The Dimensionality of Language in Spanish-English Bilingual Children.

IF 2.2 2区医学 Q1 AUDIOLOGY & SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research Pub Date : 2025-05-08 Epub Date: 2025-04-23 DOI:10.1044/2025_JSLHR-23-00771

Juliana Ronderos, Anny Castilla-Earls, Arturo E Hernandez, Lisa Fitton

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Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated the dimensionality of language in bilingual children using measures of semantics and morphosyntax in English and Spanish.

Method: Participants included 112 Spanish-English bilingual children ages 4-8 years from a wide range of language abilities and dominance profiles. Using measures of semantics and morphosyntax from both norm-referenced assessments and language samples, we evaluated the structure of language in bilingual children. We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to estimate dimensionality, comparing seven primary models that represented different theoretical structures of language in bilinguals.

Results: Although none of the models analyzed yielded good fit across all indices evaluated, the best-fitting CFA model was a two-correlated factor model with separate factors for Spanish and English, which included measures from only norm-referenced assessments.

Conclusions: Language in Spanish-English children seems to represent two related but distinct constructs, even in bilinguals from a wide range of language abilities and dominance profiles. Clarifying how language in bilinguals is conceptualized and impacted by the concurrent development of two languages is an area that requires further research. Understanding the dimensionality of language in bilinguals can further assist our knowledge of how language develops in bilingual children.

Supplemental material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.28687466.

查看原文本刊更多论文

西英双语儿童的语言维度研究。

目的：本研究采用英语和西班牙语的语义和形态句法测量来研究双语儿童的语言维度。方法：研究对象包括112名年龄在4-8岁的西班牙-英语双语儿童，他们的语言能力和优势特征各不相同。采用规范参照评估和语言样本的语义和形态语法测量，我们评估了双语儿童的语言结构。我们使用验证性因子分析（CFA）来估计维度，比较了代表双语者不同语言理论结构的七个主要模型。结果：虽然分析的模型中没有一个能在所有评估指标中产生良好的拟合，但最佳拟合的CFA模型是一个具有西班牙语和英语独立因素的双相关因素模型，其中仅包括来自规范参考评估的测量。结论：西班牙语-英语儿童的语言似乎代表了两种相关但不同的构念，即使是在语言能力和优势概况广泛的双语者中也是如此。阐明双语者的语言是如何被两种语言同时发展所概念化和影响的，是一个需要进一步研究的领域。了解双语者的语言维度可以进一步帮助我们了解双语儿童的语言发展。补充资料：https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.28687466。

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来源期刊

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research AUDIOLOGY & SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY-REHABILITATION

CiteScore

4.10

自引率

19.20%

发文量

538

审稿时长

4-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Mission: JSLHR publishes peer-reviewed research and other scholarly articles on the normal and disordered processes in speech, language, hearing, and related areas such as cognition, oral-motor function, and swallowing. The journal is an international outlet for both basic research on communication processes and clinical research pertaining to screening, diagnosis, and management of communication disorders as well as the etiologies and characteristics of these disorders. JSLHR seeks to advance evidence-based practice by disseminating the results of new studies as well as providing a forum for critical reviews and meta-analyses of previously published work. Scope: The broad field of communication sciences and disorders, including speech production and perception; anatomy and physiology of speech and voice; genetics, biomechanics, and other basic sciences pertaining to human communication; mastication and swallowing; speech disorders; voice disorders; development of speech, language, or hearing in children; normal language processes; language disorders; disorders of hearing and balance; psychoacoustics; and anatomy and physiology of hearing.