A longitudinal investigation of the semantic receptive-expressive gap in Spanish-English bilingual children

ABSTRACT

Although a semantic receptive-expressive gap appears to be a universal feature of early bilingualism, little is known about its development. We sought to determine if the magnitude of the discrepancy between receptive and expressive standard scores changed over time in bilingual children’s two languages. In this longitudinal study, standardized receptive and expressive semantics tests of 106 Spanish-English bilingual children with TD were taken at kindergarten and first grade in both English and Spanish. We used a multivariate analysis approach to identify interactions and main effects. Although both receptive and expressive standard scores improved across the year in both languages, the magnitude of the gap was similar for both languages at both time points. However, there was greater improvement in English than in Spanish. Expressive scores at the end of the year were similar to receptive scores a year earlier. The magnitude of this gap remains relatively constant at kindergarten and first grade in both English and Spanish, despite overall improvements in semantic performance in both languages. There is on average roughly a one year lag between receptive and expressive semantics skills. Clinicians should take caution in interpreting receptive-expressive semantic gaps.

KEYWORDS:

• Childhood bilingualism
• second language learning
• school-age children
• semantic development

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the grant R01DC007439 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). We are grateful to the families that participated in the study. We would also like to thank Anita Méndez Pérez and Chad Bingham for their assistance with coordination of data collection, the interviewers for their assistance with collecting the data for this project, and the school districts for allowing us access to collect the data. This report does not necessarily reflect the views or policy of NIDCD.

Disclosure statement

Peña & Bedore are authors of the BESA and receive royalties from its sale. In this paper, we used the longer, experimental version of the BESA. No potential conflict of interest was reported by the other authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the grant R01DC007439 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD).

Notes on contributors

Todd A. Gibson

Todd A. Gibson is a professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge. His research focuses on the influence of language exposure and experience on bilingual language acquisition.

Elizabeth D. Peña

Elizabeth D. Peña is a professor in the School of Education at University of California, Irvine. Her research focuses on dynamic assessment and semantic development in bilinguals. Results of these investigations lead to the development of appropriate bilingual language tests.

Lisa M. Bedore

Lisa M. Bedore is chair and a professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Temple University. Much of her theoretical and clinical research focuses on understanding the interface between bilingualism and developmental language disorders.

Kevin S. McCarter

Kevin S. McCarter is an associate professor in the Department of Experimental Statistics at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge. He collaborates with researchers across many disciplines in both the social and natural sciences. His focus is on multivariate statistical analysis and computationally intensive statistical methods.