We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Bilingualism and Biliteracy in Down Syndrome: Insights From a Case Study.
- Authors
Burgoyne, Kelly; Duff, Fiona J.; Nielsen, Dea; Ulicheva, Anastasia; Snowling, Margaret J.
- Abstract
We present the case study of MB-a bilingual child with Down syndrome (DS) who speaks Russian (first language [L1]) and English (second language [L2]) and has learned to read in two different alphabets with different symbol systems. We demonstrate that, in terms of oral language, MB is as proficient in Russian as English, with a mild advantage for reading in English, her language of formal instruction. MB's L1 abilities were compared with those of 11 Russian-speaking typically developing monolinguals and her L2 abilities to those of 15 English-speaking typically developing monolinguals and six monolingual English-speaking children with DS; each group achieving the same level of word reading ability as MB. We conclude that learning two languages in the presence of a learning difficulty need have no detrimental effect on either a child's language or literacy development.
- Subjects
BILINGUALISM; DOWN syndrome; LITERACY; ORAL communication; RUSSIAN language; SECOND language acquisition; COGNITIVE processing of language
- Publication
Language Learning, 2016, Vol 66, Issue 4, p945
- ISSN
0023-8333
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/lang.12179