Search Results (19)

This study analyses the variety of the language used in textbooks for teaching Italian as a second/foreign language. These books use a language much closer to written than to spoken Italian and do not consider its varieties, providing examples and exercises with a “neutral” standard that speakers rarely use in everyday speech. The aim of this study is to provide a critical review of pronunciation sections in current L2 Italian textbooks, in the light of a renewed and growing interest in the study of the Italian language, not only by students with a migrant background in Italy, but also by second and third-generation emigrants who want to learn Italian to recover their roots. Thirty-two Italian textbooks were examined, considering some geolinguistic variables. The general tendency seems to be the introduction of some neo-standard Italian features. As far as the phonetic–phonological level is concerned, this is probably still insufficient because of the complexity of the Italian linguistic repertoire. Our analysis further suggests the inadequacy of notions such as (neo-)standard Italian for teaching purposes in the linguistic space of global Italian. Full article

In an increasingly globalized world, learning foreign languages (FLs) is essential, particularly in education. Multilingualism is critical due to the multicultural and interconnected nature of societies, yet early third language acquisition (TLA) is not widely adopted in schools. This study investigates how the simultaneous learning of Spanish first language (L1), a second language (L2), and a third language (L3) impacts oral language (OL) development in L1 and whether prior L2 knowledge aids L3 acquisition. The study involved bilingual (L1 + L2) and trilingual (L1 + L2 + L3) learners. Data were collected using the Navarre Oral Language Test-Revised, which evaluates phonological, morphological–syntactic, lexical–semantic, and pragmatic competencies in oral communication. Findings revealed that trilingual learners showed better OL development in L1 compared to bilingual learners. Additionally, prior L2 knowledge facilitated L3 learning, highlighting the benefits of early trilingual education. The study demonstrates that early trilingual learning positively impacts OL development in L1. These results contribute significantly to research on TLA and the advancement of multilingual education. Full article

Background: Speech and Language Impairment (SLI) significantly affects children’s communication skills, limiting their social and academic development. Case Information: This single-case study evaluates the effects of a personalized intervention in a 9-year-old child diagnosed with SLI, integrating linguistic and cognitive strategies to remediate core deficits typically observed in children with SLI. Two main objectives were established: (1) to assess the child’s psycholinguistic competencies and cognitive processes and (2) to analyze the impact of the intervention on skills such as phonology, semantics, syntax, executive functions, and emotional well-being. The longitudinal and personalized design included pre- and post-intervention assessments conducted over two and a half years using tools such as the ITPA and Peabody Vocabulary Test. The intervention sessions were structured into linguistic and cognitive activities, with a frequency of two weekly language sessions and one cognitive functions session. Statistical analysis included ANOVA to evaluate significant changes. Conclusions: The results showed significant improvements in linguistic areas such as auditory comprehension (from 3–5 to 10 years) and verbal expression (from 5–10 to 9–6), as well as in cognitive aspects such as visuomotor sequential memory and visual comprehension, which exceeded the expected values for the child’s age. However, skills such as grammatical integration and auditory association did not show significant progress. This demonstrates that personalized and multidisciplinary interventions can considerably improve linguistic and cognitive abilities in children with SLI, although some areas require more specific approaches. The findings highlight implications for designing tailored intervention strategies, emphasizing the need for further research with larger samples and control groups to generalize the results. This case reaffirms the importance of comprehensive approaches in the treatment of SLI to maximize the academic and social development of affected children. Full article

Background/Objectives: To date, there are no validated tools that assess children’s performance in connected text dictation tasks in European Portuguese using automated analysis. International studies were identified, but these primarily involved word dictation tasks and did not use automatic scoring tools. The present study aims to assess the reliability of the Dita.te (internal consistency and inter-rater reliability), a written assessment test based on a dictation task with automatic spreadsheet analysis, and establish normative data for text dictation tasks for children from 3rd to 6th grade. Methods: This study included 315 European Portuguese-speaking children from the 3rd to 6th grades. The Dita.te tool was used to assess orthographic errors based on phonological, morphological, and prosodic criteria. Descriptive statistics, percentiles, the inter-rater reliability and internal consistency were analyzed. Non-parametric tests compared performance by gender and school year due to a non-normal data distribution. Results: The Dita.te had excellent internal consistency (α = 0.929). The correlation between items scored highly (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient = 0.925). The number of errors decreased as the school year progressed, with errors affecting the syllable nucleus being the most frequent across all school years. These were followed by orthographic substitution errors, with grapheme omission being the most prevalent. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that orthographic competence is mostly stable before the 3rd grade, and the mismatches found in children with typical development show residual error in their orthographic performance. Full article

