English BESA Morphosyntax Performance Among Spanish-English Bilinguals Who Use African American English

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

• African American English (AAE) features can impact language assessment accuracy.
• Accurate identification of developmental language disorder (DLD) is crucial for early intervention.
• Bilingual children present unique challenges in language assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine African American English (AAE) use in young Latinx bilingual children.
• To evaluate the Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment (BESA) Morphosyntax subtest's accuracy in identifying DLD in this population.
• To analyze specific dialectal features and BESA items for DLD classification.

Main Methods:

• 81 Latinx bilingual children (4-7 years) completed a narrative task and the BESA Morphosyntax subtest.
• Developmental language disorder (DLD) was identified using four reference measures.
• Analysis included dialectal feature comparison and item-level BESA analysis.

Main Results:

• Children with DLD used specific AAE forms (e.g., subject-verb agreement) more frequently.
• BESA Morphosyntax subtest scores showed good sensitivity in identifying DLD.
• 84% of BESA items significantly differentiated children with and without DLD.

Conclusions:

• The BESA English Morphosyntax subtest is a valid tool for identifying DLD in children exposed to AAE and Spanish.
• Findings support the use of BESA for diverse populations.
• Further research is needed for identifying DLD in culturally and linguistically diverse children.