Spoken Language Proficiency (Discourse Level) in Bilingual Children with Learning Disability

Abstract

This study was mainly designed to investigate • the language proficiency in bilingual children with Learning Disability (LD) and typically developing children. The study also aimed to identify and quantify the language impairment at discourse level in children with LD and typically developing children. It was compared across the group and language for two different tasks (picture description or story narration). The participants included a total of 60 school going children in the age range of 8 to 13 years. An attempt was made to investigate specifically, the aspects of discourse (propositional/non-propositional) that were affected in children with LD and typically developing children. The results indicated significant differences in the discourse of narrative productions in the LD compared with controls. The findings of this study support past literature, which calls for greater research in this area using stricter reliability measures.