Simona Montanari

The development of narrative competence in the L1 and L2 of Spanish-English bilingual children

The present paper examines the development of narrative competence in the two languages of three Spanish-English bilingual children with different proficiency levels in each language. The childrens narratives, elicited at two different times over a six-month span, are examined in terms of the young narrators ability to organize the story around an overall theme line, his/her capacity to evaluate the narrative and reach the audience, and his /her appropriate use of those linguistic devices—such as temporal perspective and cohesion—that relate utterances to one another allowing for the creation of a narrative text. The results indicate that impoverished linguistic resources might be detrimental for narrative competence. Without an array of linguistic devices at their disposal, the children in this study fail to produce coherent and cohesive narratives in their L2. Yet, their L1 narrative discourse suggests that the children possess the cognitive skills underlying the ability to construct thematically oriented and linguistically cohesive accounts. Evaluation, on the other hand, appears to be proficiency-independent: despite their limited L2 competence, the children are capable, from early on, of evaluating both their Spanish and English narratives, and they do so by means of a preferred evaluative strategy or by a combination of different expressive devices.

Translation Equivalents and the Emergence of Multiple Lexicons in Early Trilingual Development

This study examines lexical differentiation in early trilingual development through an analysis of the translation equivalents (TEs) produced by a Tagalog—Spanish—English trilingual child. The child’s cumulative vocabulary between 1;4 and 2;0 was reconstructed through diary records and audio-recordings, and the extent to which phonetically distinct equivalent doublets and triplets were represented in her cumulative lexicon was examined. The results indicate that TEs were produced from early on, similarly to bilingual children. However, the amount of input heard in each language determined the number and types of equivalents acquired. Also, learning a second TE took less time than learning a first, suggesting that the initial differentiation of the lexicon as evidenced by doublets might facilitate the emergence of multiple lexical systems.

Multi-word combinations and the emergence of differentiated ordering patterns in early trilingual development

This study examines word order differentiation in early trilingual development through an analysis of the combinations produced by a Tagalog–Spanish–English trilingual child with an MLU of less than 1.5. Same- and mixed-language combinations were tracked down from diary data and weekly recordings to assess (i) whether word order significantly varied cross-linguistically, and (ii) whether mixed utterances originated from vocabulary gaps rather than from an undifferentiated syntax. The results indicate that (a) argument/predicate sequences were differentially ordered depending on their language and following input-dependent preferences, (b) mixed utterances were generally caused by vocabulary gaps, and (c) they displayed the same order as those single-language combinations produced in the same language context. These findings suggest that evidence for early word order differentiation can be found before the appearance of inflectional morphology and even when three – rather than two – languages are being acquired, indicating that trilingual exposure does not slow down the process of differentiation.

A case study of bi-literacy development among children enrolled in an Italian–English dual language program in Southern California

This study examines bi-literacy development among 60 children enrolled in an Italian–English dual language (DL) program in Southern California. Using a variety of measures including (1) oral reading fluency (ORF), (2) accuracy scores, and (3) standardized test for the assessment of reading (STAR) tests estimates of reading ability for English, the study investigates how Italian and English literacy skills emerged and developed among first-, second-, and third- graders – and among English speakers and learners – educated via Italian immersion. The study also examines the extent to which ORF was correlated, and therefore transferred, between languages. The results indicate that reading fluency emerged first in Italian for all students. However, in a relatively short period of time, it became comparable across languages and even higher in English for English-speaking students. Correlations between Italian and English reading fluency scores were statistically significant and moderately high. This finding suggests that Italian decoding skills transferred to English, possibly helping children develop English literacy while primarily instructed in Italian. STAR test results further indicate that after a brief, initial lag in English reading skills, students caught up to and eventually read increasingly better than grade level in English. This finding confirms the possible long-term benefits of DL instruction on English reading development.

Phonological differentiation before age two in a Tagalog–Spanish–English trilingual child

Abstract This study focuses on a trilingual toddlers ability to differentiate her Tagalog, Spanish and English productions on phonological/phonetic grounds. Working within the articulatory phonology framework, the word-initial segments produced by the child in Tagalog, Spanish and English words at age 1;10 were narrowly transcribed by two researchers and her accuracy levels in employing/reproducing the specific gestural properties of word-initial consonants (e.g. constricting organ, location, degree and glottal gestures) were compared across languages. The childs phonetic inventories in each language were also compared to those produced by monolingual peers to assess whether trilingual exposure had any consequence on phonological production. The results indicate that the childs accuracy levels in word-initial segments differed significantly from language to language reflecting distinct levels of phonological development. The childs performance with organ and location was indeed higher in her stronger language(s), while success in reproducing constriction degree tended to be greater in those languages with a larger variety of fricatives. The child also produced a variety of language-specific phonemes that went beyond the average monolingual inventory, suggesting that multilingual exposure might lead to a heightened attention towards the phonological properties of these languages, thereby enhancing phonological production.