The present paper investigates the link between perception and production in the laryngeal phonology of multilingual speakers, focusing on non-contrastive segments and the dynamic aspect of these processes. Fourteen L1 Hungarian, L2 English, and L3 Spanish advanced learners took part in the experiments. The production experiments examined the aspiration of voiceless stops in word-initial position, regressive voicing assimilation, and pre-sonorant voicing; the latter two processes were analyzed both word-internally and across word boundaries. The perception experiments aimed to find out whether learners notice the phonetic outputs of these processes and regard them as linguistically relevant. Our results showed that perception and production are not aligned. Accurate production is dependent on accurate perception, but accurate perception is not necessarily transferred into production. In laryngeal postlexical processes, the native language seems to play the primary role even for highly competent learners, but markedness might be relevant too. The novel findings of this study are that phonetic category formation seems to be easier than the acquisition of dynamic allophonic alternations and that metaphonological awareness is correlated with perception but not with production. Full article

Introduction: 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. Methods: 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. Full article

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) significantly influences children’s language acquisition and usage. This theoretical study explores the multifaceted impact of ADHD on language development, specifically focusing on reading and writing challenges. Existing research reveals that approximately 30% of children with ADHD show significant delays in reading proficiency. Additionally, about 40% of these children struggle with phonological processing, which directly impacts their reading and writing skills. Interventions targeting executive function training combined with phonics-based instruction have been shown to significantly improve language outcomes. This study introduces a comprehensive framework connecting these challenges to specific interventions and collaborative strategies, emphasizing the importance of a multi-disciplinary approach. This work provides perspectives on the specific connections between ADHD symptoms and language difficulties, offering detailed potential solutions based on empirical data. Moreover, it features the necessity of adopting integrated intervention strategies to advance academic outcomes and communicative competencies for children with ADHD, providing new understandings into effective educational practices. Full article

This paper presents a variationist analysis of patterns of speech accommodation by 40 Arabic-speaking children and adolescents (aged 3–17) experiencing dialect contact in a Bedouin speech community near Damascus, Syria. It examines participants’ use of the phonological variables (θ), (ð), and (q), and the morphophonological feminine suffix (-a) in recorded sociolinguistic interviews and play sessions with two female fieldworkers, a local and an urban speaker, in order to investigate accommodation patterns across different interlocutors. Accommodation patterns were influenced by age, gender, and the linguistic variable under examination. Convergence to the urban interviewer was most evident in the realization of (q), whereas little convergence, and indeed variation, occurred in the realization of (-a), and more convergence occurred in the speech of girls and speakers younger than 15. Divergence and maintenance emerged in the speech of 15–17-year-old male speakers. These patterns are analysed in light of Accommodation Communication Theory and issues of identity and linguistic prestige in Arabic. Accommodative behaviour in the speech of participants exhibits their awareness of the social value of the phonological variables under investigation and demonstrates a high level of sociolinguistic awareness and competence. Full article

New-borns are capable of recognising and producing sounds as they become phonologically competent. Following this, infants develop a system for connecting these sounds, which helps them become increasingly lexically competent over time. Their knowledge of these words grows as they develop, using words to form phrases, turning them into sentences, and ultimately becoming syntactically competent. By making sense of these linguistic elements, these three competencies are enhanced, and this is how infants become semantically competent. As infants continue to develop linguistic and non-linguistic communication behaviours, this miraculous language development becomes even more complex, enabling them to perfect their linguistic abilities while being pragmatically competent. In this study, a scientometric approach was used to examine past, present, and future trends in pragmatic language development (PLD). A total of 6455 documents were analysed from the Scopus, WOS, and Lens databases between 1950 and 2022. The analysis involved the visualisation and tabulation of eight bibliometric and eight scientometric indicators using CiteSpace 5.8.R3 and VOSviewer 1.6.18 software for data analysis. In this study, we highlight the major patterns and topics directing the research on PLD between 1950 and 2022. The themes and topics included (1) analysing PLD as a social behaviour through the lens of executive functions; (2) studying PLD as a social behaviour based on social understanding; (3) examining PLD as a social behaviour associated with autism spectrum disorder; (4) developing an understanding of PLD in academic settings through the examination of executive functions; (5) identifying pragmatic competence versus communicative competence as a social behaviour; (6) analysing pragmatic language skills in aphasic patients via epistemic stances (i.e., attitudes towards knowledge in interaction); (7) investigating PLD as a behavioural problem in the context of a foreign language; (8) assessing PLD as a behavioural problem in individuals with autism spectrum disorder; (9) assessing PLD in persons with traumatic brain injury and closed head injury as a behavioural problem; (10) identifying the role of the right hemisphere in executive functions as a cognitive substrate; (11) assessing the impact of pragmatic failure in speech acts on pragmatic competence; and (12) investigating the patterns of PLD among learning-disabled children. Full article

