Joel Walters

Telling stories in two languages: Narratives of bilingual preschool children with typical and impaired language

Two studies investigated five- and six-year-old preschool childrens narrative production in an attempt to show how LI may impinge on narrative production in measurable ways. Study 1 analyzed renderings of familiar stories for group (typical language development vs. language impairment), story content (Jungle Book/Goldilocks) and language (English/Hebrew) differences on a range of discourse (story grammar categories), lexical (e.g., words, word types), morphosyntactic (e.g., verb inflections, prepositions) and bilingual (code-switching) measures. It showed intact performance for narrative structure in both groups and in both languages despite differences in lexis, morphosyntax and bilingualism. Study 2 pursued bilingual code-switching as a means to examine differences between children with typical language development (TLD) and language impairment (LI) in a retelling task where each child retold three stories (from native language/L1, second language/L2 and bilingual contexts) to interlocutors with different language preferences. Both groups showed sociolinguistic sensitivity in code-switching behavior, but frequency and directionality of code-switching revealed group differences. The article argues for the use of a range of indicators of LI including those unique to bilingual children.

Laterality differences for word identification in bilinguals.

Abstract Twenty-three Spanish-English bilinguals were tachistoscopically presented with four-letter common nouns. They viewed 20 word pairs, first in their native language, then in the other, for 40 msec under simultaneous bilateral exposure. This paradigm has previously shown a strong right visual field and therefore left hemisphere superiority for words in a single language. The results show a word identification advantage in the right visual field. This indicates a left hemisphere advantage for processing of both languages, regardless of which was learned first. There are nevertheless wide individual differences in the number of bilinguals showing the expected asymmetry, as compared with monolinguals. There may be a trend, therefore, for less unilaterality of language function in bilinguals, although both languages are seen as being equally lateralized.

Multilingualism and Nation Building: Language and Education in Eritrea

This paper focuses on language choice in the newest nation in the Horn of Africa within a broader context of language policy in multilingual states. Pre-colonial and post-colonial language policies in Eritrea are surveyed in relation to evolving linguistic and political nationalism. Language contact and its social consequences are discussed in an attempt to shed light on language policies pursued during different periods in the colonial history of Eritrea. Using descriptive frameworks provided by contemporary sociolinguistics, post-independence language policy, with language and education at the centre, is looked at from the perspective of the functional allocation of nine Eritrean languages and the points at which they conflict and complement each other. Public responses and evaluations are analysed and implications for further research are advanced.

Narrative abilities in bilingual children

The number of bilingual children is growing dramatically all over the world. In 2010 the International Organization of Migration documented 214 million migrants worldwide, many bilingual (Koser & Laczko, 2010). One of the challenges arising from the rapid increase of bilingual children is scientifically grounded assessment of linguistic proficiency in both of a childs languages in various language domains. Assessment in both languages is especially important to avoid misdiagnosis of language impairment. Specific language impairment (SLI) is among the most prevalent impairments, estimated to affect 7%–10% of children entering formal education (Grimm, 2003; Tomblin, Smith, & Zhang, 1997). Assessment tools for bilinguals in both the home language and the majority language are often lacking (for exceptions, see Gagarina, Klassert, & Topaj, 2010; Schulz & Tracy, 2011).

Macrostructure, microstructure, and mental state terms in the narratives of English–Hebrew bilingual preschool children with and without specific language impairment