The Development of Writing Skills in an Italian-English Two-Way Immersion Program: Evidence from First Through Fifth Grade

ABSTRACT This study examines the writing skills of students in grades 1 to 5 of an Italian-English two-way immersion program. Narrative writing samples were collected in both languages and scored for content, organization, grammar, mechanics, vocabulary, text length, and overall total score. The results show that writing skills improved as a function of grade. Although children from Italian-English bilingual homes obtained higher Italian scores than English-only students, both groups achieved moderate-to-advanced levels of writing proficiency in both languages by the upper grades, suggesting that the program was successful in promoting bilingualism and biliteracy. Total scores and scores for the various subcomponents were positively and significantly correlated across languages, even after controlling for grade. Associations were stronger for global components like content and organization; smaller but significant correlations were also found for language-specific measures like grammar and vocabulary. We interpret these findings as evidence of the mutual influence of L1 and L2 writing skills in typologically and orthographically related languages.

Cross-linguistic interaction in trilingual phonological development: the role of the input in the acquisition of the voicing contrast *

This paper examines the production of word-initial stops by two simultaneous trilingual sisters, aged 6;8 and 8;1, who receive regular input in Italian and English from multiple speakers, but in Spanish from only one person. The childrens productions in each language were analyzed acoustically and compared to those of their main input providers. The results revealed consistent cross-linguistic differences by both children, including between Italian and Spanish stops, although these have identical properties in the speech of Italian- and Spanish-speaking adults. While the childrens English stops were largely target-like, their Italian stops exhibited non-target-like realizations in the direction of English, suggesting interactions. Interestingly, their Spanish productions were largely unaffected by cross-linguistic interactions, with target-like voiceless stops, and voiced stops predominantly realized as spirants. These findings raise interesting questions about phonological development in multilingual settings and demonstrate that the number and type of input providers may crucially affect cross-linguistic interactions.

Bilingual speech sound development during the preschool years: The role of language proficiency and cross-linguistic relatedness

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate typical Spanish-English speech sound development longitudinally in a group of bilingual preschoolers enrolled in a Head Start Program and to examine the extent to which such development is linked to language proficiency. The study also aimed to identify whether speech development is related cross-linguistically and to improve our understanding of error patterns in this population. Method Thirty-five bilingual preschool children produced single-word speech samples in Spanish and English both at the beginning of their first and their second year in a Head Start Program. Conversational samples in both languages were also collected at these data points to calculate mean length of utterance in words (MLUw) and thus assess the childrens linguistic proficiency. The phonetically transcribed speech samples were compared over time in terms of segmental accuracy measures and error pattern frequencies. Correlation analyses were run to examine the relation between segmental accuracy measures across languages and between speech sound production and MLUw. Results One-way within-subject analysis of variance revealed significant improvements in accuracy over time in both languages, but not always for cross-linguistically unshared segments, nor for all consonant manner classes. Overall error rates decreased over time in both languages; although, certain error types showed no change. Cross-linguistic interactions were low in both languages. The results also revealed significant cross-linguistic correlations in segmental accuracy between Spanish and English, as well as between MLUw and speech sound production in both languages on a range of measures, with language-specific differences in Year 2 of the Head Start Program, but not in Year 1. Conclusions This study is the first to document developmental changes in the speech patterns of Spanish-English bilingual preschool children over 1 year. Accuracy rates improved significantly in both languages, suggesting that enhanced exposure to the majority language at school may not impede phonological development in the home language. Bootstrapping effects were particularly pronounced on cross-linguistically shared sounds, which suggests that the same underlying skills are utilized in both languages, whereas language-specific singleton consonants and consonant clusters did not appear to benefit from exposure to the other language. The results also suggest an intricate link between phonological skills and morphosyntactic performance at the early stages of development, but a more complex pattern thereafter with differences that may be based on language-specific phonological properties.

STEPHEN J. CALDAS , Raising bilingual-biliterate children in monolingual cultures

Stephen J. Caldas , Raising bilingual-biliterate children in monolingual cultures . Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2006. Pp. xvi, 231. Pb.

An integrated analysis of speech and gestural characteristics in conversational child–computer interactions

39.95. This is the fascinating story of the authors own family project of raising his three children French-English bilingually in English-speaking Louisiana. Caldas, a French-English bilingual himself, and his bilingual French-Canadian wife artificially orchestrate and manipulate the childrens environments from birth to adolescence to ensure that the children develop full bilingual proficiency and biliteracy in French and English. Caldass and his wifes main strategy is to speak only French to their son and their identical twin daughters. They also commit to use only French with each other, thus creating an all-French-speaking home environment. The Caldases also enroll the children in French immersion school and make extensive use of French-language media to further expose the children to French. Finally, the author and his wife purchase a cottage in Quebec where they spend the summers, providing the children with authentic societal language immersion. The outcome of this extraordinary experiment is that, by adolescence, all three children are completely bilingual and biliterate in French and English and can be easily mistaken as native speakers of both Quebecois French and American English.