Recent evidence underlines the importance of seeing learning disorders in terms of their partial association (comorbidity). The present concept paper presents a model of reading that aims to account for performance on a naturalistic reading task within a comorbidity perspective. The model capitalizes on the distinction between three independent levels of analysis: competence, performance, and acquisition: Competence denotes the ability to master orthographic–phonological binding skills; performance refers to the ability to read following specific task requirements, such as scanning the text from left to right. Both competence and performance are acquired through practice. Practice is also essential for the consolidation of item-specific memory traces (or instances), a process which favors automatic processing. It is proposed that this perspective might help in understanding surface dyslexia, a reading profile that has provoked a prolonged debate among advocates of traditional models of reading. The proposed reading model proposes that surface dyslexia is due to a defective ability to consolidate specific traces or instances. In this vein, it is a “real” deficit, in the sense that it is not due to an artifact (such as limited exposure to print); however, as it is a cross-domain defect extending to other learning behaviors, such as spelling and math, it does not represent a difficulty specific to reading. Recent evidence providing initial support for this hypothesis is provided. Overall, it is proposed that viewing reading in a comorbidity perspective might help better understand surface dyslexia and might encourage research on the association between surface dyslexia and other learning disorders. Full article

Evidence derived from functional imaging and brain-lesion studies has shown a strong left lateralization for language, and a complementary right hemisphere dominance for visuospatial abilities. Nevertheless, the symmetrical functional division of the two hemispheres gives no reason for the complexity of the cognitive operations involved in carrying out a linguistic task. In fact, a growing number of neuroimaging and neurostimulation studies suggest a possible right hemisphere involvement in language processing. The objective of this work was to verify the contribution of the left and right parietal areas in a phonological task. We applied anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the right or left inferior parietal lobe, during a syllabic reordering task. After having learnt a combination of images of real objects and trisyllabic pseudowords with a simple consonant–vowel (CV) syllabic structure (e.g., tu-ru-cu), participants were shown the same images paired to two different pseudowords: one correct but with transposed syllables, and one alternative, never before seen. The participant’s task was to orally produce the chosen pseudoword, after having rearranged the order of its syllables. Two types of error were considered: transposition (correct pseudoword but incorrectly reordered) and identity (incorrect pseudoword). The results showed that right anodal stimulation significantly reduced the number of transposition errors, whereas left anodal stimulation significantly reduced the number of identity errors. These results suggested that both left and right inferior parietal areas were differentially involved in a syllabic reordering task, and, crucially, they demonstrated that visuospatial processes served by the right inferior parietal area could be competent for establishing the correct syllabic order within a word. Full article

It is known that bilingualism may cause some specific problems with the articulation of sounds and errors in reading and writing when acquiring linguistic skills. The paper presents the results and conclusions related to the use of the Warnke method in improving the phonological competence of a bilingual girl aged seven, which learned two languages simultaneously (Polish and Italian) in her family environment. The case study method was used. The main objective was to assess the effectiveness of the first stage of the Warnke method in improving reading and writing skills in a bilingual child. The Warnke method focuses primarily on the diagnosis and training of the phonological competence and was based on the following assumptions: (a) the automation of hearing, vision, and motor functions can be improved at the level of brain activity; (b) the development and automation of phonological analysis and synthesis are based on the cooperation of the brain hemispheres. The preliminary and final results of the diagnosis obtained for basic brain functions (visual, motor, and auditory) and the level of literacy skills were analyzed and compared. The reading and writing abilities, before and after training with the Warnke method, were assessed using the symptomatic tests. The obtained results showed that during and after training with the method, there was noticeable progress in eight basic functions (visual, motor and auditory). Improvement was also seen in the following areas: knowledge of letters; pairing phonemes with letters; technique, speed, and fluency of reading and writing. The quality of reading and writing was verified and confirmed by symptomatic tests. The conducted study suggests that the observed learning disabilities were caused by deficits in the central processing functions, which resulted in a lower level of phonological skills. Full article

