and Spanish on a test of semantic language skills with six different tasks. \nOverall test performance was similar across language groups and for bilinguals in \ntheir two languages but differences were seen in performance on the individual \nsemantic language tasks. Specifically, the bilingual children demonstrated better \nperformance on the Linguistic Concepts task in English and on the Functions task in \nSpanish, and the bilingual children performed better on the Categorization task than \npredominantly Spanish speaking children. Finally, different developmental \ntrajectories were seen in the different language proficiency groups. These findings \nwould be predicted by input given socialization practices and structural differences in \nthe two languages.
Author: Ellen Stubbe Kester
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2151748343