Bello Arianna, Ferraresi Paola, Pallini Susanna, Perucchini Paola, Lonigro Antonia
Department of Education, Roma Tre University, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Children (Basel). 2024 Sep 25;11(10):1165. doi: 10.3390/children11101165.
The objective of the current study was two-fold. First, it aimed to estimate receptive vocabulary and expressive syntax skills in L2 Italian among early sequential/simultaneous bilingual children of migrant single-mother families with very low socioeconomic status (SES). This objective was achieved by matching the participants' performance with normative data. Secondly, this study aimed to identify which individual and language exposure factors contributed to learning L2 vocabulary and syntax.
Twenty-four early sequential/simultaneous bilingual children (age range = 5.10-12.4 years) and their mothers were enrolled. Mothers answered questions about linguistic biography and demographic information. Children completed Lexical Comprehension, Sentence Repetition, and Non-Word Repetition tasks from the Language Assessment Battery for 4-12-year-olds to, respectively, assess receptive vocabulary, expressive syntax, and phonological processing. Moreover, non-verbal intellectual functioning was evaluated by the Raven's Test.
RESULTS/DISCUSSION: Compared to normative data, 20 children showed lower receptive vocabulary abilities (<-1.5 SD), 24 lower expressive syntax skills (-2DS), and 7 children lower phonological processing (<-1.5 DS). Moreover, L2 phonological processing and the length of L2 exposure in an educational context positively predicted L2 receptive vocabulary as well as L2 expressive syntax skills. To date, performance in L2 among early sequential/simultaneous bilingual children from migrant households and very low SES remains underexplored. Future efforts need to be directed towards the understanding of factors that impact oral competence in L2, considering that these children will also be exposed to written L2 in the school context.
本研究有两个目标。其一，旨在评估社会经济地位极低（SES）的移民单亲家庭中早期顺序/同时双语儿童的意大利语二语接受性词汇和表达性句法技能。这一目标是通过将参与者的表现与常模数据进行匹配来实现的。其二，本研究旨在确定哪些个体因素和语言接触因素有助于二语词汇和句法的学习。
招募了24名早期顺序/同时双语儿童（年龄范围 = 5.10 - 12.4岁）及其母亲。母亲们回答了有关语言经历和人口统计学信息的问题。孩子们完成了4至12岁儿童语言评估电池中的词汇理解、句子重复和非单词重复任务，分别评估接受性词汇、表达性句法和语音处理能力。此外，通过瑞文测试评估非言语智力功能。
结果/讨论：与常模数据相比，20名儿童的接受性词汇能力较低（<-1.5标准差），24名儿童的表达性句法技能较低（-2标准差），7名儿童的语音处理能力较低（<-1.5标准差）。此外，二语语音处理和在教育环境中的二语接触时长对二语接受性词汇以及二语表达性句法技能有正向预测作用。迄今为止，来自移民家庭且社会经济地位极低的早期顺序/同时双语儿童的二语表现仍未得到充分研究。考虑到这些儿童在学校环境中也会接触到二语书面语，未来需要致力于理解影响二语口语能力的因素。
