Production tasks underestimate the grammatical abilities of sequential bilingual children
Department of Education Public Seminar delivered by Professor\xa0Theodoros\xa0Marinis on sequential bilingual children. The\xa0seminar\xa0will\xa0look at\xa0the\xa0acquisition\xa0of\xa0definiteness\xa0in\xa0sequential\xa0bilingual\xa0(L2)\xa0children,\xa0children\xa0with\xa0Specific\xa0Language\xa0Impairment\xa0(SLI),\xa0and\xa0age\xadmatched\xa0typically\xa0developing\xa0(TD)\xa0children\xa0across\xa0three\xa0languages:\xa0English,\xa0Dutch,\xa0and\xa0Greek.\xa0Accurate\xa0use\xa0of\xa0definiteness\xa0requires\xa0the\xa0acquisition\xa0of\xa0syntax,\xa0semantics,\xa0and\xa0discourse\xadpragmatics.\xa0Previous\xa0studies\xa0on\xa0the\xa0acquisition\xa0of\xa0definiteness\xa0have\xa0shown\xa0that\xa0L2\xa0children\xa0and\xa0children\xa0with\xa0SLI\xa0are\xa0less\xa0accurate\xa0than\xa0TD\xa0children\xa0in\xa0the\xa0use\xa0of\xa0definite\xa0and\xa0indefinite\xa0articles and\xa0show\xa0errors\xa0of\xa0omission\xa0and/or\xa0substitution\xa0(e.g.,\xa0Chondrogianni,\xa02008\u037e\xa0Polite,\xa0Leonard,\xa0&\xa0Roberts,\xa02011\u037e\xa0Zdorenko\xa0&\xa0Paradis,\xa02011).\xa0However,\xa0it\xa0is\xa0unclear\xa0whether\xa0the\xa0two\xa0groups\xa0of\xa0children\xa0have\xa0the\xa0same\xa0underlying\xa0difficulties\xa0in\xa0the\xa0acquisition\xa0of\xa0definiteness\xa0because\xa0different\xa0tasks\xa0have\xa0been\xa0used\xa0in\xa0each\xa0study\xa0and\xa0there\xa0is\xa0a\xa0lack\xa0of\xa0studies\xa0comparing\xa0the\xa0groups\xa0directly.\xa0Moreover,\xa0most\xa0studies\xa0have\xa0focused\xa0on\xa0production\xa0and\xa0very\xa0fewhave\xa0addressed\xa0the\xa0children\u2019s\xa0comprehension.\xa0To\xa0address\xa0the\xa0acquisition\xa0of\xa0definiteness\xa0in\xa0these\xa0groups\xa0we\xa0used\xa0the\xa0same\xa0tasks\xa0in\xa0all\xa0groups:\xa0an\xa0on\xadline\xa0production\xa0task, involving\xa0short\xa0stories\xa0based\xa0on\xa0Schafer\xa0&\xa0de\xa0Villiers\xa0(2000), examined\xa0the\xa0use\xa0of\xa0definite\xa0and\xa0indefinite\xa0articles\xa0in\xa0different\xa0semantic\xa0and\xa0discourse\xadpragmatic\xa0contexts.\xa0A\xa0selfpaced listening\xa0experiment\xa0with\xa0grammatical\xa0violations\xa0tested\xa0the\xa0children\u2019s\xa0subconscious\xa0reflex\xa0to\xa0grammatical\xa0violations\xa0caused\xa0by\xa0the\xa0on\xadline\xa0comprehension\xa0of\xa0sentences\xa0with\xa0article\xa0omission.\xa0The\xa0results\xa0reveal\xa0important\xa0between\xadgroup\xa0differences\xa0and\xa0shed\xa0light\xa0to\xa0their\xa0specific\xa0underlying\xa0difficulties.\xa0Moreover,\xa0they\xa0demonstrate\xa0that\xa0production\xa0data\xa0underestimate\xa0the\xa0children\u2019s\xa0grammatical\xa0abilities.