Are background variables good predictors of need for L2 assistance in school? Effects of age, L1, amount, and timing of exposure on Icelandic language and nonword repetition scores

ABSTRACT

In response to the recent sharp increase of L2 students in Reykjavik schools, allocation criteria for special L2 services were adopted that were based on length of residence and on whether children’s home language was tonal or not tonal. This study set out to evaluate the appropriateness of these criteria, and to replicate previous findings of a smaller scale study of the Icelandic and nonword repetition performance of L2 learners of Icelandic.

Participants: Included L2 learners and native speakers of Icelandic (n = 266) at three grade levels (grades 1–3, 5–6 and 8–9 (n = 266); the L2 learners included children from tonal and non tonal home languages.

Method: All the children were administered a new test of Icelandic vocabulary and grammar developed expressly for Icelandic, a test of Icelandic nonword repetition, and a background information questionnaire.

Results: L2 speakers in each age group performed significantly lower than L1 speakers in Icelandic vocabulary and grammar; less than a third of the L2 speakers performed within the normal L1 range, and over half performed more than 2 SD below this range. Low performers were particularly numerous in the oldest age group. NWR performance was related to age and Icelandic exposure, but scores were nevertheless uniformly high. No differences were found between children from tonal and non tonal home languages. The relationship between input and performance was complex, making fair allocation criteria based on background variables hard to formulate. Input variables (amount and timing of Icelandic exposure) were strongly related to input for the L2 group as a whole, and for the two older groups. However, the relationship was not significant for the youngest group. The pattern suggested that fast progress in Icelandic is related to higher age and recency of onset of L2 exposure.

KEYWORDS:

• Second language
• L2
• bilingual
• vocabulary
• grammar
• nonword repetition
• language processing
• age of acquisition (AoA)
• length of residence (LoR)
• Icelandic

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to acknowledge the collaboration of the School Board of the City of Reykjavik (Skóla-og frístundasvið, Reykjavíkurborg) in the recruitment and data collection for this study. Thanks are also extended to school personnel who assisted with recruitment, and last but not least, to the participating students and their parents.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Elin Thordardottir is professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders of McGill University, Montreal, and a researcher at ReykjavikurAkademian in Iceland. She holds a Ph.D. in Communicative Disorders and clinical certification in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. Her current research focus is on typical language development and language disorders (assessment and intervention) in monolingual and bilingual children. Her work has appeared in various journals such as The Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, Applied Psycholinguistics, The International Journal of Bilingualism, The Journal of Communication Disorders, The International Journal of Speech Language Pathology, and The Canadian Journal of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology.