Department of Linguistics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
The Connecticut Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ. 2023 Sep 18;28(4):350-362. doi: 10.1093/deafed/enad026.
Some studies have concluded that sign language hinders spoken language development for deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children even though sign language exposure could protect DHH children from experiencing language deprivation. Furthermore, this research has rarely considered the bilingualism of children learning a signed and a spoken language. Here we compare spoken English development in 2-6-year-old deaf and hearing American Sign Language-English bilingual children to each other and to monolingual English speakers in a comparison database. Age predicted bilinguals' language scores on all measures, whereas hearing status was only significant for one measure. Both bilingual groups tended to score below monolinguals. Deaf bilinguals' scores differed more from monolinguals, potentially because of later age of and less total exposure to English, and/or to hearing through a cochlear implant. Overall, these results are consistent with typical early bilingual language development. Research and practice must treat signing-speaking children as bilinguals and consider the bilingual language development literature.
一些研究得出结论，手语会阻碍聋人和重听（DHH）儿童的口语发展，尽管手语的使用可以保护 DHH 儿童免受语言剥夺。此外，这项研究很少考虑到同时学习手语和口语的儿童的双语情况。在这里，我们将比较 2 至 6 岁的聋童和健听的美国手语-英语双语儿童彼此之间以及与双语数据库中的单语英语使用者的英语口语发展情况。年龄可以预测双语者在所有测试中的语言分数，而听力状况仅对一项测试有意义。两个双语群体的得分都低于单语者。聋人双语者的得分与单语者的差异更大，这可能是因为他们接触英语的年龄较晚、总接触时间较少，或者是通过人工耳蜗进行听力。总的来说，这些结果与典型的早期双语语言发展一致。研究和实践必须将手语使用者视为双语者，并考虑双语语言发展文献。
