The article paradigm in Spanish-speaking children with SLI in language contact situations

This chapter presents research on article use by Spanish-speaking children in an English language contact situation. We followed sixteen Spanish-speaking children in an English school immersion context for a period of three years, including four children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI), with annual data collection via experimental and spontaneous procedures. Results suggest a different trend in the use of Spanish articles in children with typical language skills and children with SLI with respect to the use of gender agreement. To discern the impact that language skill and sociolinguistic context have on the article paradigm, we compared our results with those reported in other research with typical learners in language contact situations and with other Spanish-speaking children with SLI.