Periodic Reporting for period 2 - LINGUISTIC ILLUSIONS (Linguistic Illusions in Children with Down Syndrome, Specific Language Impairment and Typical Language Development)
Reporting period: 2019-08-21 to 2020-08-20
The MSCA-GF Linguistic Illusions project focuses on the linguistic development of Southern African American English-speaking (AAE) and Southern English-speaking (SE) children (aged 2–13) with either typical language development (TLD) or Language Disorder (LD), as well as individuals with Down syndrome (DS) starting at age 4. The AAE and SE varieties are socially stigmatized, despite previous work showing that what is often misperceived as lack of grammatical knowledge, especially the reduction of overt inflection when compared to Mainstream American English (MAE), is in fact a characteristic of the varieties (MAE: John wants cake. vs. AAE: John want cake). Similar characteristics have also been reported for DS and LD. The main research objective of this project was to provide the first comparative examination of language acquisition in SE and AAE in the 3 populations we set out to study. Empirically, we aimed to achieve an unbiased description of the data for a more inclusive analysis, and eliminate external factors that may affect our results such as dialectal particularities. Our second empirical objective concerned the formulation of developmental trajectories (DT) (i.e. the course of development with various grammatical elements) for the 3 populations, which will help determine if a child’s development is as expected, based on the population, age, and linguistic variation, or if and in what way it deviates. Our clinical objective was to use the DTs as a guide to provide a speedier, and more targeted diagnosis and create better-informed intervention plans.
Results from almost 300 AAE- and SE- speaking children (TD, DS, and LD) from the Southern State of Mississippi show significant differences across the 3 populations and suggest a serious problem of astoundingly high risk for LD for the TLD populations (SE: 37.6% & AAE: 60.5%) that has never, to the best of our knowledge, been reported for any language or linguistic variety. After considering numerous possibilities, we concluded that gaps in the acquisition of grammar created by limited education and/or exposure to language before the age of 5 ‘allow’ the diagnostic test to over-screen and produce false-positives. Note that percentages of grammaticality were in fact high (87%-99.8%), with one exception. Additional customized and standardized testing confirm this conclusion. It should also be noted that 95% of children that were identified as being at risk for LD did not have a prior diagnosis, though they were at an age where they should have been tested or identified. Neither age nor the parents’ educational level was proven reliable factors for predicting either variation from MAE or risk for LD.
This project makes numerous contributions on a linguistic, methodological, clinical, and social-outreach level. For example, it enables us to clarify which seemingly grammatical differences between what is expected and what is actually produced are due to differences in the variation of English our participants are speaking and which are grammatical errors, which, in turn, prevents misdiagnosis and facilitates early diagnosis and intervention. Results from this study can assist with social inclusion of individuals with DS and LDs, as well as AAE-speaking children, given that AAE is a socially stigmatized variety. Our numerous outreach initiatives with public events, media coverage, and educational workshops for the public, conference presentations, and journal publications also help improve the public’s opinion on individuals with DS, LDs as well as the grammatical standing of dialects. The number of participants, populations, age range, grammatical phenomena, and the number of tasks administered are all innovative additions to the limited information available on these variations of American English.
Results from almost 300 AAE- and SE- speaking children (TD, DS, and LD) from the Southern State of Mississippi show significant differences across the 3 populations and suggest a serious problem of astoundingly high risk for LD for the TLD populations (SE: 37.6% & AAE: 60.5%) that has never, to the best of our knowledge, been reported for any language or linguistic variety. After considering numerous possibilities, we concluded that gaps in the acquisition of grammar created by limited education and/or exposure to language before the age of 5 ‘allow’ the diagnostic test to over-screen and produce false-positives. Note that percentages of grammaticality were in fact high (87%-99.8%), with one exception. Additional customized and standardized testing confirm this conclusion. It should also be noted that 95% of children that were identified as being at risk for LD did not have a prior diagnosis, though they were at an age where they should have been tested or identified. Neither age nor the parents’ educational level was proven reliable factors for predicting either variation from MAE or risk for LD.
