The Sentence Structure (SS) sub-test of the Clinical Evaluation
of Language Fundamentals aims to "measure the acquisition of grammatical
(structural) rules at the sentence level". Although not originally
intended for use with bilingual children, CELF raw scores are often used to
estimate the English proficiency of bilingual children.
One of the most robust predictors of language proficiency in
bilinguals is the amount of exposure they have experienced in the language in
question. Surprisingly, however, exposure to English did not predict SS scores
in a group of 5- to 7-year-old bilinguals, in sharp contrast with other
proficiency tests used with the same children. This study queries the
reliability of the SS test as an index of children's ability to deal with
structural complexity in sentence comprehension, and demonstrates that
cognitive complexity acts as a major confound in the task, affecting
monolinguals (n =87) and bilinguals (n = 87) alike.
Preprint of the full paper
Poster (Child Language Symposium 2018)