Date of Award
2024
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology
Department
Communicative Disorders
First Advisor
Alisa Baron
Abstract
This study aims to investigate nonword repetition (NWR) performance longitudinally in Spanish-English bilingual children with and without Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Two hundred and thirty -- typically- developing (TD) children and 41 children with DLD participated in NWR tasks in both English and Spanish. These children entered the study and were followed for 2 to 4 years between kindergarten to fifth grade. Language ability status, age, age of first exposure to English, percent of current language use, semantics, and morphosyntax measures were collected. The results indicated that, when comparing rates of change (slopes) between TD and DLD groups, there was not a statistically significant difference in NWR performance in either language. Both groups showed improvement in NWR performance over time in English and Spanish. The NWR performance of TD children and children with DLD improved from year to year in both languages, however, the rates of change were consistent across the years studied, indicating that the NWR performance of children with DLD remains behind their TD peers. A limitation of this study is that not all children were followed for all four years as many children were followed for only two years. A better understanding of how NWR performance changes over time across TD and DLD groups will support future diagnostic accuracy of NWR tasks in bilingual children. In the future, we plan to conduct linear mixed effects models to include various measures (i.e., language ability status, age, age of first exposure to English, percent of current language use, semantics, and morphosyntax) which may impact NWR performance over time.
Recommended Citation
Kluglein, Melissa, "A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF NONWORD REPETITION IN BILINGUAL TYPICALLY-DEVELOPING CHILDREN AND BILINGUAL CHILDREN WITH DEVELOPMENTAL LANGUAGE DISORDER" (2024). Open Access Master's Theses. Paper 2489.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses/2489