Digital Commons Network^™

Morphological Production Accuracy Patterns In Younger And Older Spanish-English Bilingual Children, Isabel Angelica Cano

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Clinicians require a model of typical bilingual language development. Morphological production accuracy patterns vary in Spanish-English (S-E) bilingual children considering differences in the exposure and use of their two languages compared to their monolingual peers. The purpose of the current study was to examine morphological production accuracy patterns in thirty younger (3- to 4-years old) and older (5- to 6-years old) S-E bilingual children utilizing English and Spanish Morphosyntax subtests from a bilingual language screener. Across development, older bilingual children were more accurate on all forms in both English and Spanish than younger bilingual children. Across languages, all S-E bilingual …

Working Memory Performance In Spanish-English Bilinguals' First And Second Languages, Jordan Allyssabeth Orozco

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: Working memory is important for speech understanding in that speech recognition requires the processing, temporary storage, and manipulation of information during complex cognitive tasks. Previous research has shown contradictory findings on whether bilinguals have an advantage in working memory capacity compared to their monolingual counterparts. Differences in findings have been attributed to various factors to include task-dependent effects and poorly matched samples. Therefore, the existence of a bilingual advantage in working memory remains unclear.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the working memory performance of Spanish/English bilingual individuals compared to English monolingual individuals using a linguistically …

Implications Of Dual Language Scoring Of The Preschool Language Scale-Fifth Edition Spanish For Bilingual Preschool-Aged Children, Callie Mae Mathis

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Purpose: Spanish versions of standardized tests used in language evaluations are not well studied. The purpose of this study is to further examine the appropriateness of the Preschool Language Scale, Fifth Edition Spanish (PLS-5S) in a U.S./Mexico border community by comparing the Dual language scores versus the Spanish only scores and comparing the normative sample of the PLS-5S to the population of El Paso, TX.

Method: Twenty-three bilingual preschool aged children in the El Paso area completed the Spanish Edition of the PLS-5S. The parents and teachers of the participants completed two language proficiency questionnaires (Bilingual Input Output Survey; BIOS …

Grammatical Error Types Using A Picture Description Task In English And Spanish With Young Children, Lisa Valles

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Purpose: The current study was part of a larger project examining diagnostic accuracy of various assessment tools for bilingual children living in a border community. The purpose of this project was to examine language sample measures in young children using a picture description task (Eisenberg & Guo, 2013) by answering the following questions:

1. What were the frequent types of errors exhibited by young children in English and Spanish?

2. Were there distinct types of grammatical errors across languages in bilingual children?

Methods: Participants were recruited from a large city on the US/Mexico border. There were 47 participants in the …

An Investigation Of The Loci Of Bilingual Switch Costs During Reading Comprehension, Joseph Anthony Negron

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the present study, we examined whether the comprehension of language switches can be accounted for exclusively by activation dynamics within the lexicon, or whether there is evidence that cognitive general control processes outside of the lexicon are also engaged. In Experiment 1 we compared the fixation durations made on words embedded in either language pure or language switched sentences. The critical words were either cognates or non-cognate controls and served as the switch point in the language switched versions of the sentences. An overall switch cost was observed, which did not interact with cognate status or direction of the …

Speech Recognition In Noise Performance In Younger And Older Spanish-English Bilinguals' L1 And L2, Elisa Guadalupe Barraza

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: Previous research has shown that Spanish/English speaking bilinguals have difficulty understanding English speech in background noise compared to their monolingual counterparts. However, the effects of age on bilinguals' speech understanding performance remains unclear.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether older Spanish/English bilingual speakers are at an increased disadvantage understanding speech in the presence of background noise compared to older English monolinguals.