Childrens bilingual status is important because the interest here is in narrative performance in both languages of bilingual children, in particular the within-subject, cross language comparisons. As Paradis (2010) has argued, there are some structures where performance differences will point to a temporary lack of opportunity for mastery, whereas other structures will be markers of underlying difficulties. We expect the discriminators to be language specific, depending on attested vulnerabilities for each of the languages involved. Narratives were examined for macrostructure (goals, attempts, and outcomes), microstructure (e.g., length, lexis, and morphosyntax), and mental state terms (MSTs). Thirty-one preschool children (TLD = 19, SLI = 12) retold stories accompanied by six pictures that were matched across content (Baby Birds/Baby Goats) and to the extent possible across languages (first language/second language) for macrostructure, microstructure, and MSTs in the framework of the Working Group on Narrative and Discourse Abilities in COST Action 0804 Language Impairment in a Multilingual Society: Linguistic Patterns and the Road to Assessment. The macrostructure results confirmed previous findings showing similar performance in both languages for children with TLD and those diagnosed with SLI. Consistent with previous findings on narrative abilities among bilingual children, microstructure analysis of verbal productivity, length of communication units, and lexical diversity distinguished children with TLD from those with SLI. An analysis of MSTs yielded more MSTs in childrens second language, in particular more mental verbs. The most prevalent MSTs used in all narratives were early acquired perceptual and motivational verbs (“see” and “want”). Overall, distinctions between narratives of children with TLD and SLI were found primarily for microstructure features, where error analysis was particularly important in uncovering possible markers, especially in second languages.

Disentangling SLI and bilingualism using sentence repetition tasks: the impact of L1 and L2 properties:

The current study investigated performance on morpho-syntax in Russian–Hebrew sequential bilingual preschool children with and without specific language impairment (SLI) in both languages (L1 Russian and L2 Hebrew) using sentence repetition (SRep) tasks with a fundamental aim to disentangle the language abilities of bilingual children with typical language development (biTLD) from those of bilingual children with SLI (biSLI). Four groups of children participated (N=85) in the study: 45 L1 Russian–L2 Hebrew sequential bilinguals (30 biTLD and 15 biSLI), 20 monolingual Russian-speaking children and 20 monolingual Hebrew-speaking children. The SRep tasks in Russian and in Hebrew were based on Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings (LITMUS) SRep developed within COST Action IS0804 titled “Language Impairment in a Multilingual Society: Linguistic Patterns and the Road to Assessment”. The tasks in Russian and in Hebrew contained 56 sentences of different length and complexity. The bilingual–monolingual comparisons yielded differences only in L1 Russian, where the monolingual Russian-speaking children outperformed bilingual children with typical language development (TLD) in their first language. In L2 Hebrew, no significant differences emerged between monolingual speakers of Hebrew and bilinguals. Comparisons of bilingual children with and without SLI showed that both the quantity and the quality of errors differentiate the two bilingual groups. In both languages (L1 and L2), bilingual children with TLD outperformed their peers with SLI. Bilingual children with SLI produced specific error patterns like those previously reported for monolingual children with SLI, i.e. omission of coordinators and subordinators, omission of prepositions, and simplification of wh-questions and relative clauses. These error patterns are unique to children with SLI and cannot be attributed to L1–L2 influence, while the errors of children in the biTLD group can be traced to cross-linguistic influence (mostly L2 influence on L1). We conclude that SRep tasks are an effective means to bring us closer to distinguishing bilingual children with SLI from those with TLD. They allow us to make quantitative and qualitative comparisons of performance and errors. But, perhaps more importantly, they point to underlying grammatical representations, in particular those linked to cross-linguistic influence and reduced exposure, as a way of distinguishing bilingual children with and without SLI.

Modularity in moral judgment by police officers

Classical theories of moral judgment (e.g., Piaget, 1965; Kohlberg, 1983) were tested against a modularity hypothesis in police officers. Patrol and investigation officers were compared in a series of experiments using functional measurement in which policemen were asked to make judgments, from both objective and subjective perspectives, about the severity of acts involving verbal or physical aggression. Information in the incidents included justification for the act, intent on the part of the harmdoer and harm caused to the victim. Differences were found between patrol and investigation officers in their responses to moral dilemmas, confirming the importance of professional experience in moral judgment. Individual police officers were also found to switch moral codes according to the perspective from which they made their judgments, lending support to the modularity hypothesis. Findings are discussed in terms of both moral relativity and moral modularity.

Language Awareness in Non-Native Writers: Metalinguistic Judgments of Need for Revision.

