This book contains 12 papers contributed by leading scholars in the field of language development, studying variants of the languages which originated on the Iberian peninsula. The contributors examine language development in both typically-developing and language-impaired populations who are learning language in diverse learning conditions, including language contact, as well as monolingual and bilingual Spanish, Catalan, Galician and Euskera. This expansion and diversification of the database for studying language development is important because it creates new opportunities for testing theoretical claims. Our contributors reconsider theoretical claims relating to the purported adult-like nature of young children’s grammars. While some conclude, for example, that children in Mexico possess very adult-like semantic-pragmatic competence in the domain of the pragmatic implicatures associated with existential quantifiers, others conclude that, in particular sociolinguistic registers of Chilean Spanish, children are late to develop adult-like competence in plural marking. Taken together, the contents of the volume illustrate how the linguistic diversity found in the distinct learning conditions in which language develops offers a wealth of opportunities to further our understanding of linguistic and non-linguistic cognitive development.

Young Hispanic children are the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority population in the United States, representing diverse racial, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds. Educational skills and achievement lag significantly for this population creating an unacceptable achievement gap at the beginning of kindergarten that grows even further by the end of third grade. What can we learn from the empirical literature, theory, programs, and policies associated with language and early learning for young Hispanics? What are the home and school factors important to differences in early cognitive development and educational well-being? In this timely collaboration, a renowned researcher and a seasoned practitioner explore these questions with a focus on specific instructional interventions that are associated with reducing the achievement gap for young Hispanic children. Chapters emphasize educational practices, including teacher competencies, instructional strategies, curricular content, parent involvement, and related policy. The text includes teacher-friendly artifacts, instructional organizers, and lesson descriptions.

The revised edition of this comprehensive graduate-level text gives SLPs the most current information on language development and disorders of Spanish-English bilingual children. Includes 5 new chapters on literacy and other hot topics.;

This book investigates language disorders in children who speak languages other than, or in addition to, English. The chapters in the first section of the volume focus on language disorders associated with four different syndromes in multilingual populations and contexts. This section discusses language disorders associated with autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome and Williams syndrome. The chapters in the second section of the book relate to language impairment in children who speak diverse languages, although the issues they address are relevant across languages and cultural contexts. The book also reviews assessment procedures and intervention approaches for diverse languages, including Bengali, Cantonese, French, Spanish, and Turkish. The volume aims to stimulate thoughtful clinical practice and further research in language disorders in multilingual populations.

How do we effectively teach children from homes in which a language other than English is spoken? In Improving Schooling for Language-Minority Children, a committee of experts focuses on this central question, striving toward the construction of a strong and credible knowledge base to inform the activities of those who educate children as well as those who fund and conduct research. The book reviews a broad range of studies--from basic ones on language, literacy, and learning to others in educational settings. The committee proposes a research agenda that responds to issues of policy and practice yet maintains scientific integrity. This comprehensive volume provides perspective on the history of bilingual education in the United States; summarizes relevant research on development of a second language, literacy, and content knowledge; reviews past evaluation studies; explores what we know about effective schools and classrooms for these children; examines research on the education of teachers of culturally and linguistically diverse students; critically reviews the system for the collection of education statistics as it relates to this student population; and recommends changes in the infrastructure that supports research on these students.