Lexical-semantic production and executive functions in bilingual (German-English) children
(2013) LOGM81 20131Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology
- Abstract (Swedish)
- When testing bilingual children, as a speech and language therapist, one often encounter problems. A field which is especially challenging to test is lexical-semantic production. The aim was to shed more light on bilingual children’s inhibitory and switching ability during picture-naming and related non-verbal tests and which factors must be taken into consideration when evaluating these results. The present study explored the effects of age and cognitive processing within a timed picture-naming task and a non-verbal switching task and also examined a possible relation between these tasks. 22 children participated in the study, which were divided into two groups (Group 1: 5-6 years; Group 2: 7-12 years). All had learnt German from birth at... (More)
- When testing bilingual children, as a speech and language therapist, one often encounter problems. A field which is especially challenging to test is lexical-semantic production. The aim was to shed more light on bilingual children’s inhibitory and switching ability during picture-naming and related non-verbal tests and which factors must be taken into consideration when evaluating these results. The present study explored the effects of age and cognitive processing within a timed picture-naming task and a non-verbal switching task and also examined a possible relation between these tasks. 22 children participated in the study, which were divided into two groups (Group 1: 5-6 years; Group 2: 7-12 years). All had learnt German from birth at home. English was either introduced as a second language later or was also learnt from birth at home. The testing of language switching and inhibition was conducted through a cued timed picture-naming task. Picture naming was tested in three different conditions, two conditions where only one language was tested (blocked English and blocked German) and one mixed condition (switching between English and German). A non-verbal switching and inhibition test was conducted using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) for the older group and the Dimensional Change Card Sorting (DCCS) for the younger group. Results revealed unequal error rates and differences in response time, with the older children producing fewer errors and lower response times in all three conditions. The study showed no statistical relationship between non-verbal and verbal switching and inhibition tasks. Results from the verbal switching task, support earlier findings of a shift towards becoming more dominant in L2 (in this case English) with increased age (and equivalent years of language experience) and that the developments of cognitive functions play a big role in the control of the switching and inhibition abilities. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/3809700
- author
- Niles, Emma LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- LOGM81 20131
- year
- 2013
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- bilingualism, lexical-semantic production, executive functions, picture-naming
- language
- English
- id
- 3809700
- date added to LUP
- 2013-06-10 16:09:17
- date last changed
- 2013-06-10 16:09:17
@misc{3809700,
abstract = {{When testing bilingual children, as a speech and language therapist, one often encounter problems. A field which is especially challenging to test is lexical-semantic production. The aim was to shed more light on bilingual children’s inhibitory and switching ability during picture-naming and related non-verbal tests and which factors must be taken into consideration when evaluating these results. The present study explored the effects of age and cognitive processing within a timed picture-naming task and a non-verbal switching task and also examined a possible relation between these tasks. 22 children participated in the study, which were divided into two groups (Group 1: 5-6 years; Group 2: 7-12 years). All had learnt German from birth at home. English was either introduced as a second language later or was also learnt from birth at home. The testing of language switching and inhibition was conducted through a cued timed picture-naming task. Picture naming was tested in three different conditions, two conditions where only one language was tested (blocked English and blocked German) and one mixed condition (switching between English and German). A non-verbal switching and inhibition test was conducted using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) for the older group and the Dimensional Change Card Sorting (DCCS) for the younger group. Results revealed unequal error rates and differences in response time, with the older children producing fewer errors and lower response times in all three conditions. The study showed no statistical relationship between non-verbal and verbal switching and inhibition tasks. Results from the verbal switching task, support earlier findings of a shift towards becoming more dominant in L2 (in this case English) with increased age (and equivalent years of language experience) and that the developments of cognitive functions play a big role in the control of the switching and inhibition abilities.}},
author = {{Niles, Emma}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Lexical-semantic production and executive functions in bilingual (German-English) children}},
year = {{2013}},
}