Phonological awareness is a complex and multifaceted skill which plays an essential role in the development of an individual’s language and literacy abilities. Phonological skills are indeed dramatically impaired in people with dyslexia, at any age and across languages, whereas their development in bilinguals is less clear. In addition, the interaction between bilingualism and dyslexia in this domain is still under-investigated. The aim of this paper is to provide new experimental evidence on this topic by exploring the phonological competence in Italian of monolingual and bilingual children with and without dyslexia. To this purpose, we developed three tasks, assessing nonword repetition, rhyme detection and spoonerisms, which we administered to 148 10-year-old children in two distinct studies. In Study 1, we found that two groups of L2 Italian typically developing bilinguals, having either Arabic or Romanian as L1, performed similarly to Italian monolinguals in all measures, pointing to absence of both bilingualism-related and L1-related effects in these tasks. In Study 2, we administered the same tasks to four groups of children: Italian monolinguals with dyslexia, Italian monolingual typically developing children, L2 Italian bilinguals with dyslexia and L2 Italian bilingual typically developing children. Results showed that children with dyslexia, both monolingual and bilingual, exhibited significantly more difficulties than typically developing children in all three tasks, whereas bilinguals, consistent with Study 1, performed similarly to their monolingual peers. In addition, no negative effects of bilingualism in dyslexia were found, indicating that being bilingual does not provide additional difficulties to children with dyslexia. Full article

This article presents a study of measures of center of gravity (COG) in phrase-final fricative epithesis (PFFE) produced by L1 and L2 speakers of Continental French (CF). Participants completed a reading task targeting 98 tokens of /i,y,u/ in phrase-final position. COG measures were taken at the 25%, 50% and 75% marks, normalized and submitted to a mixed linear regression. Results revealed that L2 speakers showed higher COG values than L1 speakers in low PFFE-to-vowel ratios at the 25%, 50%, and 75% marks. COG measures were then categorized into six profile types on the basis of their frequencies at each timepoint: flat–low, flat–high, rising, falling, rising–falling, and falling–rising. Counts of COG profile were then submitted to multinomial logistic regression. Results revealed that although L1 speakers produced predominantly flat–low profile types at lower percent devoicings, L2 speakers preferred multiple strategies involving higher levels of articulatory energy (rising, falling, rise–fall). These results suggest that while L1 speakers realize PFFE differently with respect to phonological context, L2 speakers rely on its most common allophone, strong frication, in most contexts. As such, the findings of this study argue for an additional phonetic dimension in the construct of L2 sociophonetic competence. Full article

Speech, reading, and writing are the basic forms of linguistic communication. Therefore, it is very important to diagnose any problems with them as early and completely as possible, particularly in children with special needs. One of the methods that focuses primarily on the diagnosis and therapy of such learning difficulties is the one developed by Fred Warnke. The diagnostic solutions of the method were motivated by the following assumptions: (a) Automation of hearing, vision, and motor functions can be improved based on the level of brain activity; (b) the development and automation of phonological analysis and synthesis are based on cooperation between the two brain hemispheres. The main purpose of this paper is to present and discuss some research results that show the usefulness of diagnosis of the first stage of the Warnke method, as well as the training determined by it, in improving the phonological memory, language, and reading and writing skills of a group of four Polish children with special needs. The range of automation of each function was estimated on the basis of the values obtained in the diagnoses (initial and final). The final diagnosis showed an improvement in the levels of speech, reading, and writing. Thus, the research has confirmed that the Warnke method diagnosis may help to broaden and complement the standard evaluation methods of phonological competence for Polish children with special needs. The outcomes were so encouraging that we decided to present them to a wider audience. Full article