About this Research Topic
The literature reports that language development in bilingual children may show delays and characteristics that are also markers of atypical development. Typically developing (TD) bilingual children, especially those with a late age of onset (AoO) and limited exposure to the second language (L2), show lower performance than monolingual TD peers in grammatical tests, vocabulary deficits, difficulties in reading comprehension (August and Shanahan 2006), delays in processing, as well as pragmatic deficits. Apart from AoO and language exposure, other child-specific (i.e. quality and quantity of exposure) as well as external factors (i.e. educational setting, SES) modulate bilingual language development creating thus a very complex picture.
The problem motivating the research proposal is that, since bilingual TD children may underperform in language assessment tests, they tend to be inaccurately identified as at risk of having language impairment, while only lagging behind monolingual peers, which is normal. This can have serious consequences on their school life and academic achievement, since inappropriate educational or other practices can be adopted for these children who form a large part of school-age children worldwide. Additionally, and contrary to the relevant demographic information, the fact that standardized or non-standardized language measures are designed and evaluated for monolingual populations further complicates the situation. Moreover, any bilingual normative data that has been developed targets mainly the English language as an L2.
However, recent advances in the area target the unique identification of the profiles of bilingual children and language impaired children in a variety of ways: the investigation of the linguistic and cognitive profiles of bilinguals and monolingual also by means of sophisticated techniques (online measurements, eye-tracking, MRI), the development of language assessment tools in both the languages of bilinguals, the development of normative data for typical and atypical monolingual and bilingual populations in languages other than English. This line of research can contribute to the understanding of the language skills of bilinguals as well as to the design and application of appropriate supportive and intervention language programmes, when necessary.
The purpose of the Research Topic is to present innovative research targeting the identification of the linguistic characteristics that differentiate bilingual children from children with language impairment. The themes that the contributors could address are the following: techniques, methods, language assessment measures and protocols relevant to the disentangling of the effects of bilingualism and language impairment, psychometric evaluation of measures used with bilingual populations, normative data of typical and atypical bilingual and monolingual populations in languages other than English, assessment tools and clinical markers of bilingual impaired language development. The call targets original research articles with an emphasis on work in national and heritage languages.
The problem motivating the research proposal is that, since bilingual TD children may underperform in language assessment tests, they tend to be inaccurately identified as at risk of having language impairment, while only lagging behind monolingual peers, which is normal. This can have serious consequences on their school life and academic achievement, since inappropriate educational or other practices can be adopted for these children who form a large part of school-age children worldwide. Additionally, and contrary to the relevant demographic information, the fact that standardized or non-standardized language measures are designed and evaluated for monolingual populations further complicates the situation. Moreover, any bilingual normative data that has been developed targets mainly the English language as an L2.
However, recent advances in the area target the unique identification of the profiles of bilingual children and language impaired children in a variety of ways: the investigation of the linguistic and cognitive profiles of bilinguals and monolingual also by means of sophisticated techniques (online measurements, eye-tracking, MRI), the development of language assessment tools in both the languages of bilinguals, the development of normative data for typical and atypical monolingual and bilingual populations in languages other than English. This line of research can contribute to the understanding of the language skills of bilinguals as well as to the design and application of appropriate supportive and intervention language programmes, when necessary.
The purpose of the Research Topic is to present innovative research targeting the identification of the linguistic characteristics that differentiate bilingual children from children with language impairment. The themes that the contributors could address are the following: techniques, methods, language assessment measures and protocols relevant to the disentangling of the effects of bilingualism and language impairment, psychometric evaluation of measures used with bilingual populations, normative data of typical and atypical bilingual and monolingual populations in languages other than English, assessment tools and clinical markers of bilingual impaired language development. The call targets original research articles with an emphasis on work in national and heritage languages.
Keywords: bilingualism, language development, language impairment
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