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Published on: June 30, 2020
Measuring language proficiency in bilingual children using EEG-based neural tracking of continuous speech
Lotte Van den Eynde1, Marlies Gillis1, Ellen Rombouts1
1Research Group Experimental Oto-Rhino-Laryngology (ExpORL), Department of Neurosciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium.
Brain and Language
|July 2, 2026
Summary
Neural envelope tracking shows promise for assessing language comprehension in children by distinguishing between understandable and incomprehensible languages. However, it does not yet correlate with individual language proficiency levels.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Assessing language proficiency in bilingual children presents challenges due to linguistic variability and the limitations of traditional behavioral tests.
- Electroencephalography (EEG)-based neural envelope tracking, a measure of neural responses to speech envelope, is a potential complementary method for language assessment.
- The relationship between neural envelope tracking and actual language proficiency in children requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between neural envelope tracking and language proficiency in children with diverse language skills.
- To explore the potential of neural envelope tracking as a tool for evaluating language comprehension in pediatric populations.
Main Methods:
- Neural envelope tracking was measured in 15 monolingual and 15 bilingual Dutch-French-speaking children (ages 6-8) while they listened to Dutch, French, and Italian speech.
- Comprehension levels were established: Dutch (all participants), French (bilinguals only), Italian (none).
- Behavioral language assessments included parental questionnaires and standardized tests in Dutch and French for comparison with EEG data.
Main Results:
- Neural tracking accuracy was higher for comprehensible languages than incomprehensible ones across both monolingual and bilingual groups.
- Monolingual children showed higher tracking for Dutch compared to French and Italian (Dutch > French = Italian).
- Bilingual children demonstrated comparable tracking for Dutch and French, both higher than Italian (Dutch = French > Italian); however, no significant correlations were found between neural envelope tracking and behavioral language measures.
Conclusions:
- Neural envelope tracking can differentiate between comprehensible and incomprehensible languages in children, suggesting its potential for assessing language comprehension.
- Current neural envelope tracking methods lack the sensitivity to reflect individual differences in children's language proficiency across different languages.
- Further research and validation are necessary to enhance the sensitivity of neural envelope tracking for individual language assessment in children.
