Word Learning in Bilingual Children at Risk for Developmental Language Disorder

Area of Science:

• Child language acquisition
• Bilingualism research
• Developmental language disorder

Background:

• Understanding novel word learning is crucial for identifying language impairments.
• Bilingual children present unique challenges in language development assessment.
• Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) affects language skills in children, including word learning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare novel word learning abilities in Cantonese-English bilingual children at risk for DLD versus typically developing (TD) peers.
• To investigate the role of lexical knowledge in word learning for both groups.
• To examine cross-linguistic influences on word learning in bilingual children.

Main Methods:

• 24 Cantonese-English bilingual children at risk for DLD and 38 TD children participated.
• Participants learned 8 novel Cantonese (L1) and 8 novel English (L2) words over 8 weeks.
• Lexical knowledge was assessed using language sample analysis (moving-average number of different words).

Main Results:

• Children at risk for DLD demonstrated lower word learning scores in both L1 and L2 compared to TD peers.
• L1 lexical knowledge predicted L1 word learning in TD children; L2 lexical knowledge predicted L2 word learning in children at risk for DLD.
• Significant cross-linguistic effects were observed from L2 to L1 in both groups.

Conclusions:

• Novel word learning in bilingual children with DLD is complex and language-dependent.
• Tracking language learning trajectories across both languages is clinically valuable for bilingual children at risk for DLD.