This project makes numerous contributions on a linguistic, methodological, clinical, and social-outreach level. For example, it enables us to clarify which seemingly grammatical differences between what is expected and what is actually produced are due to differences in the variation of English our participants are speaking and which are grammatical errors, which, in turn, prevents misdiagnosis and facilitates early diagnosis and intervention. Results from this study can assist with social inclusion of individuals with DS and LDs, as well as AAE-speaking children, given that AAE is a socially stigmatized variety. Our numerous outreach initiatives with public events, media coverage, and educational workshops for the public, conference presentations, and journal publications also help improve the public’s opinion on individuals with DS, LDs as well as the grammatical standing of dialects. The number of participants, populations, age range, grammatical phenomena, and the number of tasks administered are all innovative additions to the limited information available on these variations of American English.
The MSC Global Fellow prepared a detailed Customised Career Development Plan and secured Ethics approvals from the University of Mississippi and the University of Cambridge. She constructed all documents related to recruiting participants and designed 7 customised experiments (in total, 10 experimental tasks were administered) to include characteristics of the 2 varieties under investigation. Furthermore, 28 Research Assistants (RAs) were employed throughout the duration of the project to help with data collection and data entry. Despite complications that caused numerous delays, she was still able to successfully complete data collection and data analysis for almost 300 participants in a timely manner. Our commitment to public engagement and outreach has also been fulfilled with participation in public events, media coverage, and the organization of an educational workshop which covered issues related to health, education, language, and behaviour of individuals with DS. We concluded that even though on the surface it seems that variation from MAE may be a reliable factor for risk of LD, statistical analysis and results from a grammaticality analysis and all other experiments conducted do not support this initial impression.
Though a growing body of literature on the specific characteristics of SE and AAE is available, minimal research exists on the acquisition of the 2 varieties, especially of children with LD or DS. ‘Linguistic Illusions’ documents the developmental stages children undergo while acquiring these varieties, but most importantly identifies children that are at risk for LD and provides an invaluable opportunity to answer what factors contribute to the surprisingly high rates of LD we have uncovered and, together with the implementation of early education and early intervention plans, suggest a more efficient approach to address this critical problem. Data analysis shows higher rates of language difficulties with our DS and LD groups, but also an unexpectedly high risk for language disorder for undiagnosed children with TLD across both dialectal variations. However, we found that some children might have failed to be diagnosed by clinicians as having a language disorder.
Results from the project thus far have revealed a critical need for re-evaluation of the existing educational and clinical assessment systems currently in place in Mississippi and perhaps non-standard varieties of English in general, as well as the tools utilized to assess the linguistic and cognitive abilities of these children. We anticipate that the current study will have an invaluable impact on the process of diagnosis and treatment. Establishing the nature of grammatical differences between what is intended/expected and what is actually produced will help prevent over- or under-diagnosis and assist with more efficient intervention plans. The State of Mississippi is ranked amongst the lowest in terms of education and academic achievement. Knowing the true nature of the problem will help clarify what type of reformations are needed within the educational and diagnostic system to promote more efficient learning and better academic performance for the 2 varieties of English and other languages spoken across Europe and beyond. Publicising the results of this study assists in social and educational inclusion and the efficient integration of children speaking the SE and Southern AAE varieties, not only during primary and secondary education but also tertiary education. The outreach initiatives we have pursued thus far, serve as a precursor of the greater impact this study has on the local community and beyond.
Results from the project thus far have revealed a critical need for re-evaluation of the existing educational and clinical assessment systems currently in place in Mississippi and perhaps non-standard varieties of English in general, as well as the tools utilized to assess the linguistic and cognitive abilities of these children. We anticipate that the current study will have an invaluable impact on the process of diagnosis and treatment. Establishing the nature of grammatical differences between what is intended/expected and what is actually produced will help prevent over- or under-diagnosis and assist with more efficient intervention plans. The State of Mississippi is ranked amongst the lowest in terms of education and academic achievement. Knowing the true nature of the problem will help clarify what type of reformations are needed within the educational and diagnostic system to promote more efficient learning and better academic performance for the 2 varieties of English and other languages spoken across Europe and beyond. Publicising the results of this study assists in social and educational inclusion and the efficient integration of children speaking the SE and Southern AAE varieties, not only during primary and secondary education but also tertiary education. The outreach initiatives we have pursued thus far, serve as a precursor of the greater impact this study has on the local community and beyond.