Methods: 15 younger Spanish-English (S/E) bilinguals, 15 older S/E bilinguals, 15 younger English monolinguals and 15 older English monolinguals participated in the study. Speech recognition performance was measured using the Spanish and English versions …

The Impact Of Animacy And Positioning On The Production Of Second Language Referring Expressions, Adonis De Carvalho Borges

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Researches have investigated how referring expressions are produced based upon second language acquisition and psycholinguistics theories. A study of monolingual English speakers demonstrated that referent's salience and discourse factors might impact referring expression choice between noun phrases and pronouns. Participants demonstrated a higher production of pronouns when the referent expression was animate rather than inanimate and a preference for noun phrases when the referent was the second noun phrase of the referent's context sentence (Fukumura & Van Gompel, 2011). In addition, an investigation with Hispanic bilinguals, whose L2 is English, demonstrated, in general, a greater preference for pronouns rather than …

Validating The Accuracy Of A Language Screening Instrument In Identifying Preschool Children In El Paso, Texas, Roxana Stubbemann

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: Effective screeners are time and cost effective and may be an efficient indicator of whether a child needs further in-depth assessment. Surveyed Speech-Language Pathologists in the El Paso, TX region report using informal screening tools such as observational measures and checklists due to the lack of adequate standardized tools that suit the needs of bilingual children, which occupy a majority of their caseloads (Curtis, Summers, Smith, & Stubbemann, 2016). Many language-screening instruments are not psychometrically sound for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) populations and limited research exists on the accuracy of these tools.

Purpose: The purpose of this study …

The Use Of Code-Switching In Bilingual Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Monica Yolanda Ponce-Lawler

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Abstract

Background: Code-switching may be seen as a weakness in the eyes of many who do not truly

understand bilingualism. Several professionals consider code-switching to be a compensatory

strategy, however other professionals perceive code-switching as a functionally motivating behavior

(Chung, 2006). Whether is it consciously or subconsciously that a child code-switches, there is

limited research on when bilingual children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are likely to

code-switch as well as what patterns they utilize when they code-switch.

Purpose: To grow the limited research on the use of code-switching in bilingual children with ASD.

Introduce and compare two language treatments; …

Language Of Intervention In A Bilingual Child With Autism, Amelie Muzza

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study was conducted to address language of intervention for the rapidly-growing bilingual population of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a monolingual English or bilingual Spanish/English condition would yield a greater number of request types in a 3-year-old bilingual participant with autism. A single-subject, rapid alternating treatments design with baseline and a final maintenance phase was used to alternate between monolingual English and bilingual Spanish/English interventions. Results did not meet the criteria set for continuation of treatment in either condition; therefore, both monolingual and bilingual interventions …

The Understanding Of Implied Meaning In Monolingual And Bilingual Children, Kenah Linger

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The development of pragmatic language and how it is treated cognitively in monolingual and bilingual speakers is a topic of debate. Language pragmatic skills can include: knowing that you have to answer a question that is being asked, being able to participate in conversation by taking turns, and the ability to maintain a topic. Furthermore, the study of pragmatics has also focused on understanding how we comprehend language that is not explicit. For example, comprehending the sentence, "We'd love to have you over for dinner" involves deciding whether this is an invitation, a statement of desire, or even an empty …

The Spanish-English Bilingual: A Cross-Classfication Comparison Of Maze Use In Children, Jessica Valles

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

With the continual increase of bilingual individuals in the United States, there is a critical need for research that can appropriately identify unique characteristics of language production for these individuals. In particular, maze use, or errors in production have been identified as a characteristic of language that typically occurs more in bilinguals' speech production than in monolingual productions. Research comparing bilingual maze use in individuals who are typically developing with bilingual maze use individuals who are language impaired is limited. To compare these bilingual children with language impairment with to their typically developing peers, children were paired by age, grade, …

Processing Of Language Switches In Bilingual Individuals With Aphasia: An Event-Related Potential Comparison, Lizette Rodarte

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Switching between languages, or code-switching, is a common phenomenon in bilingual individuals. In proficient bilinguals, these switches are done with ease and are used for many purposes. Contrary to popular belief, these switches are rule-governed and follow grammatical structure. Bilingual individuals diagnosed with aphasia present with difficulty processing languages and these language switches. With the increase in bilingual individuals, it is likely that the speech-language pathology community will see an increase of bilingual individuals with aphasia on their caseload. For this reason, the purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of the neural processes involved in processing of …

A Comparison Of Maze Frequency And Type Across Language And Speaker: A Look At English And Spanish Narrative Retells, Melissa Silver

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: Mazes, as they are referred to in the language literature, are disfluencies that do not add meaning to an utterance including filled pauses, whole word revisions, part word revisions, part word repetitions and whole word repetitions. Extensive research has been conducted on mazes in monolingual and bilingual children, yet the research has not been extended to adults' narrative retell production.

