Peer reviewed
ERIC Number: EJ697058
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005-Feb-1
Pages: 15
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1092-4388
EISSN: N/A
Language Development in Preschool-Age Children Adopted from China.
Roberts, Jenny A.; Pollock, Karen E.; Krakow, Rena; Price, Johanna; Fulmer, Kathleen C.; Wang, Paul P.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, v48 n1 p93 Feb 2005
This study examined the language development of 55 preschool-age children adopted from China who had resided in their permanent homes for approximately 2 years or longer. Slightly over 5% of the children scored below average on 2 or more measures from a battery of standardized speech-language tests normed on monolingual English speakers. However, the vast majority scored within or well above the average range on 2 or more measures. Contrary to other reports on the language development of internationally adopted children, the results suggest that "second first language" acquisition proceeds rapidly in the majority of preschool-age children adopted as infants and toddlers. For the children in the sample who scored below average, results indicated that they were among the children who had been exposed to English for the least amount of time. The results of this study demonstrate both the robustness of the language system in the majority of adopted children from China as well as slower growth in a small subset of lower performers in the 1st years after adoption.KEY WORDS: international adoption, language development, specific language impairment
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Monolingualism, Language Acquisition, Language Impairments, Adoption
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. Tel: 301-897-5700, ext. 4164; Fax: 301-897-7348
Publication Type: Journal Articles
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: China
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A