Ninety‐three subjects participated in a series of experiments investigating how the number of errors from different linguistic sources affects evaluative judgments about the need for revision in a non‐native language. In the first three experiments, groups of non‐native and native writers of English as well as EFL teachers were exposed to bifactorial combinations of syntactic and lexical errors incorporated in passages from an English composition textbook. Subjects were exposed individually to all factorial combinations of errors from both sources and asked to judge how much effort was needed to make the passages well written. Results from all three experiments show lexical errors having a greater effect. Employing the framework of information integration theory and functional measurement, it was found that non‐native writers used an additive rule to integrate information from both sources, while native writers used differential averaging. Non‐native writers participated in two additional experiments, where cohesion errors were combined bifactorially and trifactorially with syntactic and lexical errors. Lexical and cohesion errors showed greater effects than syntactic errors. An additive rule was used to integrate syntax with either lexicon or cohesion, while a differential averaging rule was used for the integration of lexicon with cohesion. The procedure was adapted for a classroom experiment; it included actual error correction along with metalinguistic judgment. The findings conform to those of the previous experiments.

Family language policies, reported language use and proficiency in Russian – Hebrew bilingual children in Israel

The relationship between family language policy (FLP) and language choice, language use, proficiency in Russian and Hebrew, codeswitching (CS) and linguistic performance was studied in Russian-speaking immigrant parents and their Russian–Hebrew bilingual preschool children. By means of Glasers Grounded Theory, the content of sociolinguistic interviews with 65 parents was classified to form families with strict-Russian, mild-Russian and pro-bilingual language policies. Preschool children (M = 6; 0) from these families were asked to respond to questions about language use, language choice, proficiency in Russian and Hebrew and CS on 10-point graphic rating scales as well as perform three linguistic tasks: noun–verb picture naming, non-word repetition and complex syntax in sentence repetition. Findings for language use and self-rated proficiency showed the varying degrees of reported Russian language maintenance depending on the FLP applied in the home. Yet, performance on complex syntax showed better performance in Hebrew than Russian, and children reported more CS into L2/Hebrew than into their home language. These latter findings in the three FLP groups are interpreted as evidence for language shift and may be attributed to greater influence of peers and siblings rather than parents.

Jewish styles of worship: a conversational analysis

Public worship, like other forms of ritualized behavior, shares many structural features with language and so can benefit from analysis in linguistic terms. Without claiming identity, there is value, äs scholars such äs Bock (1964) have shown, in applying linguistic models to analysis of ritual. When one looks at prayer not for its ethnopoetic content (e.g. Gill 1982) but for its context,a sociolinguistic approach can be particularly revealing. In this paper, we look at a problem in the description of Jewish public worship, recognized independently by Heilman (1982), the existence of a seemingly chaotic and indecorous mode of worship that is still accepted by participants äs formal public prayer. We contrast it with more orderly and decorous modes and argue for the existence of underlying unity. We aim both to seek unity in the complexity of the many contrasting modes of Jewish public worship and to consider some possible consequences of part of the identified underlying Variation. We will postulate two major styles, distinguished essentially by a single preference rule, and speculate about the relevance of this rule to other aspects of Jewish life and in particular to styles of learning. To set the problem, we describe two contrasting events and then sketch a set of rules that account for these two cases and others like them. Imagine first a large and impressive auditorium: at the far end, there are set into the wall huge ornately decorated doors and in front of them a high platform reached by curving stairs. Lower than the platform, but above the floor level of the auditorium, there is a large stage with a very big table in the middle. The auditorium itself is furnished with long wooden pews, each row closed off from the aisles by a low wooden gate. It is evening, and the hall is lit by elaborate chandeliers. A handful of well-dressed men enter and, after brief greetings, take up scattered places throughout the auditorium. A tall man wearing a large four-cornered hat walks over to say a few words to two tophatted men sitting near the front, then carries a message to another man dressed in a soft black hat and a long black gown. The latter Steps up to the table on the stage, wraps himself in a white shawl, opens a book on the table,