Language development in internationally adopted children: a special case of early second language learning

The French language development of children adopted (n=24) from China was compared with that of control children matched for socioeconomic status, sex, and age. The children were assessed at 50 months of age, on average, and 16 months later. The initial assessment revealed that the 2 groups did not differ with respect to socioemotional adjustment or intellectual abilities. However, the adopted children's expressive language skills were significantly lower than those of the nonadopted children at both assessments. The receptive language skills were also significantly weaker for the adopted children at the second assessment. The results are discussed in terms of possible early age-of-acquisition effects that might affect adopted children's ability to acquire a second first language.