1. Non-Word Repetition 37-975-01
Challenges to Language Acquisition: Bilingualism and Language Impairment
Dr. Sharon Armon-Lotem
Bar Ilan University

2. What is a Non-Word Repetition task?
In a non-word repetition task the child in asked to repeat pseudo words and/or non-words of 1-5 syllables, with or without a cluster at the onset, middle or coda.
Pseudo word: target-like
Non-word: not target-like

3. GAPS - Grammar and Phonology Screening Test
Gardner, H., Froud, K., McClelland, A. & van der Lely, H. (2006) The development of the Grammar and Phonology Screening (GAPS) test to assess key markers of specific language difficulties in young children. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders
dep, pif, dremp, klest, tobilf, difimp, bademper, fakester, padrepper, difrimple
What contributes to the complexity of these words?
Are they English like?
Could they be used as is in a Hebrew test?
Which considerations should apply?

4. These can be influenced by:
The processing involved in NWR
NW >>
Auditory processing >>
Phonological Analysis >>
Phonological storage (and learning for real words) >>
Speech motor planning >>
Output
These can be influenced by:
Hearing loss
Phonotactic frequency
Language dominance
Stimulus length
STM deficit
Complexity
Articulatory deficit

5. Non-word repetition & word learning – TLD, L1
At the age of 4 (Gathercole, Service, Hitch, Adams and Martin 1999)

6. At the age of 5 & 13 (Gathercole, Service, Hitch, Adams and Martin 1999)

7. L2 Acquisition (Masoura and Gathercole 1999)

9. Success on NWR reflects vocabulary size in childhood
Success on NWR correlates with the rate of learning new words even to adulthood

10. Chiat, S. (2006). The developmental trajectory of nonword repetition
Chiat, S. (2006). The developmental trajectory of nonword repetition. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27, ODELYA 13/12

11. NWR & SLI

12. NRT - Nonword Repetition Test
Dollaghan, C., and Campbell, T. F Nonword Repetition and Child Language Impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research Vol

13. What contributes to the complexity of these words?
Are they English like?
Could they be used as is in a Hebrew test?
Which considerations should apply?

14. CNRep - Children's Test of Nonword Repetition
Gathercole, S. E., Willis, C. S., Baddeley, A. D., and H. Emslie H. (1994) The Children's Test of Nonword Repetition: a test of phonological working memory. Memory 2(2):
(Tables from Archibald, L. M. D., & Gathercole, S. (2006))

17. How are they different?

18. What is NWR testing then?
Baddeley, A. D. (2003). Working memory and language: An overview. Journal of Communication Disorders, 36, 189–208. ANNA 13/12

19. Phonological working memory (phonological loop)
“Working memory (WM) according to Baddeley (1986) is a multicomponent, capacity-limited system that comprises a controlling ‘‘central executive’’ and that includes an articulatory loop system. The central executive ... is thought to regulate information flow within WM, retrieval of information from other memory systems, and the processing and storage of information. The articulatory loop … includes a capacity-limited phonological short-term store and an articulatory control process … that acts to refresh and maintain speech material in the store for a brief period. The articulatory loop’s function is to store verbal input temporarily, especially novel phonological input (Baddeley, Gathercole, & Papagno, 1998), while other cognitive tasks such as auditory comprehension take place. The ability to temporarily store novel material also allows the listener the opportunity to create long-term phonological representations of that material (Baddeley et al1998).” (Montgomery 2003, p. 222)

20. Digit Span
Gray, S Diagnostic accuracy and test-retest reliability of nonword repetition and digit span tasks administered to preschool children with specific language impairment. Journal of Communication disorders 36,

21. Linguistic Knowledge Knowledge of lexical composition Speech output
Size of vocabulary
Abstract representation / Poor representational system
Less efficient mechanism for using lexical knowledge
Speech output

22. Archibald, L. M. D. , & Gathercole, S. (2006)
Archibald, L. M. D., & Gathercole, S. (2006). Nonword repetition: A comparison of tests. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 49, 970–983.
Subjects: 36 native speakers: 12 SLI (9;8), 12 TD age (9;9), 12 TD language (6;1). Same SES
Scores on standardized test:

23. Which one is easier?

24. Within group: CNRep is easier than NRT
Across group: The gap is more significant on CNRep

25. What influences these results?

26. How does NWR fairs with other tasks?
Conti-Ramsden, G. (2003). Processing and linguistic markers in young children with specific language impairment (SLI). Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46, 1029–1037.

28. Children with SLI are significantly worse on all four markers
NWR and past tense marking yield the best results (sensitivity & specificity).
Adding past tense to NWR raises the predictive ability (from 81% to 87%)
While verb morphology is useful for 4-5 y.o. in English, NWR might be more promising for other languages

29. BISLI
Girbau, D., & Schwartz, R. G. (2008). Phonological Working Memory in Spanish-English bilingual children with and without Specific Language Impairment. Journal of Communication Disorders, 41, 2, MONA 13/12

30. A Russian-Hebrew NWR task tested with bilinguals with TDL and SLI - rational and findings
Sharon Armon-Lotem, Bar Ilan University
Shula Chiat, City University
COST IS0804, Amsterdam
November 16-18, 2009

31. AMANI – NWR in Arabic 27/12