Tense Marking in the English Narrative Retells of Dual Language Preschoolers.

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Tense Marking in the English Narrative Retells of Dual Language Preschoolers.

Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2017 Jul 19;:1-14

Authors: Gusewski S, Rojas R

Abstract
Purpose: This longitudinal study investigated the emergence of English tense marking in young (Spanish-English) dual language learners (DLLs) over 4 consecutive academic semesters, addressing the need for longitudinal data on typical acquisition trajectories of English in DLL preschoolers.
Method: Language sample analysis was conducted on 139 English narrative retells elicited from 39 preschool-age (Spanish-English) DLLs (range = 39-65 months). Growth curve models captured within- and between-individual change in tense-marking accuracy over time. Tense-marking accuracy was indexed by the finite verb morphology composite and by 2 specifically developed adaptations. Individual tense markers were systematically described in terms of overall accuracy and specific error patterns.
Results: Tense-marking accuracy exhibited significant growth over time for each composite. Initially, irregular past-tense accuracy was higher than regular past-tense accuracy; over time, however, regular past-tense marking outpaced accuracy on irregular verbs.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that young DLLs can achieve high tense-marking accuracy assuming 2 years of immersive exposure to English. Monitoring the growth in tense-marking accuracy over time and considering productive tense-marking errors as partially correct more precisely captured the emergence of English tense marking in this population with highly variable expressive language skills.
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PMID: 28724145 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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