How bilingualism affects cognitive and linguistic skills in children with developmental language disorders

• Marini, Andrea ^[1] ; Andreetta, Sara ^[1] ; Mita, Alda ^[2] ; Piccolo, Barbara ^[3] ; Berginc, Moira ^[4] ; Ozbič, Martina ^[2]
  1. [1] Università di Udine

     Università di Udine

     Udine, Italia

     
  2. [2] Scientific Institute IRCCS “Eugenio Medea,” Pasian di Prato, UD, Italy
  3. [3] Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Struttura Complessa Neuropsichiatria dell’infanzia e dell’adolescenza territoriale, Cervignano Del Friuli- Udine, Italy
  4. [4] Casa della sanità di Capodistria/Zdravstveni Dom Koper, Ambulatorio per il trattamento riabilitativo della prima infanzia, Koper, Slovenia

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• Localización: Bilingualism: Language and cognition, ISSN 1366-7289, Vol. 28, Nº 5, 2025, págs. 1378-1392
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1017/s136672892500001x
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • This study examined the linguistic and cognitive characteristics of two groups of Italian preschoolers with developmental language disorder (DLD): one group of monolingual Italian speakers and another of Italian-Slovenian bilinguals. The assessment focused on executive functions (EFs) (i.e., phonological working memory and inhibitory control) and linguistic abilities, which involved a multilevel analysis of discourse production. The bilingual group outperformed the monolingual group on tasks measuring EFs. While the two groups showed similar performance across several linguistic measures, the bilingual children demonstrated superior grammatical comprehension, albeit with high variability. A similar level of variability was observed in the bilingual group’s phonological discrimination abilities. Both grammatical comprehension and phonological discrimination were significantly correlated with EFs. These findings are discussed in the context of current theories of linguistic development in bilingual children with DLD.

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