Aims: The current study analyzes monolingual English, monolingual Spanish, and bilingual English and Spanish narrative retells to compare the percent of maze use and type of maze use amongst groups.

Methods & Procedures: The narrative retells of thirty-nine bilingual …

Nonword Repetition Performance Patterns In English - Spanish Bilingual Adults And English And Spanish Monolingual Adults, Nadia Arriazola Flores

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Nonword repetition (NWR) is known to be a less biased measure for assessing language abilities of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children (Dollaghan & Campbell, 1998). NWR is used to examine phonological short-term memory mechanisms (also called working memory), because the tasks require the capability to discriminate, store, remember and reproduce phonological sequences (Baddeley, 1989; Braddeley 1974). The purpose of this study was to collect normative data on the NWR performance of bilingual and monolingual adults. This may contribute to the interpretation of performance in bilingual children by providing the standard of adult-like performance. This study examined the performance patterns …

A Pilot Study: Examining The Microstructural And Macrostructural Narrative Measures In Bilingual Preschool Aged Children, Caroline Esparza

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Purpose: Research has identified narratives as accurate and reliable predictors of language skills, yet little is documented on the microstructural and macrostructural narrative production of preschool aged bilingual children. This pilot study examined the microstructure and macrostructure elements of narratives in these children to provide preliminary data for further research.

Method: This study examined the narrative skills of 11 bilingual children between the ages of 3 and 4. Narrative retells in Spanish were elicited and were analyzed for the microstructural measures of lexical diversity (NDW) and productivity (TNW and MLU) measures and for the their macrostructural Narrative Scoring Scheme (NSS) …

Investigating Bilingual Non-Selective Lexical Access Within A Reading Comprehension Framework, Justin Gerald Lauro

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Thesis examines the role of bilingual non-selective lexical access on sentence comprehension. According to the BIA+ model of lexical access, bilinguals have an integrated lexicon with, and activation flows automatically across both languages. This model assumes that the bilingual lexicon is fundamentally non-selective. Previous research shows that cognates, words that share form and meaning across languages, are processed faster relative to non-cognates, even in sentence contexts. However, previous research focuses primarily on processing of single lexical items. The structure building framework of reading comprehension states that readers initially lay a foundation for subsequent information to be mapped on to. …

Language Of Intervention In Bilingual Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Alejandra Carrillo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Over the last few decades the United States has seen a heavy increase in the incidences of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Also increasing in the United States is the increase in multicultural and multilingual groups. Although both of these populations are increasing there is very limited information regarding the language abilities of bilingual individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, the language used for intervention, and those servicing them. A survey was developed to gather information regarding the current practice trends used by Speech-Language clinicians with bilingual children with ASD. The study was conducted in El Paso, Texas a city located on the …

Strengthening Cognitive Development In Minority Populations: A Study Of The Beneficial Effects Of Bilingualism, Marisela Gutierrez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The long-term goal of this research is to better understand and characterize the "bilingual advantage" so that educational and child care institutions begin to recognize and encourage the active use of two languages to strengthen cognitive development in minority populations. The present study is one of the first one to include a very large sample of well-defined "active bilinguals" who, by objective measures, were determined to be bilingual and determined to engage in language switching on a daily basis. Another goal was to manipulate and activate in the laboratory what might be referred to as the "switching benefit." One hundred …

Between-Language Repetition Priming In Antonym Generation: Examining Conceptual Encoding And Representation Of Adjectives, Randy Steven Taylor

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Previous research has shown repetition priming effects between languages, suggesting that a bilingual's two languages share conceptual representation. However these studies have been conducted mainly utilizing concrete nouns as stimuli. In the present study, it was hypothesized that adjectives would produce significant between-language repetition priming. The experiment utilized a 4 (encoding task) X 2 (test language) within-subjects design in which participants (N = 64) encoded words in read only, translation English to Spanish and translation Spanish to English conditions and at test performed an antonym generation task in either Spanish or English. The results revealed that participants were significantly faster …

Evaluation Of Language Of Intervention On Expressive-Receptive Lexical Skills For Preschool Bilingual Children, Blanca Estela Cisneros

