ERIC Number: EJ1474810
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-2149-1135
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Grammatical Number in Arabic-English Bilingual Children
Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, v9 n2 p170-185 2023
This study examined the developmental trajectories of Arabic grammatical number in Arabic-English bilingual children. The samples consisted of 80 individuals (40 monolingual children residing in Jordan and 40 bilingual children residing in the USA), aged between 5 and 9 years. Data was collected through two tasks involving picture able objects and naturally occurring communications. Although bilingual children's accuracy in plural processing demonstrated an age-related improvement, the findings reported a notable delay in plural form acquisition within the bilingual age-related trajectories. Transparency, frequency, and productivity contributed to shape the acquisition patterns of plural form among 5-7-years-old children, while predictability becomes a salient factor for the older trajectories. The study also highlighted the productivity of bilingual children to employ the feminine sound plural (FSP) as a default mechanism in generating diverse plural nouns. Prominent strategies in producing plural forms by bilingual children encompassed over-generalization of the FSP, code-switching between plural patterns, and utilization of the English plural morpheme [-s] and English quantifiers. The study, therefore, concludes that children predominantly adopt a single route mechanism during the processing of the inflectional system. Finally, the study offers noteworthy pedagogical implications pertinent to the instruction of Arabic-English bilingual children.
Descriptors: Grammar, Arabic, Language Acquisition, Accuracy, Morphemes, Bilingualism, Monolingualism, Second Language Learning, Cross Cultural Studies, English (Second Language), Language Processing, Nouns, Age Differences, Productivity, Code Switching (Language), Foreign Countries, Language Patterns, Form Classes (Languages), Teaching Methods, Child Language, Arabs, North Americans, Contrastive Linguistics, Task Analysis, Pictorial Stimuli, Transfer of Training, Children, Preschool Children, Native Language
Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics. Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Anafartalar Campus Faculty of Education Department of Foreign Language Education, Canakkale 07100, Turkey. e-mail: editor@ejal.info; Website: https://ejal.info/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Jordan; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A