Production tasks underestimate the grammatical abilities of sequential bilingual children
b'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.'