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the expressive-receptive lexical skills gained in bilingual preschool children for both their native language (L1) and second language (L2) when provided a bilingual vocabulary intervention and compared to contrasting monolingual and controlled conditions. This group study assessed four treatment conditions: monolingual English intervention, monolingual Spanish intervention, bilingual English-Spanish intervention, and a controlled intervention condition receiving math instruction. English and Spanish expressive and receptive lexical skills were the dependent variables measured at pretest and posttest. After a brief 4 week intervention block, the bilingual group achieved greater gains in Spanish expressive lexical skills …

Phonological Memory Associations Of Language Impairment In Bilingual Children, Marcela Susa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Knowledge-based assessments of language impairments have been found to contain bias for assessing performance in bilingual children from diverse cultural backgrounds. As an alternative, measures related to performance of phonological working memory are becoming more popular for bilingual children. The purpose of the current study was to investigate how bilingual children with language impairment (BILI) would perform on nonword repetition and sentence repetition when compared to typically developing peers (BITD). Also, the current study investigated the extent to which the nonword repetition task and sentence repetition task were associated with each other in bilingual (English-Spanish) children. Results demonstrated that typically …

Sacramento, Marlena Fitzpatrick

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Inspired by entertaining, opinionated voices with debatable, controversial messages I wrote "Sacramento." EVA RIVERA, a 32 year old Honduran poet is captured and incarcerated by the "Maduros Guerrilla" due to her controversial political activism through a network called "Las Hijas Del Maiz." After being held captive, tortured and raped, she miraculously escapes. She manages to return home, gather her belongings and cross the border, all the way to New York via Canada. FATHER MARTIN RODRIGUEZ, a 35 year old Chilean Catholic Priest has disgraced his faith by keeping a promise he made his brother on his death bed: he will …

Vocabulary Acquisition Of Bilingual Students Through The Implementation Of Dialogic Shared Storybook Reading Techniques, Samantha Kamille Ariaz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Children who are learning English as a second language and whose caregivers speak only Spanish were chosen to participate in the study. Parents were trained using Dialogic Shared Storybook Reading (DSSR) techniques (Whitehurst, 1988). The study was a single subject multiple baseline design across behaviors. Reading conditions were counterbalanced to control for acquisition of new vocabulary. There were a total of five participants, three children and two mothers (n=5). The participants were separated into two families. Each family was exposed to three reading book conditions while the parents implemented the specified techniques: 1. Shared reading with an electronic, bilingual Spanish/ …

A Study Of Possible Pre-Cognitive Advantages Of Bilingualism, Marisela Gutierrez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Past research has suggested that second language acquisition has a beneficial effect on the development of inhibitory control processes in children and adults. This has been referred to as the "bilingual advantage" and is most commonly quantified using the Simon task. Whether the bilingual advantage extends to precognitive mechanisms has not yet been examined. The goals of this study were to examine the bilingual advantage in university students; and to examine whether the bilingual advantage extends to the precognitive filtering mechanism of sensorimotor gating. It was predicted that, as compared to monolinguals, bilingual university students would have greater inhibitory control, …

The Effects Of Program Model And Language On Science Taks Scores Among Fifth Graders, Stephanie Leigh Zelenak

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

THE EFFECTS OF PROGRAM MODEL AND LANGUAGE ON SCIENCE TAKS SCORES AMONG FIFTH GRADERS

This study examined the conditions of learning allowing students in one classroom to succeed on the fifth grade science TAKS test whereas students in other classrooms on the same campus do not succeed. It focused on the relationship of program models, specifically as it pertains to the influence of language within the content area of science and student performance on the fifth grade science TAKS scores.

To compare the academic achievement, as measured by the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test, in grade five …

Dual-Language Education: A Longitudinal Study Of Students' Achievement In An El Paso County, Texas School District, Pauline Anne Dow

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation describes a longitudinal study of one-way and two-way bilingual education programs (also known as dual-language programs) to assess achievement of elementary-aged English learners (ELs) in a school district located in El Paso County, Texas, using both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests. The design features assessment for bilingual students' language skills in both English and Spanish, which allows for the examination of the interrelationships among skills in the two languages. The study also compares the achievement of ELs and non-ELs in the two-way program. The work reported in this Dissertation was conducted with a common group of children over a …