ERIC Number: EJ1015572
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Apr
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1092-4388
EISSN: N/A
Cross-Linguistic and Cross-Cultural Effects on Verbal Working Memory and Vocabulary: Testing Language-Minority Children with an Immigrant Background
Engel de Abreu, Pascale M. J.; Baldassi, Martine; Puglisi, Marina L.; Befi-Lopes, Debora M.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, v56 n2 p630-642 Apr 2013
Purpose: In this study, the authors explored the impact of test language and cultural status on vocabulary and working memory performance in multilingual language-minority children. Method: Twenty 7-year-old Portuguese-speaking immigrant children living in Luxembourg completed several assessments of first (L1)- and second-language (L2) vocabulary (comprehension and production), executive-loaded working memory (counting recall and backward digit recall), and verbal short-term memory (digit recall and nonword repetition). Cross-linguistic task performance was compared within individuals. The language-minority children were also compared with multilingual language-majority children from Luxembourg and Portuguese-speaking monolinguals from Brazil without an immigrant background matched on age, sex, socioeconomic status, and nonverbal reasoning. Results: Results showed that (a) verbal working memory measures involving numerical memoranda were relatively independent of test language and cultural status; (b) language status had an impact on the repetition of high- but not on low-wordlike L2 nonwords; (c) large cross-linguistic and cross-cultural effects emerged for productive vocabulary; (d) cross-cultural effects were less pronounced for vocabulary comprehension with no differences between groups if only L1 words relevant to the home context were considered. Conclusion: The study indicates that linguistic and cognitive assessments for language-minority children require careful choice among measures to ensure valid results. Implications for testing culturally and linguistically diverse children are discussed. (Contains 3 tables, 1 figure, and 3 footnotes.)
Descriptors: Contrastive Linguistics, Cross Cultural Studies, Verbal Ability, Short Term Memory, Immigrants, Foreign Countries, Language Minorities, Multilingualism, Portuguese, Native Language, Second Language Learning, Vocabulary Skills, Language Tests, Linguistic Borrowing, Culture Fair Tests, Elementary School Students, Bilingualism, Language Processing, French, German, Indo European Languages, Neurolinguistics, Language Impairments, Longitudinal Studies, Questionnaires
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). 10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. Tel: 800-638-8255; Fax: 301-571-0457; e-mail: subscribe@asha.org; Web site: http://jslhr.asha.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Brazil; Luxembourg
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Expressive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test; Raven Progressive Matrices
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A