Bilingual Children with Specific Language Impairment and Standardized Assessments: Preliminary Findings from a Study of Children in Language Units

Bilingual children (N = 27, aged 6-8) with specific language impairment & enrolled in language units attached to mainstream private schools in England are compared with their monolingual peers (N = 242). Results of standardized speech & language assessments suggest that children with semantic &/or pragmatic difficulties perform differently than children without such difficulties & that the relationships between bilinguals' & monolinguals' scores are significantly different for the two groups. The variety of combinations of language difficulties was smaller for bilinguals, although this did not seem to have a direct influence on test scores. It was determined, however, that accounting for severity of difficulties did help to explain test score differences for bilingual children without semantic &/or pragmatic difficulties. Current knowledge regarding the assessment & treatment of bilingual students with special educational needs in England is reviewed in light of preliminary results of this study, & suggestions for further research are offered. 3 Tables, 1 Appendix, 39 References. Adapted from the source document