Article Production Accuracy of an Arabic–English Bilingual Child: A Case Study
Publication: Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups
Volume 7, Number 5
Pages 1520-1528
Abstract
Purpose:
This single-subject case study examined the article production accuracy of an Arabic–English bilingual child. The aim of the study was to determine whether the child's Arabic language background interacted with his accuracy of article production in English based on the Arabic article system, which, unlike English, does not contain the indefinite article.
Method:
The child was audio-recorded interacting with his paternal aunt and grandmother at two time points, when the child was aged 3;2 (years;months) and 3;6. A word-level coding system was developed to track the child's accurate and inaccurate production of article types in English including errors of substitution, addition, and omission.
Results:
Findings from this single-subject case study demonstrated that the child produced definite, indefinite, and null articles in English. The child's most frequent error was substitution of definite article the. In addition, the child spoke primarily in English with his caregivers. The findings supported prior work of bilingual children speaking a range of native languages, who also frequently misused the definite article the.
Discussion:
The child's article production accuracy and the more frequent definite article errors are discussed in the context of existing literature on article production by monolingual and bilingual children. The absence of the indefinite article in Arabic, the child's other language, could have driven the inaccurate/overuse use of the definite article in English. Nevertheless, the findings from this single-subject case study provide support for a child raised in an Arabic–English bilingual household who displayed development in his English article production accuracy in English comparable with that of bilingual children and monolingual English-speaking children.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Abudalbuh, M. (2016). The acquisition of English articles by Arabic L2-English learners: A semantic approach. Arab World English Journal, 7(2), 104–117.
Emslie, H. C., & Stevenson, R. J. (1981). Pre-school children's use of the articles in definite and indefinite referring expressions. Journal of Child Language, 8(2), 313–328.
Gusewski, S. (2019). Growth trajectories of grammatical skills and foundational reading skills in Spanish–English dual language learners [Unpublished doctoral dissertation , University of Texas at Dallas].
Ionin, T., Ko, H., & Wexler, K. (2004). Article semantics in L2 acquisition: The role of specificity. Language Acquisition, 12(1), 3–69.
Kemp, N., Elena, L., & Tomasello, M. (2005). Young children's knowledge of the “Determiner” and “Adjective” categories. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 48(3), 592–609.
Maratsos, M. P. (1974). Preschool children's use of definite and indefinite articles. Child Development, 45(2), 446–455., https://www.jstor.org/stable/1127967
Miller, J., & Iglesias, A. (2017). Systematic analysis of language transcripts (SALT) Research Version 18 [Computer Software] . SALT Software, LLC.
Polite, E. J., Leonard, L. B., & Roberts, F. D. (2011). The use of definite and indefinite articles by children with specific language impairment. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 13(4), 291–300.
Rozendaal, M., & Baker, A. (2010). The acquisition of reference: Pragmatic aspects and the influence of language input. Journal of Pragmatics, 42(7), 1866–1879.
Sabri, M., & Fabiano-Smith, L. (2018). Phonological development in a bilingual Arabic–English-speaking child with bilateral cochlear implants: A longitudinal case study. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 27(4), 1506–1522.
Saiegh-Haddad, E., & Geva, E. (2007). Morphological awareness, phonological awareness, and reading in English–Arabic bilingual children. Reading & Writing, 21(5), 481–504.
Schmerse, D., Lieven, E., & Tomasello, M. (2015). Young children use shared experience to interpret definite reference. Journal of Child Language, 42(5), 1146–1157.
U.S Census Bureau. (2018). Language spoken at home by ability to speak English for the population. American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates Detailed Tables.
Warden, D. A. (1976). The influence of context on children's use of identifying expressions and references. British Journal of Psychology, 67(1), 101–112.
Zdorenko, T., & Paradis, J. (2008). The acquisition of articles in child second language English: Fluctuation, transfer or both. Second Language Research, 24(2), 227–250.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 2022 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
History
- Received: Dec 17, 2021
- Revised: Apr 6, 2022
- Accepted: Jun 13, 2022
- Published online: Sep 6, 2022
- Published in issue: Oct 20, 2022
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Article Metrics
View all metricsCitations
Download article citation data for:
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.
For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.
